#AustLit25
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Curious about how AustLit is celebrating its 25th birthday? Our social media calendar will tell you all! Download a copy to follow along as we create new trails, celebrate research projects, and provide search tips--or maybe come to our trivia night?! #AustLit25
www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
Brightly coloured calendar showing the celebrations for AustLit's 25th birthday.
January 12, 2026 at 11:44 PM
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Updated calendar for the #AustLit25 celebrations: check out what is coming up next, including trails on adaptations and multicultural writing, as well as projects on screen, drama, and Irishness. More details on the anniversary site!
www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
Multi-coloured calendar setting out the events, projects, and other social media posts for AustLit's 25th birthday.
February 18, 2026 at 4:27 AM
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Did you know it's our 25th birthday this year? Read all about it in this fantastic piece from The University of Queensland, which has housed and supported us for many years.
#AustLit25 #happybirthdaytous #uq
news.uq.edu.au/2026-01-worl...
World-leading literature database celebrates 25 years
UQ-housed literary database AustLit is celebrating 25 years of preserving Australian literature in 2026.
news.uq.edu.au
January 21, 2026 at 12:28 AM
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Interested in the complexities of the kinds of books the Banned in Australia project highlights? This video will walk you through how to search *within* an AustLit project, leveraging the power of the Advanced Search exclusively on a specific subset of records.
#austlit25
June 17, 2026 at 2:10 AM
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The latest 25 works for 25 years trail is on historical fiction. From ancient Rome to WW2, explore these 25 works that revisit, reframe, and interrogate the past.
#austlit25 #historicalfiction #readaustralianstories
July 15, 2026 at 1:01 AM
austlit.bsky.social
Happy NAIDOC Week! To mark this year's theme, 50 Years of Deadly, BlackWords has created its longest trail yet: one deadly work for each year since NAIDOC became a week-long celebration in 1975.
Explore below, and keep an eye out for more NAIDOC posts this week.
www.austlit.edu.au/naidoc2026
July 6, 2026 at 1:00 AM
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In 2026, we proudly celebrate 25 years of AustLit: the only national bibliography on this scale anywhere in the world! Want to celebrate along with us? Check our social media calendar, available via the link. And watch this space for #AustLit25 celebrations!
www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page...
AustLit 25th Anniversary Information Trails - Welcome to the AustLit 25 for 25 Information Trails | AustLit
Celebrating AustLit’s 25th birthday with information trails on key topics across the year.In 2026, we are proud to celebrate 25 years since AustLit first launched...
www.austlit.edu.au
January 12, 2026 at 2:37 AM
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Yesterday, we highlighted Dr Millicent Weber's audiobooks project. Today, our quick search video is on searching for audiobooks: it's easier than you might think!
Video has captions but no sound.
Are there aspects of the database you'd like more guidance on? Ask for a video guide!
#austlit25
May 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
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Today, we're highlighting one of our bigger research datasets: ScreenLit! This is AustLit's collection of bibliographical records on film and television from the earliest days.
Find out more at www.austlit.edu.au/screenlit
Beautiful slides by Monica Clayton.
