AustLit

2012

Department of English

First-Year Seminar: Australian Literature, Music and Film (English 10833)

y Cloudstreet Tim Winton , Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1991 Z204365 1991 single work novel (taught in 16 units) Abstract 'From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.' (Source: Publisher's website)

form y Gallipoli David Williamson , ( dir. Peter Weir ) Sydney : Associated R & R Films , 1981 Z948654 1981 single work film/TV (taught in 11 units) Abstract

The narrative begins in Western Australia in 1915 and follows the paths of Archie Hamilton and Frank Dunne, before and after their enlistment in the Australian Imperial Forces. Hamilton is the patriotic son of a grazier and Frank Dunne is a drifter with no great desire to fight for the British Empire. They meet as runners in an outback footrace and become best mates. After training in Egypt, they land at Gallipoli, just as the great Allied assaults of August 1915 are to begin.

Source: Australian Screen.

y Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Nicholas Jose (editor), Kerryn Goldsworthy (editor), Anita Heiss /specialistDatasets/BlackWords (editor), David McCooey (editor), Peter Minter /specialistDatasets/BlackWords (editor), Nicole Moore (editor), Elizabeth Webby (editor), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2009 Z1590615 2009 anthology correspondence diary drama essay extract poetry prose short story (taught in 23 units) Abstract

'Some of the best, most significant writing produced in Australia over more than two centuries is gathered in this landmark anthology. Covering all genres - from fiction, poetry and drama to diaries, letters, essays and speeches - the anthology maps the development of one of the great literatures in English in all its energy and variety.

'The writing reflects the diverse experiences of Australians in their encounter with their extraordinary environment and with themselves. This is literature of struggle, conflict and creative survival. It is literature of lives lived at the extremes, of frontiers between cultures, of new dimensions of experience, where imagination expands.

'This rich, informative and entertaining collection charts the formation of an Australian voice that draws inventively on Indigenous words, migrant speech and slang, with a cheeky, subversive humour always to the fore. For the first time, Aboriginal writings are interleaved with other English-language writings throughout - from Bennelong's 1796 letter to the contemporary flowering of Indigenous fiction and poetry - setting up an exchange that reveals Australian history in stark new ways.

'From vivid settler accounts to haunting gothic tales, from raw protest to feisty urban satire and playful literary experiment, from passionate love poetry to moving memoir, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature reflects the creative eloquence of a society.

'Chosen by a team of expert editors, who have provided illuminating essays about their selections, and with more than 500 works from over 300 authors, it is an authoritative survey and a rich world of reading to be enjoyed.' (Publisher's blurb)

Allen and Unwin have a YouTube channel with a number of useful videos on the Anthology.

form y Rabbit-Proof Fence Christine Olsen , ( dir. Phillip Noyce ) Australia : Rumbalara Films Olsen Levy Productions , 2002 Z919523 2002 single work film/TV (taught in 15 units) Abstract

Based on real life events that occurred in 1931, Rabbit-Proof Fence is the story of three mixed-race Aboriginal children who are forcibly abducted from their mothers by the Western Australian government. Molly (aged fourteen), her sister Daisy (aged eight), and their cousin Gracie (aged ten) are taken from their homes at Jigalong, situated in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, at the orders of the Protector of Aborigines, A.O. Neville, and sent to an institution at Moore River to be educated and trained as domestic servants. After a few days, Molly leads the other two girls in an escape. What ensues is an epic journey that tests the girls' will to survive and their hope of finding the rabbit-proof fence to guide them home.

Although they are pursued by the institution's Aboriginal tracker and the police, Molly knows enough about bush craft to help them hide their tracks. They head east in search of the world's longest fence - built to keep rabbits out - because Molly knows that this will lead them back to Jigalong. Over the course of nine weeks, the girls walk almost 2,400 kilometres before Gracie is captured attempting to catch a train. Molly and Daisy avoid capture but eventually collapse from exhaustion on the saltpans not far from Jigalong. When they wake, they see the spirit bird, an eagle, flying overhead. Its significance gives the girls the extra energy they need and they are able to make it back to their home.

y The Secret River Kate Grenville , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2005 Z1194031 2005 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 69 units) Abstract

'In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand.

'But the colony can turn a convict into a free man. Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim a hundred acres for himself.

'Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them.

'Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, soon has to make the most difficult choice of his life.

'Inspired by research into her own family history, Kate Grenville vividly creates the reality of settler life, its longings, dangers and dilemmas. The Secret River is a brilliantly written book, a groundbreaking story about identity, belonging and ownership.' (From the publisher's website.)

y True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2000 Z668312 2000 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 29 units) Abstract

'"I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false."

