AustLit

This analysis examines four Australian children's texts, Australia at the Beach, Looking for Crabs, The Silver Fox, and Sailing Home and the ways in which they utilize the landscape, specifically seascapes, to gauge how they function in the shaping of national identities. James points out that, 'Beachscapes...work in a similar way to agricultural landscapes by evoking the literary pastoral, and particularly by association with the ideal of childhood', adding that 'It is on the beach that the Australian ideals of nature, classlessness, friendliness, community and egalitarianism are perceived to combine' (12). The comparative reading of the four works concludes that 'the centrality of the coast to the Australian culture suggests that seascapes should be marked as sites of special interest in analysis concerned with cultural discourse' (21).