#AustLit25
Text reads: AustLit's 25th anniversary special: Research Project 1 of 25. In the centre of the page, two rows of stylised film, showing title screens from the following films and TV series: top row, left to right, Muriel's Wedding, The Sapphires, Heartbreak High (new series); bottom row, left to right, Ali's Wedding, Puberty Blues (new series), Red Dog. Text below reads: ScreenLit. Continue to explore the project! On a blue background, a grey text box. Text above the box reads: About ScreenLit Project start: 2009 In the text box, text reads: ScreenLit provides information-rich records about Australian cinema productions (including short and feature films, documentaries, and animated films) and television programs (including made-for-TV movies, series, mini-series, serials and documentaries). A row of three images show the posters for Ned Kelly (Heath Ledger version), Bran Nue Day, and The Babadook. Below that, text reads: Chronologically, the resource begins with the emergence of Australian film production in the first decades of the twentieth century. On a blue background, a grey text box. Text reads: ScreenLit will continue to evolve over time and is continually being updated. Explore the ScreenLit project on AustLit and please contact us if you would like to assist us in expanding information about Australian film, television and other audio-visual storytelling methods. In the middle, a banner of images shows the posters for the films and TV series Unsound, Moulin Rouge, Follow the Rabbit-proof Fence, Boy Swallows Universe, and The Dry. Below that, text reads: AustLit welcomes contributions from scholars and specialists in the area in order to build an authoritative and detailed resource for research and general interest. On a blue background, text reads: AustLit is celebrating 25 years in 2026 For this momentous anniversary, we have a year’s worth of celebrations planned, from in-person and online events to project highlights, video guides, and information trails. Celebrate with us by following, sharing our content and using #AustLit25 to share your Australian literature discoveries. Visit our website for more details! 25 years of discovering Australian stories
February 19, 2026 at 2:59 AM
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This week, we're celebrating Australian fantasy, by drawing attention to a unique set of teaching resources published on AustLit. We've highlighted Anthony Eaton below, but there's more to explore!
Check out the full list at:
www.austlit.edu.au/teachingwith...
#AustLit25
On a blue background, text reads: AustLit's 25th Anniversary special: For teachers: Below the text, a black-frame banner shows five book covers, from left to right: a fragment of Isobelle Carmody's The Gathering, Ambelin Kwaymullina's The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, Anthony Eaton's Nightpeople, Sean Williams' The Stone Mage and the Sea, and a fragment of Alison Goodman's Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club. Below the image, text reads: Teaching with Fantasy Continue to explore the project! On a light blue background, a grey text box. Text reads: Teaching with Fantasy Teaching with AustLit Teaching with Fantasy is the outcome of a 2018 professional development event for teachers titled Teaching with Fantasy: Australian Fantasy Writers in Conversation and in the Classroom. The event has resulted in a collection of teaching and learning resources for seven young adult fantasy texts. This project delivers audio and video author interviews, and lesson plans related to the Australian Curriculum. Continue exploring On a light-blue background, a grey text box. Text reads: Sample lesson plan: Nightpeople Includes: Video interview with author Anthony Eaton Suggested lesson focus Before reading activities Close reading, interpretation, and critique Creating and responding Further reading and viewing Black Line Masters In the top right-hand corner of the text box is a section of the cover for Nightpeople, showing a futuristic tower in a post-apocalyptic landscape, surrounded by flying machines. On a light-blue background, text reads: AustLit is celebrating 25 years in 2026 For this momentous anniversary, we have a year’s worth of celebrations planned, from in-person and online events to project highlights, video guides, and information trails. Celebrate with us by following, sharing our content and using #AustLit25 to share your Australian literature discoveries. Visit our website for more details! 25 years of discovering Australian stories
June 3, 2026 at 11:04 PM
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Now you're exploring information trails, are you curious about how we create them? One way is to search the subject-concept thesaurus for works on the same theme. This pithy video (captions: no audio) will walk you through that process. Stay tuned for more video guides!
