English Year 9 - Between Us: Home

Between Us - Synopsis

Is it possible for two very different teenagers to fall in love despite high barbed-wire fences and a political wilderness between them?
Anahita is passionate, curious and determined. She is also an Iranian asylum seeker who is only allowed out of detention to attend school. On weekdays, during school hours, she can be a ‘regular Australian girl’.
Jono needs the distraction of an infatuation. In the past year his mum has walked out, he’s been dumped and his sister has moved away. Lost and depressed, Jono feels as if he’s been left behind with his Vietnamese single father, Kenny.
Kenny is struggling to work out the rules in his new job; he recently started work as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre. He tells Anahita to look out for Jono at school, but quickly comes to regret this, spiralling into suspicion and mistrust.
Who is this girl, really? What is her story? Is she a genuine refugee or a queue jumper? As Jono and Anahita grow closer, Kenny starts snooping behind the scenes…

Wickham Point Detention Centre - reports and media articles

Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) visit to Wickham Point Detention Centre
The overall objective of the AHRC Visit to the Wickham Point Detention Centre in Darwin, NT was to monitor conditions in immigration detention and the well-being of detainees, including children and their families. During October 16^th – 18^th 2015 inclusive, four AHRC staff visited the centre, accompanied by two Consultant Paediatricians with experience in the health and well-being of asylum seeker and refugee children...continue reading...

Last detainees leave Wickham Point
Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network co-ordinator Natasha Blucher  said the closure was a positive move. “We’re definitely happy because it’s not a nice detention centre. It’s very hot, there are midges, it’s out of town,” she said. “Wickham Point was used for holding children which is utterly terrible. It was completely unsuitable for that because it’s very high security with a big high fence around it.” More legal and advocacy services would be available to asylum seekers in southern detention centres, she said....continue reading... 

NT Chief Minister disappointed with plan to close Darwin's Wickham Point Detention Centre
The Northern Territory's Chief Minister wants the Wickham Point Detention Centre to remain open, despite asylum seeker advocates applauding the Federal Government's plan to close the facility...continue reading...

The following is an extract from a great review of Between Us by
David Edwards for The Blurb:

Atkins doesn’t talk down to her readers. Nor does she overplay the dramatic, emotional moments of the story. She imbues her characters with both vulnerability and resilience, doesn’t alienate adult readers with too much teenage angst. At the same time as Atkins deals with complex issues, she maintains an astute eye for the closer-to-home worries of young people as they navigate romantic, peer and family relationships.

Atkins’ prose style is fast-moving and succinct. Her characters are distinct. With pop-culture references and Australian vernacular throughout, the book is one for Australian young people. While the reader can see inevitable conflicts developing both inside and outside of the detention centre, the characters are kept from being able to see important elements of the others’ realities. The stakes for all the characters, but particularly for Ana and her family, are extremely high. The tension in tight and the story genuinely moving.

The author spent time in multicultural Darwin high schools when she was writing Between Us. She interviewed asylum seekers and detention centre employees. The time she spent getting to know her settings and the people in them is self-evident. Between Us is likely to prompt readers to think critically about racial generalisations, media representations of migrants and asylum seekers, and about family and culture in Australia. It contrasts beauty with ugliness, kindness with cruelty, and helplessness with resilience. The story deals with difficult topics without salaciousness, including mental illness, family separation, and self-harm. Ultimately, this story invites readers to relate to Ana, Kenny and Jono.

Australia's policy on immigration, refugees and asylum seekers