Cirrus@Austlit

O'Sullivan seeks to 'identify attitudes to war in Australian children's literature' in the period 1914-1994, noting in particular the movement from identification with Britain and the Empire in the early decades of this period to an affinity with Asia and the Pacific in the latter decades (34). The discussion begins with a literature review of Australian and overseas critical research in this field and then surveys a large number of (mainly Australian) novels with war as the central/pivotal theme. O'Sullivan concludes that there has been a change in attitudes to war in Australian children's literature, whereby 'once Australia was part of the British Empire and prepared to fight for that anywhere in the world, now multicultural Australia takes a broader view and sees herself as part of a global family' (47).