#AustLit25 #databases
January 29, 2026 at 1:36 AM
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Our third anniversary trail celebrates Australian romance, compiled by Ashleigh Lowry! As always, this is a taste not a best of. The slides, by Monica Clayton, highlight @keshewrites.bsky.social, Colleen McCullough, and Toni Jordan, but check out the full list at:
www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
On a red background, three stylised black and white frames show a scene from The Thorn Birds, a close-up of the cover of For No Mortal Creature, and a scene from Addition. Text reads AustLit's 25th Anniversary special: Information trail 3 of 25. On a red background, a grey text box with, in the upper right-hand corner, the cover of The Thorn Birds. Text reads: The Thorn Birds Romance, Historical Fiction - Novel & adaptations Colleen McCullough (1977) #AustLit25 The Thorn Birds is the unforgettable story of the Clearys, spanning three generations; a sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback. It is a poignant love story, a powerful epic of struggle and sacrifice, a celebration of individuality and spirit. Most of all, it is the story of the Clearys' only daughter, Meggie, and the haunted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart—and the intense joining of two hearts and souls over a lifetime, a relationship that dangerously oversteps sacred boundaries of ethics and dogma. On a red background, a grey text box with, in the upper right-hand corner, the cover of For No Mortal Creature. Text reads: For No Mortal Creature Romance, Fantasy - Novel Keshe Chow (2025) #AustLit25 When Jia Yi finds herself alive again after being killed by an enemy’s sword, she realizes she possesses a rare power: the ability to move between life and death. With her new gift comes the discovery of a mysterious spirit realm teeming with ghosts like herself—and Lin, the boy she once loved before his betrayal tore them apart. When Jia’s beloved grandmother dies under suspicious circumstances, she is forced to follow in an attempt to save her. In the death realm, though, even ghosts have ghosts. To survive, Jia must rely on both Lin and her longtime enemy, the cold and enigmatic Prince Essien. With tensions high and new and old connections blossoming, Jia must confront the ghosts of her past . . . or risk remaining one herself. On a red background, a grey text box with, in the upper right-hand corner, the cover of Addition. Text reads: Addition Romance, Humour - Novel & adaptations Toni Jordan (2008) #AustLit25 Grace Lisa Vandenburg counts. The letters in her name (19). The steps she takes every morning to the local cafe (920). The number of poppy seeds on her orange cake, which dictates the number of bites she'll take to eat it. Grace counts everything, because that way there are no unpleasant surprises. Seamus Joseph O'Reilly (also a 19) thinks she might be better off without the counting. If she could hold down a job, say. Or open her cupboards without conducting an inventory, or leave her flat without measuring the walls. Grace's problem is that Seamus doesn't count. Her other problem is ...he does. As Grace struggles to balance a new relationship with old habits, to find a way to change while staying true to herself, she realises that nothing is more chaotic than love.
February 13, 2026 at 3:07 AM
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Today's highlighted project is Australian Colonial Narrative Journalism, led by Dr Willa McDonald. The project began at Macquarie University, and aims to trace narrative journalism's history in Australia since 1788.
Explore below!
www.austlit.edu.au/research
Slides designed by Monica Clayton.
July 21, 2026 at 4:03 AM
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Are you teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing? Not only is BlackWords generally a fantastic resource for you, but there are specific teaching resources for you to check out, including National Curriculum aligned material.
www.austlit.edu.au/education
#naidocweek2026 #blackwords
July 9, 2026 at 2:58 AM
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AustLit's latest newsletter went out yesterday, and what's in it?!
Celebrations for #AustLit25
Welcome to our new BlackWords Co-ordinator!
An interview with our senior indexer, who has reached 20 years with AustLit!
And much more.
Read below, or subscribe for more!
rb.gy/h1bulr
On a greenish-grey background, books fly about: they have blue and yellow and orange covers. Over them is emblazoned the logo A25 and the sentence 'Celebrating 25 Years'.
March 19, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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Our latest 25 Works for 25 Years information trail is live, and this one is on literary scandals. Just in time to take advantage of Bluesky's expanded image carousel, so you can enjoy all of Monica Clayton's beautiful slides.
Explore more at:
www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
#austlit25
June 11, 2026 at 5:30 AM
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This time we're celebrating Audiobooks and Digital Book Culture, led by Dr Millicent Weber. This ongoing project materialises and makes available for research the relationships and entanglements of audiobook production.
Slides by Monica Clayton.
