The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children
Camberwell
:
Penguin
,
2004
Z1153478
2004
single work
children's fiction
children's
(taught in 1 units)
In France during World War I, four French children learn about honesty, loyalty, and courage from an English army deserter who tells them a series of stories related to his small, silver donkey charm. (Source: Trove)
Our Sunshine
Sydney
:
Picador
,
1991
Z305264
1991
single work
novel
historical fiction
(taught in 2 units)
'An imaginative recreation of the inner life of Ned Kelly, hero and devil of the Australian outback, which carries the reader into a landscape of murder, prejudice, sexuality, persecution, robbery, vanity, religion, greed, politics and corruption.' (Publication summary)
Once in Broome
Broome
:
Magabala Books
,
2007
Z1424609
2007
single work
autobiography
(taught in 2 units)
The story is of chilhood memories of love and freedom in a culturally mixed pearling town unique in Australia. The memoirs convey an impression of great richness, sensuousness and diversity. Bin Demin's account is not completely idyllic, Broome is a town where people were classified into racial groups and given status accordingly and the more you had Aboriginal ancestry the less you were accepted. Full-blood Aboriginal people were not allowed within the town without proper permission. The Sun picture theatre was segregated and mixed race people were classified using terms such as octoroon.
Bran Nue Dae
Jimmy Chi
(composer),
Kuckles
(composer),
( dir. Rachel Perkins
)
2009
Australia
:
Robyn Kershaw Productions
Mayfan
,
2009
Z1562265
2009
single work
film/TV
(taught in 5 units)
Based on the stage musical of the same name by Jimmy Chi and the band Kuckles, Bran Nue Dae is set in 1969 and follows Willie, a young man who struggles to find a balance between the three things that drive his life: his love for his girl Rosie, his respect for his mother, and his religious faith. Willie's uncomplicated life of fishing and hanging out with his mates and his girl in the idyllic world of Broome is turned upside down when his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling and entry into the priesthood. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that leads him to meet his 'Uncle Tadpole' and eventually return to Broome. Along the way, Willie and Uncle Tadpole meet a couple of hippies, spend the night in gaol, and meet a gun-toting roadhouse operator, while managing to stay one step ahead of Father Benedictus, who wants to bring Willie back to the mission.
Animal Kingdom
( dir. David Michôd
)
Australia
:
Porchlight Films
,
2010
Z1686698
2010
single work
film/TV
crime
(taught in 2 units)
Inspired in part by Melbourne's 1988 Walsh Street murders, Animal Kingdom is a story about the battle between Melbourne's underworld and the police. The story tracks seventeen-year-old Joshua 'J' Cody, a troubled teenager perilously caught between his own criminal family and Detective Leckie, a compromised cop who thinks that he can save 'J'. 'J' comes to realise that in order to survive, he must determine how the game is played. This involves not only writing his own rule book but also choosing his place in the cunning and brutal animal kingdom in which his family lives.
Five Bells
North Sydney
:
Vintage Australia
,
2011
Z1735512
2011
single work
novel
(taught in 19 units)
'On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.
'But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.
'Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.' (From the publisher's website.)
Subject Objectives:
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to: 1. Demonstrate detailed and critically sensitive mastery of a significant national body of literary and visual culture. 2. Comprehensive knowledge of the historical background to the creation of a distinct Australian culture, particularly as it has been shaped and absorbed the impact of diverse aesthetic influences across various waves of migration. 3. Detailed critical thinking about form and how it relates to historical context, notably to a postcolonial understanding of the novel, the social self, the material and the aesthetic. 4. Use of bibliographic and electronic resources in the formulation and debate of theses, presentation of evidence, oral and written presentation, and the production of a bibliography. 5. Ability to assess and apply current and historical cultural critical and theoretical reading to primary texts to reach an understanding of the complex relations between text and context.
