HSC students racially abuse Indigenous poet after English exam question

HSC students have allegedly racially abused an Indigenous poet after they were asked to analyse her work in their English exam on Monday.

The Year 12 students were asked to explain Ellen van Neerven's poem "Mango" from the book Comfort Food.

After the exam, a number of frustrated students took to social media to share memes, with one likening Ms van Neerven to an ape.

The meme, titled "Leaked image of the author of 'Mango'," shows the monkey sitting at a typewriter.

Another meme showed an astrology chart and had replaced the star sign Cancer as a mango.

Other HSC students expressed their frustration through a number of tweets, some saying the poem "reads like a four year old wrote it."

After the alleged racial abuse, a number of literary figures jumped to the poet's defence, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, Evelyn Araluen, said the behaviour was "harassment."

"This isn't about your meme, it's about when children feel licence to drag authors into their exam angst. It's not cute, it's harassment," she wrote on Twitter.

Author Michelle Law said the students were "lazy" and "entitled."

A NESA spokesperson said Ms van Neerven did not ask to have her work in the exam.

"The authors are not advised in advance. They don’t know because obviously … for the security and confidentiality of the exam," the spokesperson said.