Explore at www.austlit.edu.au/audiobooks
#austlit25
On a light blue background, an enormous pair of headphones, represented in black outline, cover four audiobooks: Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon, Red Dust Running, The Will of the Many, and The Silent Listener. Text reads: AustLit's 25th Anniversary special: Research Project 7 of 25. Audiobooks. Continue to explore the project! On a blue background, a grey text box. Header text reads: About Audiobooks & Digital Book Culture. Project start: 2024. In the text box, text reads: The Audiobooks and Digital Book Culture project has allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of the Australian audiobook industry. Four audiobook covers are shown in a row: Seven Little Australians, The Spill, The Drover's Wife, and Terra Nullius. Text below the image reads: For the first time, full bibliographic details about Australian audiobooks have been integrated into the AustLit database. This project materialises and makes available for research the relationships and entanglements of audiobook production. On a blue background, a grey text box. Text reads: During this project, the way in which AustLit manages audiobook data within the database has changed. Although we do not yet know the full breadth of ways in which we will manage audio material, we have already established some changes to the data model. An image is shown of a pair of white corded headphones resting on a blue-covered book. Below the image, the text reads: Explore the Audiobooks Digital Book Culture project on AustLit to learn more about how we are managing audiobooks and the direction we are headed. On a blue background, text reads: AustLit is celebrating 25 years in 2026 For this momentous anniversary, we have a year’s worth of celebrations planned, from in-person and online events to project highlights, video guides, and information trails. Celebrate with us by following, sharing our content and using #AustLit25 to share your Australian literature discoveries. Visit our website for more details! 25 years of discovering Australian stories
May 12, 2026 at 12:58 AM
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Today's highlight is the Australian Drama Archive, a full-text collection of pre-1960s plays, from the claustrophobic horror of The Flail of God to the absurdity of The Ladder Game.
Explore the project in full at:
www.austlit.edu.au/australiandr...
#AustLit25
Beautiful slides by Monica Clayton!
AustLit’s 25th Anniversary special: Research Project 2 OF 25: [Image shows a black stage with five curved rows of black seats in front of it: the image is designed as an icon, not as a representative or illustrative image. On the stage are three images from set design associated with the project. This first shows a man in a grey suit, on the left, kissing the hand of a woman in a white tutu-style skirt; the second shows a grey, two-storey street scene; the third shows a vaguely Greek-looking scene, with pillars and cyprus trees.] AUSTRALIAN DRAMA ARCHIVE Continue to explore the project! About the Australian Drama Archive project Project start: 2016 The Australian Drama Archive Project is a digitisation project publishing plays and research relating to writers working in the period before the 1960s. Collaborators at The University of Queensland and the University of New England set out to digitise and research a collection of Australian plays from the twentieth century up to the 1960s and bring them to life again through publication, production, and new research. The Australian Drama Archive’s dataset includes but is not limited to the following: > Biographical information — playwrights and writers working in the period before the 1960s. > Play Information — synopsis, publication details, production details and historical notes. > Research outcomes > Digitised transcripts of plays researched in the project. [Banner image shows a series of pages from the plays included in the project: the pages are text-heavy and the text is illegible at this size.] Selected plays were scanned and in most cases run through an optical character recognition (OCR) process which generated a plain text file that was subsequently corrected. In some cases the OCR text was so bad, due to the poor quality of the original manuscript, we determined it was best to manually transcribe the text. AustLit is celebrating 25 years in 2026 For this momentous anniversary, we have a year’s worth of celebrations planned, from in-person and online events to project highlights, video guides, and information trails. Celebrate with us by following, sharing our content and using #AustLit25 to share your Australian literature discoveries. Visit our website for more details! 25 years of discovering Australian stories
March 11, 2026 at 2:29 AM
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Today's highlighted research project is Australian Fantasy Fiction and Japan, a really fun collection of translations of Aust. fantasy fiction into Japanese, from Mary Poppins onwards. (Slides by Monica Clayton.)
Explore more at:
www.austlit.edu.au/australianfa...