'In TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG, the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semi-literate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Ned saw his first prison cell at 15 and by the age of 26 had become the most wanted man in the wild colony of Victoria, taking over whole towns and defying the law until he was finally captured and hanged. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist.' (From the publisher's website.)

y Verandah People : Stories Jonathan Bennett , Vancouver : Raincoast Books , 2003 Z1197925 2003 selected work short story (taught in 1 units)

Introduction to Fiction: Postcolonial Short Fiction (English 10103)

The Drover's Wife Henry Lawson , 1892 single work short story (taught in 3 units)
— Appears in: Aus einer neuen Literatur : Australische Erzählungen und Plaudereien 1906; The Drover's Wife : A Celebration of a Great Australian Love Affair 2017; (p. 3-14)
— Appears in: The School Paper for Classes V and VI , August no. 143 1911; (p. 106-109) The School Paper for Grades VII and VIII , March no. 299 1925; (p. 18-21) The School Paper : Grades VII and VIII , February no. 309 1926; (p. 2-5) The School Paper : Grades VII and VIII , September no. 349 1929; (p. 122-125) Victorian Readers : Fifth Book 1930; (p. 24-29) Victorian Readers : Fifth Book 1940; (p. 22-27)
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 July vol. 12 no. 649 1892; (p. 21-22) Short Stories in Prose and Verse 1894; (p. 26-39) While the Billy Boils 1896; (p. 127-138) The Country I Come From 1901; (p. 72-84) The Bulletin Story Book : A Selection of Stories and Literary Sketches from 'The Bulletin' [1881-1901] 1901; (p. 75-83) The Observer , 17 April vol. 72 no. 5537 1915; (p. 4)
— Appears in: Cerita Dari Australia 1974; (p. 4-31)
— Appears in: Australische Erzähler von Marcus Clarke bis Patrick White 1984; (p. 36-44)
— Appears in: Crocevia : Scritture Straniere, Migranti e di Viaggio , Estate vol. 5/6 no. 2005; (p. 69-75) Abstract

First appearing in The Bulletin in 1892, Henry Lawson's short story 'The Drovers Wife' is today regarded as a seminal work in the Australian literary tradition. Noted for it's depiction of the bush as harsh, potentially threatening and both isolated and isolating, the story opens with a simple enough premise: an aggressive--and presumably deadly--snake disrupts the working life of a bushwoman and her young children. Brave but cautious, the woman resolves to protect her children since her husband is, characteristically, away from home and of no help. 

As time passes within the story, tension builds, and the snake's symbolic threat takes on layers of meaning as the sleepless heroine recalls previous challenges she faced while her husband was away. A series of flashbacks and recollections propel the story through the single night over which it takes place, and by the time the climax arrives--the confrontation with the snake--readers have learned much about the heroine's strengths and fears, most of the latter involving the loss of children and dark figures who encroach upon her small, vulnerable homestead. To be sure, this "darkness" is highly symbolic, and Lawson's use of imagery invokes Western notions of good and evil as well as gendered and racial stereotypes. 

The Drover's Wife Murray Bail , 1975 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Tabloid Story , 28 June no. 15 1975; (p. 36-38) Contemporary Portraits and Other Stories 1975; (p. 55-61) The National Times , 5-10 January 1976; (p. 27) The Most Beautiful Lies : A Collection of Stories by Five Major Contemporary Fiction Writers: Bail, Carey, Lurie, Moorhouse and Wilding 1977; (p. 5-10) The Tabloid Story Pocket Book 1978; (p. 258-267) Spectrum Three : Experimental Short Stories 1979; (p. 53-56)
— Appears in: Crocevia : Scritture Straniere, Migranti e di Viaggio , Estate vol. 5/6 no. 2005; (p. 76-80)

Happiness Katharine Susannah Prichard , 1927 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: The Bulletin (Xmas edition) , 10 December 1927; (p. 11,13-14) Kiss On the Lips and Other Stories 1932; (p. 107-132) Australian Round-Up : Stories From 1790 to 1950 1953; (p. 225-237) Happiness : Selected Short Stories 1967; (p. 1-16) The Penguin Book of Australian Short Stories 1976; (p. 87-100) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1986; (p. 43-55)

A Hedge of Rosemary Elizabeth Jolley , 1967 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Westerly , no. 2 1967; (p. 18-22) Five Acre Virgin and Other Stories 1976; (p. 69-75) Stories : Five Acre Virgin, The Travelling Entertainer 1984; (p. 90-97) The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Stories 1986; (p. 205-210) Secret Lives : Thirty-four Modern Australian Short Stories 2003; (p. 279-288)

Lizards Barry Hill , 1983 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Headlocks & Other Stories 1983; (p. 17-27) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1986; (p. 292-300) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1992; (p. 276-284) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 1994; (p. 270-279) The Australian Short Story : An Anthology from the 1890s to the 1980s 2002; (p. 324-334) Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature 2009; (p. 1066-1073)

