The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island
Camberwell
:
Hamish Hamilton
,
2008
Z1483259
2008
single work
prose
(taught in 11 units)
In November 2004, in the small township of Palm Island in the far north of Queensland, Detective Hurley arrested Cameron Doomadgee for swearing at him. Doomadgee was drunk. A few hours later he died in a watch-house cell. According to the inquest, his liver was so badly damaged it was almost severed. (Source: Trove)
Don't Take Your Love to Town
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)
This subject will expose students to literature through a range of texts from Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria. Students will have the opportunity to examine contemporary works that cover diverse forms and genres of writing which explore issues related to nations' cultural formation. Emphasis will be placed on the development of the skills of critical analysis in the preparation for the study of literary courses. Issues relating to the representation of indigeneity in literature and film will be examined with a view to establishing whether there are distinct elements of Indigenous discourse. Comparisons will be made to the literature of other traditional cultures/colonised peoples throughout the world.