#AustLit25 #readaustralianfantasy
Banner image shows, on a bed of stars, the covers for Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest (Japanese above, English below); May Gibb's Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (English above, Japanese below), and A. Bertram Chandler's The Road to the Rim / The Hard Way Up (Japanese above, English below). Text reads: Australian Fantasy Fiction & Japan 日本語に翻訳されたオーストラリアのファンタジー小説 The dataset includes all the works of Australian fantasy fiction that the project team could identify that have already been translated into Japanese. Banner image shows, from left to right, the book covers for Jessica Townsend's Wundersmith, in both the English and Japanese editions; Sergio Bambaren's The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer, in both the English and Japanese editions; and Paul Kidd's White Plume Mountain, in both the English and Japanese editions. 作成されたデータセットは、オーストラリアの ファンタジー小説の内、すでに日本語に 翻訳されている作品が全て含まれています。 Project Leaders: Dr Lucy Fraser Sonia Broad Project Team: Samuel Round Elara Crook Christiana Palella Student Researchers: Dana Durre Andrew Millar Translator Hiroko Tan | 陳 弘子 Generously supported by: Campbell Bequest at The University of Queensland UQ Summer Research Programme AustLit is celebrating 25 years in 2026 For this momentous anniversary, we have a year’s worth of celebrations planned, from in-person and online events to project highlights, video guides, and information trails. Celebrate with us by following, sharing our content and using #AustLit25 to share your Australian literature discoveries. Visit our website for more details! 25 years of discovering Australian stories
March 23, 2026 at 3:53 AM
austlit.bsky.social
The latest 25 for 25 trail is live and, to mark Harmony Week, it's on the theme of migrant voices. Compiled by AustLit intern and CSU student Renee Mirabato, with gorgeous slides by Monica Clayton. As always, check out www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver... for the full trail!
#AustLit25 #diversity
A red background, with a black banner and, on top of it, a red map of the world: three speech bubbles show vibrant images of a beach, a collage street scene, and a pagoda on top of a cloud-covered skyscraper. Text reads: AustLit's 25th anniversary special: Information trail 5 of 25. Migrant Voices. Continue to explore the trail A red background, with black text: Ten Pound Pom. Autobiography, picture book. Carole Wilkinson - author, Liz Aneli - illustrator (2017). A grey text box. Text readds: I don’t want to go to Australia. I have just started grammar school. My best friend Sally goes there too. But it looks like there could be another war and Dad has convinced Mum to go. Because we’re migrants, the voyage is costing Mum and Dad only £10 each. My brother Brian and I are travelling free. It’s a long way to Australia. What if we never come back to England? 'In the 1950s and 60s Australia welcomed thousands of British immigrants as part of the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme. Ten Pound Pom is the true story of award-winning author Carole Wilkinson’s immigration to Australia.' In the bottom right hand corner of the text box is the book cover, showing a street scene opening up to a large passenger ship with, in the foreground, a family huddling under a black umbrella. A red background: black text reads 'Donkeys Can't Fly on Planes: Stories of Survival from South Sudanese Children Living in Australia. Anthology, Autobiography, Picture book. A grey text box: text reads In Donkey's Can't Fly on Planes twenty-two refugee children from South Sudan, who now live in Australia, share their personal survival stories. In short, honest texts that are accompanied by mixed-media collage illustrations, the children talk about life in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and other African countries. They share experiences of starvation and war, of family separation and death, but they also describe African customs and traditions, everyday life and happy memories.' In the top right-hand corner is the cover of the book, showing a brown donkey against green hills. A red background. Black text reads, Ghost Cities. Ficti9on, Fantasy Novel. Siang Lu (2024). A grey text box. Text reads: 'Inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed - then recreated, page by page and book by book - all in the name of love and art?' In the top right-hand corner is the cover of the book, showing a grey-toned fantastical cityscape rising vertically up the cover.
March 16, 2026 at 1:15 AM
austlit.bsky.social
Following on from last week's (gasp!) literary scandals, today we're highlighting Professor Nicole Moore's Banned in Australia project, a bibliography that is currently (and horrifyingly) topical once again.
www.austlit.edu.au/banned
Gorgeous slides designed by Monica Clayton again!
