Rights and Freedoms - Core Study Timeline

Below you will find a Chronology of Rights and Freedoms that I built while researching some material for the Cambridge History Transformed Stage 5 textbook that was released 3 years ago. 

This timeline covers 1901 to the present day and is still a draft. Let's face it, anyone working with History will know that any reconstruction of past events is technically always a draft that's open for revision. I find myself adding and revising aspects of this timeline all the time - historical events sometimes come into focus, and then cause and effect can become clearer as a result... or sometimes even less clear.

The timeline also reflects the needs of the Rights and Freedoms Core Study in Stage 5 NSW History, hence the inclusion of some USA and World (United Nations) details which add context to the bigger picture of Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander rights and freedoms. This timeline is mostly for my own understanding rather than a resource I'd necessarily give to students - I've found it useful as a reference tool, especially when looking for things like a sequence of events relating to the Stolen Generations or the influence of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement on the Aboriginal peoples. 

It's also been useful for providing context for a range of English topics - Year 9-10 study of Rabbit Proof Fence or The Sapphires, or Year 12 modules focused on prescribed texts such as Inside My Mother by Ali Cobby Eckermann, Rainbow's End by Jane Harrison, or Namatjira by Scott Rankin.

1901. Federation of six colonies into one nation. 

1902. Commonwealth Franchise Act disenfranchises 'native' people in all Commonwealth countries (with the exception of NZ)

1903-1913. Pastoral settlement of the Kimberley region and 'pacification' of the Aboriginal people there.

1904-1908. Removal of all Aboriginal men from the Derby settlement in Western Australia.

1905. Roth Royal Commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people.

1907. Relations between Aboriginal and Macassan peoples formerly banned by Australian government.   

1909. Federal Aborigines Protection Act 1909 established on a national scale, following on from pre-Federation colonial legislation. The 'Aborigines Protection Board' is given power over the custody, maintenance, and education of Aboriginal children.

1910. Australian Board of Missions petitions Federal and State Governments to agree to a scheme for human and civil rights to be safeguarded for Aboriginal people.

1912-1932. Records indicate that at least 1500 children were removed from Aboriginal families across Australia in this time.

1912. Cootamundra Girls' Home created to train Aboriginal girls for domestic service.

1914. C.F. Gale, Chief Protector of the Aborigines, inspects the Kimberley region and gathers up as many 'half-caste' children as possible, placing them at the Roman Catholic Mission in Beagle Bay.

1915. Amendment to the Aborigines Protection Act allows the government to remove Aboriginal children from families. 

1916. Punitive expedition to Lizard Island results in the deaths of several Aboriginal men.

1918. Northern Territory passes the Aborigines Ordinance to forbid mining on Aboriginal Reserve Land.

1920 (world). U.S. President Woodrow Wilson creates the League of Nations

1924. Kinchela Boys' Home is created to train Aboriginal boys to be farm labourers.

1925. Colonel J.C. Genders spearheads a campaign to form a Black State in northern QLD.

1925. The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed in opposition to the Aborigines Protection Board.

1926. Forrest River Massacre takes place. Somewhere between 30 to 300 Aboriginal people killed.

1926. Disastrous year for bushfires. A pattern would emerge after this wherein bushfire epidemics would regularly strike in the absence of widescale Aboriginal firestick farming (controlled burning).

1928. William Harris leads a delegation of Aboriginal people to meet the Premier of WA to talk about possible exemptions from the Aborigines Act for 'half-castes', suburban Aboriginal peoples, and those who live in the southern portion of Australia.

1928. Rev. William Morley calls for a Royal Commission on the Constitution that would subsequently allow the Federal Government to have complete control of all Aboriginal people. The Royal Commission takes place, with the outcome being that the States should continue to retain control of police, lands, and industry and therefore a Commonwealth authority would not be qualified to deal with the Aboriginal peoples. 

1930. British Commonwealth League Conference accuses Australia of breaking the League of Nations slavery conventions through the use of forced Aboriginal labour, removal of children from families, and the withholding of wages. 

1930s. NT and WA practise an extreme form of assimilation through forced state marriages of 'lighter caste' Aboriginal peoples.

