AustLit

Users are advised that AustLit contains names and images of people who have died.

These trails have been curated to assist teachers locate resources associated with a range of issues and themes. While these might be of special interest to teachers of English and primary teachers, the trails also include non-fiction resources that will be very relevant to Humanities subjects such as History, and resources relevant to Music and teachers interested in promoting engagement with traditional indigenous languages.

A good place to start is with the essay BlackWords: Serious Issues for Young Readers by Dr Anita Heiss. This will provide an overview of issues and key texts. Teachers interested in works dealing with issues for younger readers might also read the essay, Aboriginal Children’s Literature.

The texts in this trail explore the concept of Aboriginality and include: autobiography; poetry; children’s literature; and further readings. Teachers might also want to read Dr Anita Heiss’s essay on identity.

Issues covered in this trail include identity, illness, moving to boarding school, respect and acceptance, family history, and dealing with racism. While many of the stories deal with issues specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the issues explored will also have broad resonance. For example, the experiences of First Nations people in Australia could be compared with the experiences of black Americans. Moreover, the stories are grouped by year level, from Year 3 to 4, up to works suitable for older and more experienced readers. Teachers may also find the trail a useful source of works for reluctant readers.

This trail lists anthologies of writing (fiction and non-fiction) covering a wide range of issues.

This trail includes picture books about the Stolen Generation, a listing of ‘stories with morals’ and ‘stories of identity’ (you’ll have to scroll down a fair way to find the latter two). If you are looking for songs, then there are also songs suitable for children. One of these is ‘Solid Rock’ which is printed in English and Pitjantjatjara and another tells the story behind the lyrics of the Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly song, ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’.

Technically, this is part of the trail Aboriginal Literature for Children described above – scroll down until you find this heading. However, given that the potential loss of indigenous languages is a major problem, it is worth highlighting these resources for children separately. More information on this issue can also be found in the essay on Aboriginal Children’s Literature by Dr Anita Heiss.

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