A Person of Accomplishment Frank Moorhouse , 1982 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Selected Stories 1982; (p. 111-122) Australian Short Stories 1983; (p. 325-337) Selected Stories 1985; (p. 111-122) The Americans, Baby : A Discontinuous Narrative of Stories and Fragments 1988; (p. 133-147)

The Tractor Peter Cowan , 1964 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , March vol. 23 no. 1 1964; (p. 19-31) The Empty Street : Stories 1965; (p. 53-66) Coast to Coast : Australian Stories 1963-1964 1965; (p. 15-27) Modern Australian Writing 1966; (p. 124-140) Short Stories of Australia : The Moderns 1967; (p. 61-74) Best Australian Short Stories 1971; (p. 281-294)

The Union Buries Its Dead The Union Buries Its Dead : A Bushman's Funeral. A Sketch from Life Henry Lawson , 1893 single work short story humour (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: Short Stories in Prose and Verse 1894; (p. 46-53) While the Billy Boils 1896; (p. 91-97) Capajon : Fifty-Four Short Stories Published 1921-1933 1933; (p. 324-328) A Century of Australian Short Stories 1963; (p. 65-68) The Bush Undertaker and Other Stories 1970; (p. 25-29) While the Billy Boils : 87 Stories from the Prose Works of Henry Lawson 1970; (p. 55 - 59)
— Appears in: Truth , 16 April 1893; The Country I Come From 1901; (p. 44-51) While the Billy Boils : The Original Newspaper Versions 2013; (p. 100-108) Abstract Describes a bush funeral.

War Crimes Peter Carey , 1979 single work short story (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: War Crimes : Short Stories 1979; (p. 241-282) The Fat Man in History 1980; The Fat Man in History 1990; (p. 163-192) Collected Stories 1994; (p. 310-337)

Postcolonial Anglophone Literature (English 30683)

y After Battersea Park Jonathan Bennett , Vancouver : Raincoast Books , 2001 Z949169 2001 single work novel mystery romance (taught in 1 units) Abstract While most of the action takes place in Sydney, Australia, and Toronto, this whirlwind tour of long-separated twins also lands in Hawaii, London, Scotland, Madrid, and Mallorca. The twins - Curt, an Australian jazz musician, and William, a Canadian visual artist - were driven in different directions at the age of four when their drug-addict father separated from their mother. She soon found she could not feed the children and had to give them up. At age 27, they learn of each other’s existence and begin a journey that draws them together from different ends of the world.

y Remembering Babylon David Malouf , London Milsons Point : Chatto and Windus Random House , 1993 Z452447 1993 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 48 units) Abstract

'In the mid-1840s, a thirteen-year-old boy, Gemmy Fairley, is cast ashore in the far north of Australia and taken in by Aborigines. Sixteen years later, when settlers reach the area, he moves back into the world of Europeans, men and women who are staking out their small patch of home in an alien place, hopeful and yet terrified of what it might do to them.

Given shelter by the McIvors, the family of the children who originally made contact with him, Gemmy seems at first to be guaranteed a secure role in the settlement, but there are currents of fear and mistrust in the air. To everyone he meets - from George Abbot, the romantically aspiring young teacher, to Mr Frazer, the minister, whose days are spent with Gemmy recording the local flora; from Janet McIvor, just coming to adulthood and discovering new versions of the world, to the eccentric Governor of Queensland himself - Gemmy stands as a different kind of challenge, as a force which both fascinates and repels. And Gemmy himself finds his own whiteness as unsettling in this new world as the knowledge he brings with him of the savage, the Aboriginal.' - Publisher's blurb (Chatto & Windus, 1993).

y The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith Peter Carey , Toronto : Random House Canada , 1994 Z508427 1994 single work novel (taught in 2 units) Abstract Peter Carey has wholly reimagined the world in The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith. It is vaguely futuristic, underlain with the sediment of a recently ruined past, just post-colonial, culturally monolithic, and although everything seems familiar, nothing is quite recognizable. Our guide here is Tristan Smith himself: a freak of nature, a 'cracked and mended pot' of flesh that hides a 'normal' human being. Tristan is everything one could ask for in a companion and interpretive center of attention - one way or another - wherever he goes, he is sharp-eyed and quick-witted, unsentimental and unforgiving: the perfect witness to the fact and extraordinary effect of his own 'monstrosity.' Tristan takes us barrelling through his life and times (learning to be invisible and viable, coming of age, losing his mother, searching for his father, transforming himself from something people are afraid even to imagine into something already sanctioned for their imaginations), down a riotously populated, circuitous path that leads, finally, to the Sirkus: the newest entertainment opiate, the inspiration of slavish devotion in audiences, and, perhaps, the source of Tristan's ultimate transformation. The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith is the picaresque made post-modern, a tragicomedy in constant, convulsive motion. (Source: Trove)