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you can add robert drewe's The shark net which we do in yr 11 lit<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>douglas</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br><div><div>On 07/08/2007, at 11:34 PM, Scott Bulfin wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Hi all,<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div>Further to my previous email, here is a list of Australian Literature that is or has recently been on the VCE English and Literature text lists.</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div>Perhaps you are teaching Australian Lit in the middie years? Do you want to add to the list?</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div>Scott</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><b>English:</b></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-! style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Behrendt, Larissa, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Home</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Macauley, Wayne, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Winton, Tim, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Minimum of Two</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; mar! gin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class=" Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Rayson, Hannie, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Inheritance</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Kelly, Paul, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Donʼt Start Me Talking: Lyrics 1984–2004</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Goldsworthy, Peter, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Maestro</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-styl! e-span" style="font-size: 11px;">,</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Farmer, Beverley, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Collected Stories</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Slessor, Kenneth, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Selected Poems</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Gaita, Raimond, </span></font><font class!="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="fon t-size: 11px;"><i>Romulus, My Father</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Jindabyne (Director: Ray Lawrence)</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Malouf, David<i>, Fly Away Peter</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Drewe, Robert, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Shark Net</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font c!="" lass="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Flanagan, Arch and Martin, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Line</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Grenville, Kate, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Secret River</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Dawe, Bruce, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Sometimes Gladness</i></span></font></div><div style="margin-to! p: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><fo nt="" class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Murray-Smith, Joanna, </span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Bombshells</i></span></font></fo></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Witness </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">(Director: Peter Weir)</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Look Both Ways </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">(Director: Sarah Watt)</span></font></div><div style="margi! n-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 13px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 13px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><b>Literature:</b></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Day, Gregory, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Patron Saint of Eels, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">! Picador, 2005</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-r ight: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Grenville, Kate, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Idea of Perfection, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Picador, 2000</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Mayes, Andrea, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Rose Notes, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Penguin, 2005</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px! ; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Enright, Nick, and Monjo, Justin, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Cloudstreet </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">(adapted from</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">the novel by Tim Winton), Currency Press, 1999</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Parsons, Nick, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>De! ad Heart: The Play</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" siz="" e="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Currency Press, 2003</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Nowra, Louis, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Radiance, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Currency Press, 2004</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Carey, Peter, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Collected Stories</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style! -span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Vintage, Random House, 2005</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Drewe, Robert (ed.), </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Penguin Book of the Beach</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Penguin, 2001</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Mears, Gillian, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>A Map of the Gardens, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Appl! e-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Picador, 2002</span></font><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Bayet-Charlton, Fabienne, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Finding Ullagundahi Island, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Allen & Unwin, 2002</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Li, Cunxin, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Maoʼs Last Dancer, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Penguin, 2003</span></font></div><d! iv="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Wright, Judith, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Half a Lifetime, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Penguin, 2001</span></font></d!></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Lawrence, Anthony, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Skinned by Light, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">University of Queensland Press, 2002</span></font></div><div sty!="" le="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-lef t: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Murray, Les </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Collected Poems</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Black Inc., 2006</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">McGirr, Michael, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Bypass: The Story of a Road</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Pan Macmillan, 2005</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font !="" class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Modjeska, Drusilla, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Timepieces, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Picador, 2002</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Astley, Thea, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Hunting the Wild Pineapple, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Penguin, 1981</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" s!="" ize="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Rayson , Hannie, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Hotel Sorrento, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Currency Press, 2002</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Murray-Smith, Joanna, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Honour, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Currency Press, 2006</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">McGahan, Andrew, </span></font>! <font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The White Earth, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Allen & Unwin, 2004</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">de Kretser, Michelle, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>The Hamilton Case, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Vintage, Random House, 2004</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Beveridge, Judith, </span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-spa n" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Wolf Notes, </i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Giramondo Publishing Company, 2003.