Ellen van Neerven from her Wordpress account
Ellen van Neerven from her Wordpress account ellenvanneervencurrie.wordpress.com

Indigenous poet Ellen van Neerven has been subjected to online abuse from NSW Year 12 students who took the High School Certificate exam. The award-winning writer was called names just because her poem “Mango” was included in the English exam on Monday.

The students were asked to explain the poem, from her book “Comfort Food,” and they weren’t happy about it. Some students took to social media to vent their frustration, sharing memes and questioning Van Neerven’s intelligence. One student likened the author to an ape in front of a typewriter, which some attributed to racism. The creator allegedly claimed that he wasn’t aware Van Neerven was Indigenous, but he only searched for a monkey on a typewriter image because the poem was nonsensical.

One student boasted on a Facebook group for HSC discussion that he sent the poet a private message and asked her about “Mango.” “In all honesty there wasnt much to analyse cos it reads like a 4 year old wrote it [sic],” he wrote.

Van Neerven’s Wikipedia page had been briefly vandalised as well. The page read: “On October 16th, 2017, her poem ‘Mango’ was used as a weapon of mass destruction by the NSW Education Standards Authority to annihilate HSC Students in English (Standard) and English (Advanced) Paper 1 – Area of Study – Discovery.”

The author, who wasn’t aware that her poem would be included in the test, received abuse from Twitter users, calling her derogatory names that are not worth repeating. The students sent her rude private messages and emails, perhaps wanting her to respond. And when her supporters and friends tried to defend her, they also received the same abuse.

The condescending and racists posts were few, but each one got thousands of “likes” and “hearts.” Nevertheless, one blog post claims in defence of the students that the offensive posts do not represent the majority of the students.

Author James Bradley was also targeted by online abuse because his book “Wrack” was included in the HSC exam. One Twitter user (screenshot by Junkee) called his book the “biggest piece of s--- I have ever read,” adding that it incited “more hatred and anger than mein kampf.”

Bradley said one student who was rude to him already apologised, and he appreciated him for it. He acknowledged why he did not receive as many abusive posts as Van Neerven, saying the students went for her because of her heritage.

A rep for NSW Education Standards (NESA) told Junkee that it wasn’t aware of any complaints or online abuse. Evelyn Araluen, poet and PhD candidate at University of Sydney, told the publication that the students displayed entitlement for demanding Van Neerven’s attention and inciting her response.

“They can argue about intent or claim we’re pulling the race card, but even without that context, this shows profound disrespect for the whole community,” she said.

The students appeared to be unapologetic. On the FB discussion group, they defended the posts, with some citing freedom of speech. As Araluen tweeted, though, it’s about children feeling they had the right to drag authors into their exam angst. “It’s not cute, it’s harassment.”

Van Neerven won the 2013 Queensland Literary Awards’ David Unaipon Award, the 2015 Dobbie Literary Award for her first book, “Heat and Light,” and the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Award – Indigenous Writers Prize for the same book.