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image of person or book cover 7911107180015370670.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Tomorrow, When the War Began single work   novel   young adult  
Alternative title: When the War Began
Is part of Tomorrow Series John Marsden , 1993 series - author novel (number 1 in series)
Issue Details: First known date: 1993... 1993 Tomorrow, When the War Began
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive. (Source: Trove)

Exhibitions

9223791
9223803
14233763
14232866

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Tomorrow, When the War Began Stuart Beattie , ( dir. Stuart Beattie ) Australia : Ambience Entertainment , 2009 Z1623916 2009 single work film/TV science fiction

Seven teenagers camp in a remote and idyllic location deep in the countryside. But that night, they see the sky filled with military aircraft, and return home to find their houses deserted and the locals detained in the showground. Escaping detection, the teenagers form themselves into a guerilla unit, hoping to prevent the invading Coalition Nations from bringing any more troops in by destroying the only bridge to nearby Cobbler's Bay, where the troop ships are moored.

form y separately published work icon Tomorrow, When the War Began Blake Ayshford , Alice Addison , Justin Monjo , Josh Mapleston , ( dir. Brendan Maher ) Australia : Ambience Entertainment ABC Television , 2016 8570775 2016 series - publisher film/TV

'When their country is invaded by a large hostile force, a group of teenagers fight for their family and homeland. Based on the era-defining novels by John Marsden.'

Source: Screen Australia.

Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For AC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5)

Duration Four to six weeks

Curriculum Summary

Find a summary table for Australian Curriculum: English content descriptions and NSW Syllabus outcomes for this unit.

Themes

Day of the Girl, discovery, heroism, invasion and occupation of Australia, just war, maintaining moral values even in war, resistance, security, self-discovery, storytelling, survival, teenage gangs, war

General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Literacy, Personal and social

Cross-curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Notes

  • Selected in December 2004 by the Australian public in an ABC poll as Australia's 31st favourite book.
  • Dedication: To my dear sister Robin Farran: so much admired.
  • Number 37 on the Better Reading's 2022 Top 50 Kids Books

    Number 36 on the Better Reading's Top 50 Kids Books 2023

Affiliation Notes

  • This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it has Japanese, Chinese and Korean translations, and has an Asian-Australian character, Lee, of Thai and Vietnamese heritage.


  • Preppers and Survivalism in the AustLit Database

    This work has been affiliated with the Preppers and Survivalism project due to its relationship to either prepping or prepper-inflected survivalism more generally, and contains one or more of the following:

    1. A strong belief in some imminent threat
    2. Taking active steps to prepare for that perceived threat

    • A range of activities not necessarily associated with ‘prepping’ take on new significance, when they are undertaken with the express purpose of preparing for and/or surviving perceived threats, e.g., gardening, abseiling.
    • The plausibility of the threat, and the relative “reasonable-ness” of the response, don’t affect this definition. E.g., if someone is worried about climate change and climate disasters, and they respond by moving from a riverbank location in Cairns, or to a highland region of New Zealand, this makes them a prepper. If someone else is worried about brainwashing rays from outer space, and they respond by making a tinfoil hat, that makes them a prepper. 

    3. A character or characters (or text) who self-identify as a ‘prepper’, or some synonymous/modified term: ‘financial preppers’, ‘weekend preppers’, ‘fitness preppers’, etc.

    As a tier two work, this text has been identified as key to prepping in a broader, more conceptual relationship. These texts have been classified as ‘key’ prepper-adjacent texts that are important to prepping, even if they themselves are not about prepping or do not include preppers. These texts have been identified in the database through various means such as interviews with preppers, scholarship on preppers, and online prepper forums.
     

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Quercus ,
      1993 .
      image of person or book cover 7911107180015370670.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 286p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication Date: 01/03/2011

         