1931. Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve established.

1933. 129 Aboriginal people die from poor health conditions in the Kimberley region. There are only 3 doctors in the area at the time, none of whom would leave white communities to treat Aboriginal people in remote areas. A leprosy outbreak also occurs in an Aboriginal community in the same area at this time, with 80 lepers discovered in the northern part of WA over a 9 month period.

1933. A punitive expedition led against the Yolngu people in the NT ends in the arrest of local leader Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda.

1934. WA 'Royal Commission on Aborigines' proposes miscegenation as the solution to the problem of Aborigines in Australia, a policy of biological assimilation to be achieved by "breeding out the black" (quote from Dr Cyril Bryan). Some whites are outraged at the idea of white women marrying Aboriginal men. 

1934. The total amount of stolen children accumulated at the Beagle Bay Mission over the least 20 years now equals 68.

1935 (world). Italian dictator Mussolini invades and occupies Abyssinia without provocation. The League of Nations fails to make a decisive response.

1937. The Australian Aborigines' League publishes 'The Abo Call', the first Aboriginal-authored newspaper.

1937. Aboriginal activist William Cooper writes a petition letter to King George V asking for better conditions for Aboriginal people.

1937. Chief Protector A.O. Neville speaks at a conference in Canberra about the superiority of having Aboriginal children live in white-run institutions rather than in traditional 'blacks' camps'. A policy of Assimilation is outlined and adopted throughout each of the States.  

1938. First 'Day of Mourning' held by Aboriginal protestors William Cooper and Bill Ferguson from the Australian Aborigines' League on the 150th anniversary of white Australian settlement. They demand a national policy for Aboriginal peoples and that the Commonwealth take control of Aboriginal affairs away from the States. 

1938. The Cummeragungja Walk-Off takes place - the first strike by Aboriginal workers.

1940-1942. Mass migration of Aboriginal people to Alice Springs; restrictions put on Aboriginal people arriving in the town. 

1942. Prime Minister John Curtin proposes amendments to the Australian constitution to be made once the war ends, including increased Commonwealth power over Aboriginal affairs. The States oppose this and a referendum goes ahead in response (and fails).

1942. The Torres Strait Infantry Battalion, an all-Indigenous unit established in the Torres Strait during World War II, patrols New Guinea on behalf of the Allied Forces.

1943. Thousands of Aboriginal people are hired by the army in World War II for labouring and other services in the Northern Territory.

1944. Recognition from some commentators that retribalisation of Aboriginal people is now impossible after most have undergone a significant period of urbanisation.

1945 (world). End of World War II.

1945 (world). The United Nations is first proposed as a replacement for the League of Nations. A UN Charter is signed by all participating nations, providing the Security Council with the power to create international laws. Little mention is made in the charter at this point about human rights.

1945 (USA). Rosa Parks is thrown off a bus for the first time after refusing to enter via the back door (as per local law in Montgomery, Alabama).

1946. The Australian government allows British testing of nuclear weapons at the Aboriginal-populated region of Maralinga in South Australia.

1946 (world). The League of Nations formally ceases operation. 

1946 (world). The Nuremberg Trials bring to light many shocking details about the Holocaust. Eleanor Roosevelt spearheads an international committee to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

1947 (world). Australian representative Dr Herbert Vere Evatt assists with the final writing of the UN Human Rights charter.

1948. Dr Evatt becomes President of the UN General Assembly and guides in the adoption of the Universal Declaration by the UN. 

1950s. The Council for Aboriginal Rights begins to push for the rewriting of any domestic Australia laws that contradict the UN Human Rights charter.

1951. Some states, such as Victoria, opt not to have a Minister for Aboriginal Affairs as they "do not differentiate between Aborigines and other Australians."

1952. Aboriginal activist Ted Noffs visit Wilcannia and observes living conditions among the Aboriginal people there.

1952-1957. Anglo-Australian nuclear testing takes place at bomb sites in Maralinga, Monte Bello, and Emu Field. 