</span></font></font></div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Kinsella, John, </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Peripheral Light: Selected and New Poems</i></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2003</span></font></div><div><br><div><div>On 07/08/2007, at 10:40 PM, Stephen Loosley wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hi all,</div><div style="mar! gin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A speech today by Julie Bishop (Minister for Education, Science and Training, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Australian Literature Roundtable - Dinner</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Monday 6 August 2007</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Parliament House, Canberra<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div sty!="" le="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-lef t: 0px; "><<a href="http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Bishop/2007/08/BOO02070807.asp">http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Bishop/2007/08/BOO02070807.asp</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">*******</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Last year, The Australian newspaper conducted an experiment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It submitted to publishers and literary agents, under a false name, a chapte! r of the novel The Eye of the Storm, by Australia’s first, and to date, only Nobel Laureate for Literature - Patrick White.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The chapter was rejected by every one of them.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">One went so far as to refer the author to a book on how to write fiction.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">What does this experiment say about the state of literature, more par! ticularly Australian literature?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; mar gin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Does it reveal what is going on in our publishing houses –<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Or perhaps in our Universities and schools?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Tomorrow’s Roundtable will seek to examine the current state of Australian literature –<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">And consider how we can preserve and develop its place in the life of the nation.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">And it is timely.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Next year we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the Commonwealth Literary Fund by Alfred Deakin in 1908 – which was originally a benevolent fund for ageing or infirmed authors and their families.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px ; margin-left: 0px; ">It was expanded by Prime Minister Menzies to encompass fellowships, support for publishers and literary journals.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">And in 1973, the fund was taken over by the Literature Board of the Australia Council.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I hope that out of tomorrow’s deliberations, steps can be taken to maintain and build on the status of Australian literature.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">While this ! responsibility rests with many guardians of Australian literature, I do congratulate the Literature Board of the Australia Council for organising this roundtable.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Our universities have an important role to play in nurturing our literature, as do the publishing houses.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But it’s in our schools that most Australians first come across the nation’s literature.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As the Minister for Education, I am keenly aware of the need to ensure our schools play their role in ensuring Australian literature is not overlooked by the nation.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Young people have their first opportunity at school to examine the great works of the English-speaking world, and discover the characters and creatures of Western literature.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The canon of Western literature forms the bedrock of our cultural inheritance and retains its value across the centuries.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-r! ight: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The lessons and values inherent in these great works give all generations an understanding of the cultural values that underpin our laws, institutions and society.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This is why it is important for our schools to ensure young Australians are given the opportunity and encouraged to develop a knowledge and love of some of the classic works of Western literature, including Australian works.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In teaching cl! assical literature, we open a window onto the triumphs and tragedies o f times gone by.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">More than just developing higher-order literacy skills, we share the history and the heritage of our past with future generations, and we hand down a sense of the ages.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">In this sense, William Shakespeare is just as relevant today as he was in Tudor times.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; " !="">Richard III and Julius Caesar, teach us an important lesson about the danger of despotism, whilst Macbeth is a thesis on betrayal.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">And in twentieth century English literature, George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty Four is the standard work on totalitarianism, while Animal Farm, through its parody of the Russian Revolution, demonstrates the corruption of ideas.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">These great works reveal the importance of the battle for individual liberty, the foundations of democracy and the role of social norms in the functioning of society.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">An excellent example of this last inheritance – the social norms of the day – is illustrated through the works of Jane Austen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Austen opened a door on late 18th and early 19th century England to provide a valuable insight into the social history of that age.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Great literature also presents ideas with eloquence, and provides models and examples by which students can develop their ! skills of expression.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">English common law formed the foundation for our legal system, English literature has bequeathed to us a literary tradition from which we have moulded and developed our own.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From the early work of Watkin Tench, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, to the works of Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally, Australian literature builds on and continues to add to the works of the English-speaking world.</div> </blockquote><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bo! ttom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Australian literature can be characterised by the emergence of a distinctly Australian voice and sense of identity.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Every young Australian should share in this important heritage and schools should ensure students are given every opportunity to discover them.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I am an unapologetic supporter of the view that the classical works should form a prominent part of English classes in Australian schools.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0p! x; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As Peter Craven put it last year, “it’s important that we hang on to the idea that some pieces of work have got more going for them than others”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The protection of our literary past is not just about ensuring that enough students study Henry Kendall, Banjo Patterson and Xavier Herbert.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">School students should develop a love of literature and learn to interpre! t that literature through the prism of their personal values and throu gh the norms of our society.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">They shouldn’t be forced to interpret literature through particular political or ideological perspectives.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Critical literacy is one of the more unfortunate developments in Australian school English classes in recent times.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The idea that all texts must be continually seen in terms of cl! ass, gender and race can actually discourage students from reading literature.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As Luke Slattery has noted, critical literacy has been embedded into most state and territory English syllabuses.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This problem was illustrated a few years ago when Sophie Masson wrote of her son - then studying HSC English - having to take Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and compare it! to an advertisement for a weight-lifting gym.<span class="Apple-conve rted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As Sophie said: “If it wasn’t horrible, it would be hilarious”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Another example - a student in Queensland was asked to write a feminist critique of the German fairy tale Rapunzel.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I quote: "Even the title Rapunzel is not left without the gender! assumption. For example, the story title Rapunzel is in fact the name of a vegetable, therefore reinforcing the gender roles of women as a vegetable, which can be linked with cooking chores deemed to be a woman's profession."