Australian literature began with accounts from early European explorers describing their first contacts with Aboriginal people. Some early works portrayed Aboriginal people in sympathetic or romantic terms. Key themes in Australian literature include Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, and the beauty and terror of the Australian bush. Notable early literary works included poems published in the 18th century and the first book published by an Australian in 1819. Aboriginal Australians also contributed to early Australian literature through accounts of their mythology and traditions. Modern Australian authors have explored Aboriginal experiences and national identity in their works.

1. AUSTRALIAN
LITERATURE

2. Australian Literature is written or produced by
the people of the Commonwealth of Australia &
its preceding colony. Its literary traditions begin
with its linked to the broader tradition of English
Literature.
The general proposition holds both Indigenous
Australian & those European descends.
The white Australian community is united in part
by its awareness of itself as a settler society with
a continuing celebration of pioneer values & a
deep attachment to the land. And for Aboriginal
people their traditional culture, stories & song
are seen in their literature.

5. THEME OF AUSTRALIAN
LITERATURE
ABORIGINALITY
MATESHIP
EGALITARIANISM
DEMOCRACY
NATIONAL IDENTITY
MIGRATION
AUSTRALIAN’S UNIQUE LICATION
&GEOGRAPHY
• THE BEAUTY & TERROR OF THE
AUSTRALIAN BUSH
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6. EARLY LITERARY WORKS

7. • The first account of Aborigines came
from the journals of Early European
explorer which contains description of
the first contact.
• The early account of literature was done
by an English buccaneer William Dampier
who wrote the “Native of New Holland”.
• But by the time of Capt. James Cook &
the First Fleet wrote that literary
accounts of Aborigines were more
sympathetic & romantic. European
writers wrote fictional accounts of an
imaginings of the Great Southern Land.

9. • 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman landed in
Tasmania he speculated that the newly
discovered country must be people of giants.
• In 1797 the British romantic poet Robert
Southey included a section in his poem
entitled “Botay Bay Eclogues”
• 1819, poet, explorer, journalist & politician
William Wentworth publish the first book
written by an Australian.

10. Welcome ye savage lands, ye
barbarous climes,
Where angry England sends her
outcast sons-I hail your joyless shores! my weary
bark
Long tempest-tost on Life's
inclement sea,
Here hails her haven! welcomes
the drear scene,
The marshy plain, the briarentangled wood,
And all the perils of a world
unknown.
For Elinor has nothing new to fear
From fickle Fortune! all her rankling
shafts
Barb'd with disgrace, and venom'd
with disease.
Have pierced my bosom, and the
dart of death
Has lost its terrors to a wretch like
me.

11. • Jaimes Unaipon contributed the accounts of
Aboriginal mythology, written by a
missionary George Taplin.
• David Unaipon provided the first account of
Aboriginal mythology written by an
Aboriginal
• Oodgeroo Noonucal was a famous Aboriginal
poet, writer, Aboriginal activist& ducator, she
publish the first Aboriginal Book verse: We
are Going.

12. We are Going
The scrubs are gone, the hunting & laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu & the kangaroo are
gone from this place.
The Bora ring is gone.
The carroboree is gone.
And we are going.

13. • Sally Morgan she wrote an autobiography of
her life entitled My Place.

14. Children’s Literature

15. • Ethel Turner, wrote the first book& only book
to have been continuously in print for 100
years,entitled “Seven Little Australian”
• Norman Lindsay wrote the “Magic Pudding”
• Ethel Pedley was the author of “Dot & the
Kangaroo.
• The Children’s Book Council Award (CBCA) is
an award winning body, given annually for
outstanding authors & literary piece
that contributed to Australian Children
Literature.

16. • Jackie French wrote the critically acclaimed
“Hitler’s Daughter”.