#austlit25
June 16, 2026 at 10:01 PM
austlit.bsky.social
Our newest information trail is out, and it was as hard as it sounds to bring 'women's writing' down to 25 writers. But remember, we have many more trails coming!
Explore the whole trail at:
www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
#austlit25
Beautiful slides by Monica Clayton; trail by Dr Cherie Allan.
On a red background, text reads: AustLit's 25th Anniversary special: Information trail 8 of 25. In the middle of the page, a banner of three cover images: from left to right, Oriel Gray's Exit Left: Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman, Debra Dank's We Come with this Place, Catherine Helen Spence's A Week in the Future. Women's silhouettes in green, yellow, and pale blue run across the bottom of the banner. Text below reads: Women's Writing. Continue to explore the trail! On a red background, a grey text box. Text reads: Did you know ... Catherine Helen Spence wrote her feminist novel A Week in the Future in 1888? Protagonist Emily Bethal, given two years to live, chooses to trade the time for one week living in the distant future of 1988. Serialised in 1888, this novel wasn’t published in book form until 1987. In the top left-hand corner, the cover of A Week in the Future. On a red background, a grey text box. Text reads: Did you know ... Oriel Gray was the joint winner of the 1955 Playwright’s Advisory Board Competition ... with Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll? Her play, The Torrents, was only produced once, in 1956, and not again until 1996, while Summer of the Seventeenth Doll went on to broad acclaim. In the top left-hand corner, the cover of Exit Left: Memoirs of a Scarlet Woman. On a red background, a grey text box. Text reads: Did you know ... Debra Dank’s We Come with This Place absolutely swept the awards field, winning an unprecedented four awards at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards in 2023, including Book of the Year, the Indigenous Writers' Prize, the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction, and the Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. It also won the ALS Gold Medal and a Queensland Literary Award, and was shortlisted for a Prime Minister's Literary Award and the Stella Prize. In the top left-hand corner, the cover for We Come with This Place.
May 7, 2026 at 3:33 AM
austlit.bsky.social
Our next information trail for #AustLit25 is live, and to celebrate the upcoming #AACTAs, it's on Australian film. Beautifully compiled by Shala Schlicht and with gorgeous slides by Monica Clayton. Don't forget to check the calendar for future trails!
Explore here: www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
AustLit’s 25th Anniversary special: INFORMATION TRAIL 2 OF 25: Black strip of stylised film, showing, from left-to-right, Mel Gibson in Mad Max, a scene from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and a shot from Satellite Boy. AUSTRALIAN FILMS Continue to explore the trail! Text reads: Satellite Boy Adventure/Family Catriona McKenzie (2012) In a grey text box, text reads: Set in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Satellite Boy tells the story of Pete who lives in an abandoned drive-in cinema with his grandfather Jagamarra, whom Pete calls Jubbi. Jagamarra is determined to pass on knowledge and culture to his grandson, but Pete is a reluctant learner. When the cinema is purchased by a mining company and slated for demolition, Pete and his best friend Kalmain set off on a journey to save their home. When the two get lost in the remote country of the Bungle Bungles, their survival depends on the lessons Pete’s grandfather has taught him. In the top left-hand corner of the text box is the poster for Satellite Boy, showing a young Indigenous boy standing next to a burning chair, with a derelict drive-in movie screen behind him against the sunset. Text reads: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1984) Musical/Drama/Comedy Stephan Elliot (1984) In a grey text box, text reads: 'Tick' Belrose, a Sydney drag queen, accepts his ex-wife's invitation to bring his stage show to the outback. Felicia, a younger drag queen, and the grieving Bernadette. They set out for Alice Springs in a second-hand bus that they name 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. The journey takes them to Broken Hill, Coober Pedy and are rescued by an open-minded mechanic when Priscilla breaks down in the desert. In Alice Springs, Tick meets the young son he barely knows and the three climb Kings Canyon together in full drag, before making their debut at the Alice Springs casino. In the top right-hand corner of the text box is the theatrical poster for Priscilla, showing a bus in a desert with an elaborately costumed drag queen riding on the roof, and three costumed drag queens at the bottom front. Text reads: Mad Max Action/Sci-fi James McCausland & George Miller (1979). Against a grey text box, text reads: In a post-apocalyptic Australia, law and order has begun to break down due to energy shortages, despite the efforts of Main Force Patrol (MFP) officers like Max Rockatansky. After Rockatansky encounters Toecutter's motorcycle gang, who are running runshod over isolated communities, he grows disillusioned with his role in the MFP. At first convinced by his superior officer not to resign, he is driven into a state of cold-blooded revenge when Toecutter's gang murder his wife and young son. In the top right-hand side of the text box is the theatrical poster for Mad Max, showing a leather clad and helmeted man, holding a gun, standing in front of a car. The background is on fire.