</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">That student received top marks.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Give me a break! Why can’t The Brothers Grimm just be about a young maiden imprisoned in a tower where love and goodness triumphed over evil.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0p! x; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This problem of how literat ure is taught, as opposed to how much is taught, is one of the most insidious problems in the teaching of Australian literature.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">An appreciation of the best literature should be an essential part of schooling.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">There is a legitimate concern that our core literary canon and our major contemporary writers no longer carry the weight they should within our education systems, and that there is a decreasing knowledge of core texts.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;! margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Responsibility for the selection of literary works for school study remains with the state and territory government and non-government authorities. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Nevertheless, the Australian Government can take a leadership role by identifying issues of national concern and by promoting higher educational standards and achieving greater national consistency in schools. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; mar! gin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Australian Government’s aim is to make the content and standards of the curriculum delivered in Australian schools transparent and open to scrutiny by students, teachers, parents, and the community-at-large.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Last year I released the report “Year 12 Curriculum Content and Achievement Standards” by the Australian Council for Educational Research. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This report provides the first Australia-wide picture of what is expected of students taking five subjects: English, mathematics, chemistry, physics and Australian history in the final years of seconda! ry school. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The study found significant differences between states in curriculum content, assessment and reporting of student results.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The study found that there are 18 different senior English courses available for students wanting to continue to tertiary studies.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; ! margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Does this wide variation best serve the interests of students?</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It is a disturbing trend that in Queensland, for example, the number of students studying English or English Literature dropped from 93 per cent to 80 per cent of year 12 students over the past decade, while the number of students studying the softer option of English Communication rose from 2400 to 8500 students.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The teaching of English is essential in all primary and secondary schools. A crucial aspect of the teaching of English should be the study of literature – particularly in the senior years.</div><div style="margin-top: 0p! x; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Australian Government announced in this year’s Budget $13 million to develop core curricula standards for Year 10, 11 and 12 subjects by 2009 - for English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Australian History for Years 11 and 12, and for English, Maths, Science and Australian History for Year 10. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> <blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From 1 January 2009, States and territories will be required to meet these core national standards.</div> </blockquote><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14p! x; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin- bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I want to see the study of Australian literature given greater prominence in schools across Australia. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">It is gratifying that many young people still love to read, we only have to look at the recent sales of the latest Harry Potter book to see that.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">However, we need to build upon this enthusiasm to also introduce students to Australian literature.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-hei! ght: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The ability of the teacher is of crucial importance.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A talented teacher can bring stories alive and fire the imagination, while others can make the same topic dreary.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Australian Government believes that our teachers deserve to be energised with quality professional development.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-! bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Our new initiative, Australian Govern ment Summer Schools for Teachers, will include a specific two-week professional learning programme on the teaching of English, as well as other core subjects</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This should be an opportunity to remind teachers of the need to instil in our students an appreciation of Australian literature.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We need to encourage publishers to look at the potential markets for Australian writers, domestically and internationally.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-righ! t: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I have been concerned to find that a large part of Australia’s literary heritage is out-of-print.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">For example, I was looking for the Billabong series by Mary Grant Bruce as a gift for a nephew – and found they are out of print. I was brought up on these books!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I was speaking to my brother just then and he was lamenting the fact that he can’t buy a copy of his childhood favourite “February Dragon” by Colin Thiele, for his little boy, he had read it so many times he knew it off my heart as a boy. Not available!</div><div style="margin! -top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; mi n-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We need to preserve our distinctly Australian voice and stories, our intellectual and cultural heritage.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We must give children access to Australia’s inheritance.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The living past and the lessons we can take from it should be nothing less than a unique and joyous learning experience.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div! style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The authors, books and plays that students should study has always caught the imagination and encouraged debate.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div!></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Tonight, I am pleased to announce that the Australian Government will donate $1.5 million as an endowment towards the establishment of a chair in Australian Literature at an Australian University.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">There are currently only two chairs – only one is permanent and I am seeking to esta! blish another permanent chair.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margi n-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I will be inviting universities to apply to host this position.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I hope that this Roundtable can provide some guidance to not only Australia’s schools, but our universities on how we can ensure young people have access to Australian literature for generations to come.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The Government is keen to consider practical ideas that aim to ensure that the nation’s literary tradition is fostered and apprec! iated.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I look forward to your deliberations.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Media Contacts:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ms Bishop’s Office: Murray Hansen 0417 886 155</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="ma! rgin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px ; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.edulists.com.au">http://www.edulists.com.au</a> - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">VCE English Teachers' Mailing List kindly supported by</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html</a> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div> </div></blockquote></div><br></div>_______________________________________________ <br> <a href="http://www.edulists.com.au"> http://www.edulists.com.au </a> - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe <br> VCE English Teachers' Mailing List kindly supported by <a href="http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html">http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/english/index.html</a> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority <br></font></blockquote></div><br></div><p></p><p><b>Important - </b>This email and any attachments may be confidential. 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