Intro to Indigenous Australian Writing (ASLT2603)
Semester 1 / 2008

Texts

y separately published work icon The Binna Binna Man Meme McDonald , Boori Pryor , St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1999 Z492840 1999 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 7 units) 'The powerful story of an Aboriginal teenage boy who is caught between the attractions of city life and the ways of his people. After a terrifying encounter with the Binna Binna man he knows what he must do in order to be true to himself.' Source: Libraries Australia.
y separately published work icon Southerly Stories Without End... vol. 62 no. 2 Anita Heiss (editor), Penny Van Toorn (editor), 2002 Z1008500 2002 periodical issue (taught in 1 units)

'Stories Without End includes writing that is complex, innovative, and polished, and writing that is raw, rugged, and passionate. In their different ways, all the pieces are powerful...' (Source: editorial, Southerly Vol. 62 No. 2 2002: 5-6)

y separately published work icon Who Am I? : The Diary of Mary Talence : Sydney, 1937 Diary of Mary Talence Anita Heiss , Sydney : Scholastic Press Scholastic Press , 2001 Z924982 2001 single work children's fiction children's historical fiction (taught in 1 units) Mary was taken to Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home when she was only five years old. Now she's ten years old and living with a white family in Sydney. She doesn't fit in and starts to question why. We live Mary's emotional, psychological and physical journey through her twelve months of diary entries, explaining the collective story of the those members of the Stolen Generation removed under policies of Protection in NSW. The diary format helps to transport readers back through time to 1938 and the lead up to the Sesquintennary and the Day of Mourning Conference and protest in Sydney. Source: Anita Heiss.
y separately published work icon Itinerant Blues Samuel Wagan Watson , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2002 Z963167 2002 selected work poetry (taught in 1 units)

'leaving behind neon nights and misspent passions, these poems take to the highway with the muse riding shotgun' (Source: UQP website: www.uqp.uq.edu.au)

y separately published work icon Plays From Black Australia Coordah, Murras, The Dreamers, The Keepers. Jack Davis , Eva Johnson , Richard Walley , Bob Maza , Paddington : Currency Press , 1989 Z13325 1989 anthology drama (taught in 1 units)

New writing from old Australians this collection presents Aboriginal playwrights using the dramatic form to tell how black and white Australians interact.'

'These are modern, urban plays, but traditional beliefs give strength and resilience to many of the characters in them. These city dwellers are joined to the land and their dreaming, with ancient bonds of common belief; the four plays provide a remarkable, often humorous insight into Aboriginal experience in Australia.' (Source: backcover)

y separately published work icon Don't Take Your Love to Town Ruby Langford Ginibi , Ringwood : Penguin , 1988 Z496435 1988 single work autobiography (taught in 10 units)

'Don’t Take Your Love to Town is a story of courage in the face of poverty and tragedy. Ruby recounts losing her mother when she was six, growing up in a mission in northern New South Wales and leaving home when she was fifteen. She lived in tin huts and tents in the bush and picked up work on the land while raising nine children virtually single-handedly. Later she struggled to make ends meet in the Koori areas of Sydney. Ruby is an amazing woman whose sense of humour has endured through all the hardships she has experienced.' (Source UQP website: www.uqp.uq.edu.au)

y separately published work icon True Country Kim Scott , Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 1993 Z165486 1993 single work novel (taught in 30 units) 'Billy is drifting, looking for a place to land. A young school teacher, he arrives in Australia's remote far north in search of his own history, his Aboriginality, and his future. He finds himself in a region of abundance and beauty but also of conflict, dispossession and dislocation. On the desperate frontier between cultures, Billy must find his place of belonging.' (Source: Fremantle Press website)

Description

This unit of study examines a range of Indigenous Australian writings from early colonial times to the present. It focuses on plays, novels, poetry, autobiography, and children's literature, as well as oral

narratives and traditional non-alphabetic forms of writing. As products of a cross-cultural creative dynamic, Indigenous writing provides unique insights into history, culture, politics and everyday life. The lectures will also address a range of theoretical and political questions surrounding the making, reading and evaluation of Indigenous texts.

Assessment

one 3000 word essay and one 3000 word take-home exam

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate
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