February 4, 2026 at 2:39 AM
austlit.bsky.social
The first of our #AustLit25 trails went live yesterday, and we're selecting 25 works that discuss January 26. This sampling of works from 2025 to 1825 highlights just how diverse approaches are and how much they have changed over time.
Explore the trail in full: www.austlit.edu.au/25th-anniver...
Red background with black text. Text reads: AustLit's 25th Anniversary special: INFORMATION TRAIL 1 OF 25: JANUARY 26. Continue to explore the trail. Across the middle of the screen, three images are placed in a black frame: an older white Australian man holding a younger, weeping Chinese woman against a backdrop of shipping containers; an older Aboriginal woman, with long white hair, a green tunic, and pink pants, embraces a young Aboriginal girl as they look into the sunrise; a younger woman dressed apparently only in an over-sized white T-shirt, talks to an older man wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt. Red background, with a grey text box. Text reads: 'Day Break is the story of a family making their way back to Country on January 26. We see the strength they draw from being together, and from sharing stories as they move through a shifting landscape. 'The story refocuses the narratives around ‘Australia Day’ on Indigenous survival and resistance, and in doing so honours the past while looking to the future. Confronting yet truthful, painful yet full of hope, Day Break is a crucial story that will open up a conversation on truth-telling for the next generation.' (Courtesy of publisher). The cover of picture book Day Break is in the top left-hand corner of the text box. It shows an older Aboriginal woman, with long white hair, a green tunic, and pink pants, embracing a young Aboriginal girl as they look into the sunrise. A red background with a grey text box. Text reads: As a sweltering Australia Day dawns over Brisbane, three seemingly unconnected figures – a farmer, an Indigenous policewoman and an illegal Chinese immigrant – are thrown together by chance and misfortune. As their stories arc and connect, they'll find themselves drawn into a web of racism, violence and simmering resentment that will leave none of them unscathed, and challenge everything they thought they knew about the country they call home.' (Courtesy of publisher). The poster for the film is in the top left-hand corner. It shows an older white Australian man holding a younger, weeping Chinese woman against a backdrop of shipping containers. A red background with a grey text box. Text reads: 'Living aboard neighbouring boats in a crowded marina, Col, Baxter and Jackie are middle-aged fringe-dwellers. Each of them nurses secret wounds and anxieties, and although their vessels are ocean-going craft, none seems likely to ever leave the safe confines of the harbour. They are hiding from the world behind and beyond. 'On Australia Day, drunk, lost and angry, a young English backpacker called Dee turns up on the jetty and her arrival unleashes chaos. Suddenly no secret is safe, nothing is fixed. As the nation celebrates, the cosy fantasy of safety from the past is blown open in a funny, bitter torrent of loose talk.' (Courtesy of publisher). An image from a production of the play is shown in the top left-hand corner. It shows a younger woman dressed apparently only in an over-sized white T-shirt, talking to an older man wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt.
January 22, 2026 at 2:17 AM
austlit.bsky.social
Following on from our most recent information trail, on historical fiction, this quick search video walks you through searching AustLit by temporal settings.
Video has captions, no sound.
Happy searching!
#austlit25
July 16, 2026 at 3:44 AM