Most famous works of Australian literature explore common themes of Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, and the country's unique environment. Some seminal works include Waltzing Matilda and The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Paterson, which use distinctly Australian language to depict the bush. Other classics are Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, and works by contemporary authors like Tim Winton, Christian Tsiolkas, and Markus Zusak.

1. Australian Literature
Most famous works
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2. Common Themes of Aus-Literature
● Aboriginality
● Mateship
● Egalitarianism
● Democracy
● National identity
● Migration
● Australia’s unique location/ geography/
environment
● The beauty and terror of the Australian bush

3. Older Works - Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson
● Wrote many celebrated poems about the Australian bush
● 186-1941
● Famous works include:
● Waltzing Matilda
● The Man from Snowy River
● He uses a lot of classic Australian words. How many do you understand?

4. And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast;
He was something like a racehorse undersized,
With a touch of Timor pony — three parts thoroughbred at least
—
And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.
He was hard and tough and wiry — just the sort that won't say
die —
There was courage in his quick impatient tread;
And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,
And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.
But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay,
And the old man said, "That horse will never do
For a long and tiring gallop - lad, you'd better stop away,
Those hills are far too rough for such as you."
So he waited sad and wistful — only Clancy stood his friend —
"I think we ought to let him come," he said;
"I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end,
For both his horse and he are mountain bred."
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed
around
That the colt from Old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand
pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses
are,
And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.
There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the
cup,
The old man with his hair as white as snow;
But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up —
He would go wherever horse and man could go.
And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand,
No better horseman ever held the reins;
For never horse could throw him while the saddle girths would
stand,
He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.
The Man from Snowy River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLLzWKEtrQk&t=97s

5. Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
He sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
CHORUS
Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up rode the troopers, one, two, three,
"With the jolly jumbuck that you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
CHORUS
Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up rode the troopers, one, two, three,
"With the jolly jumbuck that you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
CHORUS
Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never take me alive", said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
CHORUS
Waltzing Matilda

6. BESTSELLERS
OVER THE YEARS

7. Picnic at Hanging Rock
- Joan Lindsay
An Australian historical fiction novel by Joan
Lindsay. Set in 1900, it is about a group of female
students at an Australian girls' boarding school
who vanish at Hanging Rock while on a
Valentine's Day picnic, and the effects the
disappearances have on the school and local
community.

8. Tim Winton
Cloudstreet (1991), Breath (2008), Dirt Music
(2001).
● Born 1960, Western Australia. His books are
set in the Australian landscape. He has won
many prizes for his fiction.

9. The Slap – Christian Tsiolkas
Friends are all at a barbecue. The story begins
when a man slaps a child that is not his own
spiraling conflict between the friends. Story told
from the perspectives of 8 different characters,
focuses on the lives and cultures of Australian-
Europeans (Greeks).

10. Jasper Jones – Craig Silvey
‘The Australian To Kill A Mockingbird’
Set during the Vietnam War in Western Australia
in the 60’s, it explores themes of racism in the
country. Story begins when Charlie Buckton is
awoken one night when the town’s token
Indigenous troublemaker, Jasper Jones, knocks
on his window and asks for his help

11. The Rosie Project – Graeme
Simpson
A witty and honest view into the mindset of Don
Tillman, an autistic and highly intelligent
genetics scientist who has decided it’s time to
settle down and take a wife, and designs a 16-
page Wife Project.
Laughs and love from this book.

12. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
A story narrated by a compassionate Death who
tells us about Liesel, a girl growing up in
Germany during World War II. She steals books,
learns to read, and finds comfort in words. She
and Max, the Jew her family protects, are the
only main characters that survive the war.

13. CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT
CLASSICS