The VCE English guide to ‘High Ground’ for Year 12s
If you're seeking last-minute preparation for your High Ground Text Response, this comprehensive blog is tailored for Year 12 students to make a guided start on the film’s themes, techniques, and analysis. High Ground is a powerful Australian 'Northern' film that delves deep into Indigenous perspectives, British colonisation, yet also is a coming-of-age exploration of the human experience. It follows complex emotional journeys of several characters, weaving around anger, personal identity, gender roles and healing.
In this blog, I’ll explore the film ‘High Ground’ with you by providing advice on how to approach the film as a Year 12 and the ways you can guide your studies for it. As a VCE English tutor I really enjoyed this incredible film and enjoyed teaching my students about it, so I’d love to give you a little slice of my insights.
- Summary
- The important themes
- Film Analysis
- Quotes
If you want more, take a gander at my 37-page High Ground study guide which is just the more detailed, more SAC and exam-oriented version of what I’ve learnt & what I tutor. Call it ‘High Ground’ notes, ‘High Ground’ study guide, or simply ‘High Ground’ resources, it’s written by a tutor (LaunaTutors specifically) and designed to help you understand this nuanced film.
Here’s a thank you discount for checking my blog out: HGBLOG5
Scroll to the bottom for more free & paid resources.
What is it about?
High Ground is a true Australian western - or more accurately, a ‘Northern’. The film explores the Australian Indigenous perspective (specifically the Yolngu people) and the impact of British colonisation.
One thing I really enjoyed was its deliberate focus on Yolngu culture. For one, it provides us with the native language & English subtitles instead of making the actors speak English for the audience’s sake. It also consciously centres Yolngu characters, the natural Australian landscapes and the impact of the British colonisation on their communities. Making it a unique film that focuses on the less explored side of Australia’s history. Interestingly, it also explores the perspectives of several British characters, and explores the characters with nuance, avoiding the typical good vs. evil narrative. Thus making a film deeply human and relatable one, with a focus on individuality as well as the broader scope of history.
Essential Themes
When writing in your VCE English SACs and exams, we all know it’s important to reference themes. Think of a theme like a thread that connects several different points of the story, a red string in a detective’s pin board.
Here are some themes that I tend to focus on in ‘High Ground’. I highly recommend you create your notes under these titles, so that your ‘High Ground’ notes are beautifully organised for ease of study by the time you reach your exams. Here’s some descriptions that you can model your notes after.
- Culture - The running thread of ‘High Ground’ is the exploration of Yolngu culture, pre- and post- colonisation.
- Family & Generations - There is a continual exploration of family and how the different generations respond to problems.
- Nature - Listen with your ears and hear the diegetic sound. See with your eyes the incredible colours, landscapes, flora/fauna, skies. How do they further add to the story? Our understanding of the dynamics and culture?
- Gender roles - Ask yourself how the women of each culture are treated, what positions they occupy in society.
- Violence & killing - Death and destruction are a natural part of the cycle of life, but to what extent?
- Colonisation, laws & hypocrisy - The central plot of ‘High Ground’ is the impact of colonisation. It explores the hypocritical nature of British occupation and the ways they justify their actions such as Terra Nullius.
- Healing - After trauma and tragedy, ‘High Ground’ can also be viewed as an exploration on how to heal, both individually and collectively.
- Emotion - The film is taken to another level through the emotion conveyed by the atmosphere, landscape, camera angles, the actors, the visuals, literally every single thing.
- Identity & agency - Our main characters all struggle with paving the path for their identity and futures.
Film analysis
You absolutely must reference film techniques and conduct film analysis when doing ‘High Ground’ as your VCE English text response - it’s a part of what VCAA and their rubric says for analysing films.
Film analysis is simply another medium used to convey meaning, often elevating the message through its characteristics like sound and visuals (that aren’t present in solely text). Instead of just words on paper, it’s colours, items, landscapes, facial expressions, and a combination of all that you can draw meaning from. Here’s an example I lifted straight out of my study guide.
This eye level shot of Moran sitting and speaking to Darrpa visually highlights how distinctly different he is from his surroundings. From the jarring white uniform, to his badges and symbols and the unnatural green underside of his hat, the director conveys with this visual that Moran does not belong on this land. The rigidity of his uniform and badges also highlight his commitment to the law, British rules and legal systems. The contrast with the surroundings highlights how laughable this notion is, as British law makes no sense in Australian land – a completely different country with its own rules.
Quote analysis
When it comes to a text response, you need to acknowledge important quotes. The dialogue in ‘High Ground’ is written intentionally, and the director and writer certainly had deeper meaning in mind when crafting certain lines. Here is an example of a quote breakdown.
- On a literary level, names represent our identity. The names other people give us, represent how they view us.
- In the beginning, Claire refers to Gutjuk as “Tommy”, his English name. Despite her clear affection for him, her love is ultimately shaped by her worldview as a white woman - limiting her to calling him “Tommy” (albeit, a more familiar and affectionate version of “Thomas”).
- By the end of her arc, Claire not only saves Gutjuk by shooting Eddy, but she also addresses him as “Gutjuk”. This shift signifies her growth as a person. It tells the audience that although she may not fully understand Gutjuk’s identity as an Aboriginal man, she has learnt to understand that to love Gutjuk is to see who he is as a person - his culture, his identity, his past - not just “Tommy”. This is also why she accepts Gutjuk leaving in the end and returning to his tribe - she has learnt to release her own preconceived notions of who Gutjuk must be, and instead loves him for who he truly is. Even if that is someone who is no longer in her world.
Loved the Analysis? Looking for more?
Does 37-pages of a tutor-written High Ground Study Guide sound good to you? After working with a group of students, I’ve created High Ground resources that are easily digestible by Year 12s, who may struggle with unpacking this heavy yet beautiful film. It’s essentially 37 pages of notes above, but for way more themes, characters, symbols, motifs and scenes.
It includes two sections.
Section 1 - Evidence & Analysis
- Context & settings
- Character analysis - Gutjuk, Travis, Baywara, Eddy, Gulwirri, Claire, Pastor John, Darpa, Maron, Other Characters & Parallels.
- Themes - Culture, Family & generations, Nature, Gender roles, Violence/killing, Colonisation Laws & Hypocrisy, Healing, Emotion, Identity & agency.
- Symbols and motifs
- Scene analysis
Section 2 - Essay Writing
- How I write essays
- Practice essay writing plan
- Paragraph writing
- Film analysis
- Practice essay prompts
You can access it here >> https://launatutors.com/b/high-ground-study-guide
Plus... Here’s a thank you discount for checking out this blog, so you can ace your High Ground SACs and exams: HGBLOG5.
Other (Free) Relevant Resources
- High Ground Practice Essay Prompts
- Text Response Preparation Checklist + explanation video
- Paragraph Marking Checklist
If you have any questions regarding this blog, the study guide or the other free resources, feel free to email me directly and we'll get in touch launatutors@gmail.com 💌
About the author
My name's Launa, also known as LaunaTutors! I've been tutoring since 2020, and have worked with over 100 students for hundreds of hours. I've done workshops that sold over 200+ tickets and created several resources, paid & free. If you're curious about what people have to say, head over to my testimonials section of the site. I taught VCE English High Ground for a group of students in 2024, and so I've created these High Ground resources for all high schoolers to access and enjoy.
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