During the period studied in this thesis, 1970-1999, picture books in Australia have become increasingly sophisticated and complex. In order to decode them readers need higher levels of visual literacy. In researching this the author has created a framework for evaluating visual narrative structure in picture books. This was then developed and tested on a total of 145 Australian picture books, with special focus given to the works of Ron Brooks, Dick Roughsey and Percy Trezise, Mem Fox, Donna Rawlins, Gary Crew and Bob Graham.