      ISBN: 9780857387332
    • Chippendale, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Pan Macmillan Australia , 1994 .
      person or book cover
      Courtesy of Pan Macmillan.
      Extent: 286p.
      Reprinted: 1998 , 1999 , 2000 , 2002 , 2005 , 2008
      ISBN: 0330274864 (pbk.
    • Boston, Massachusetts,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Houghton Mifflin ,
      1995 .
      image of person or book cover 3405535743149328566.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 286p.
      Edition info: 1st American ed.
      ISBN: 0395706734
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Pan , 1995 .
      image of person or book cover 3176185918533498192.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Alternative title: When the War Began
      Extent: 286p.
      ISBN: 0330356968 (pbk.)
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Bantam Books ,
      1996 .
      image of person or book cover 3470742169555065257.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 286p.
      ISBN: 044021985X
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Pan Macmillan Australia , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 7536263232590451472.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 1vp.
      Edition info: TV Tie-In
      Note/s:
      • Published 22 March 2016
      ISBN: 9781743548493
Alternative title: Morgen toen de oorlog begon
Language: Dutch
    • Amsterdam,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Jenny de Jonge ,
      1995 .
      image of person or book cover 8003632957012667923.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 336p.
      ISBN: 9073703522
    • Haarlem,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Gottmer ,
      1999 .
      image of person or book cover 7617096320022805360.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 336p.
      Reprinted: 2000 , 2001 , 2003
      ISBN: 902573135X
    • c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Wolters-Noordhoff ,
      2006 .
      image of person or book cover 7481864006627122683.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 294p.
      ISBN: 9001560628, 9001560644
    • Haarlem,
      c
      Netherlands,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Gottmer ,
      2011 .
      image of person or book cover 7614430140771102791.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 331p.
      ISBN: 9789025749552

Other Formats

  • Braille.
  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

“Then Something Started Growing in the Emptiness” : Revisiting the Lost Child in the Bush in Australian Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction Annika Herb , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Storying Plants in Australian Children's and Young Adult Literature : Roots and Winged Seeds 2023; (p. 247=270)

'In colonial Australian children’s literature, the desire to exert control over the land, its inhabitants, and the construction of a national identity has been a central concern, exemplified in the narrative of the lost child in the Australian bush. The lost child trope offers a reflection of “Australian anxiety” (Pierce, The Country of Lost Children: An Australian Anxiety. Cambridge University Press, 1999), symbolising the troubled negotiation in integrating European ideals onto an Indigenous landscape (Pierce, The Country of Lost Children: An Australian Anxiety, xii. Cambridge University Press, 1999); this is heightened when the lost child is female. Colonial texts place deviant female characters as being subsumed by the bush as a culmination of concerns about national identity and gender roles. This chapter explores the colonial tradition of representation of the girl and the bush as entities to be feared and dominated through A Little Bushmaid by Mary Grant Bruce and Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner. It considers how contemporary Australian Young Adult texts rewrite the lost child in the bush trope through the complex symbolic relationship between the girl and the bush in Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden and The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf reclaims a focus on Indigenous land, identity, knowledge, and narrative, returning to Indigenous roots.' (Publication abstract)

Nature and Its Elements : Reading Patterns in Dystopian Texts Patricia Dowsett , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. 127-159)
'It Affects Us' : Teaching Dystopian Texts Sensitively Alex Wharton , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. 64-84)
'Dystopia' : A History of the Genre in (and) Australia Amy Schoonens , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Beyond the Dark : Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom 2020; (p. 8-34)
Tomorrow, When the War Began at Twenty Five : A Conversation with John Marsden Beth Dolan (interviewer), 2019 single work interview
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 34 no. 1 2019; (p. 18)
[Review] Tomorrow, When the War Began Ashley Freeman , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , May vol. 38 no. 2 1994; (p. 30)

— Review of Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden , 1993 single work novel
[Review] Tomorrow, When the War Began Joan Zahnleiter , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , July vol. 9 no. 3 1994; (p. 33)

— Review of Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden , 1993 single work novel
Bushwalk into a Dark Adventure Ronni Phillips , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 28 December 2008; (p. 15)

— Review of Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden , 1993 single work novel
[Review] Tomorrow, When the War Began 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 8 no. 2 1994; (p. 54)

— Review of Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden , 1993 single work novel
[Review] Tomorrow, When the War Began Jill Midolo , 1993 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 7 no. 4 1993; (p. 17)

— Review of Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden , 1993 single work novel
150 Years 150 Books 150 Words 600 Entries 10 Winners Lili Wilkinson , 2004 single work column
— Appears in: The Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Youth Literature , October no. 3 2004; (p. 8-12)
The aim of the Save This Book competition was to nominate a book from the last 150 years, from a list of 150 titles, and explain why (in 150 words) why it should be saved from a tidal wave. Winners' submissions are included.
Sharing Tomorrow, When the War Began in the Classroom Stuart Cuxson , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Summer vol. 13 no. 4 2005; (p. 36)
Five of the Best Teen Reads Ronni Phillips , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 January 2010; (p. 10)
The film adaptation of Tomorrow When the War Began will appear in 2010.
Asian Invasion for Film of Marsden Classic Karl Quinn , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 14 August 2010; (p. 12)
Write of Passage John Marsden , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 August 2010; (p. 6-7)
Last amended 26 Feb 2024 14:10:50
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