1953. Charles Perkins takes politician Donald Dunstan to see Aboriginal reserves.

1953. Northern Territory gives citizenship rights to any Aboriginal people not in state care.

1954. Arrernte painter Albert Namatjira is given Australian citizenship as a special case.

1954 (USA). Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka overturns segregationist laws regarding African-Americans and which schools they can attend.

1955 (USA). Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) decides not to politicise the event.

1955 (USA). Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. This time NAACP decides to politicise the event.

1955-1960 (USA). Malcolm X advocates for African-American separation from white society, articulating a need for self-determination within America. His co-leadership of the Nation of Islam increases membership numbers from 1200 to 50 000.

1956 (USA). African-Americans boycott buses in Montgomery, a campaign that eventually results in the desegregation of Montgomery buses. 

1956. Harry Penrith (also known as Burnum Burnum) and the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship both launch referendum campaigns to change the Australian Constitution so that full citizenship rights are granted to Aboriginal peoples.

1957. Charles Perkins joins the South Australian branch of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines. 

1957-1967. Faith Bandler campaigns and petitions for a referendum on equal rights for Aboriginal people. 

1958. Albert Namitjira is arrested and gaoled for supplying alcohol to his family.

1958. Creation of the first organisation focused on Aboriginal rights - the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. They begin campaigning for constitutional reform and by 1963 their petitions have gained 100 000 signatures. 

1960 (USA). The Greensboro Counter Sit-ins take place.

1960 (USA). John F. Kennedy is elected President of the U.S. As part of his election campaign aimed at African-Americans in the South, the Democrat Party issues 'the Blue Bomb' - two millions copies of a pamphlet highlighting JFK's willingness to work with Martin Luther King Jr.. 

1960. The entire Yanyuwa Aboriginal community is removed from the township of Borroloola and taken to a reserve at Dangana. They all simply walk back to Borroloola.

1961. The federal government's Assimilation policy is reinforced at the Commonwealth conference on Aboriginal issues.

1961 (USA). The Freedom Rides take place throughout the American South.

1962 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Albany against segregation.

1962. Legislation is passed by the Commonwealth to allow all Aboriginal adults to vote in federal elections. Registration to vote remains not compulsory for Aboriginal people.

1962. The South Australian government repeals the Aborigines Act.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, against segregation. Business leaders are brought to their knees via a powerful boycott from the African-American community, and they decide to negotiate with Martin Luther King to begin desegregation.

1963 (USA). The KKK conducts bombing attacks aimed at the African-American community in Birmingham.

1963 (USA). The Nation of Islam, led by Malcolm X, gains attention in the media through their advocating of violence against segregationists.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads the March on Washington.

1963. The Yirrkala Bark Petition for land rights is presented by the Yolngu people to Queensland Parliament.  

1964. First legal disputes between mining companies and Aboriginal communities.

1964. The Labor Party puts forward a bill to repeal parts of the constitution pertaining to Aboriginal citizenship. This bill challenged the discriminatory nature of the constitution but ultimately failed to gain any traction when presented to Parliament.

1964 (USA). The Civil Rights Act is passed by Lyndon B. Johnson after JFK's assassination.

1964 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 (USA). Demonstrations take place in Selma against restrictions on voting for African-Americans in Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested, and Civil Rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson is murdered. The marches intensity and Martin Luther King Jr. gains support from the President. The Voting Rights Bill overturns discriminatory voting laws in Alabama.

1965 (USA). Malcolm X is assassinated. 

1965. Charles Perkins leads an Australian 'Freedom Ride' against racial discrimination, modelled after the American one. In response to the Freedom Ride, the Menzies government begins to debate whether a referendum on Aboriginal citizenship should take place.

1965. The Assimilation policy is replaced by an Integrationist policy after the Commonwealth-State Conference.

1965. An Arbitration Commission rules that Aboriginal people will get paid full basic wages, however, a period of 3 years is given for it come into effect so that farming stations have time to adjust. 

1965. Charles Perkins is appointed as manager of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs.

1966. Walgett desegregates their cinema and Moree desegregates their pools, both in response to the Aboriginal activism of the Freedom Rides. 

1966. Charles Perkins visits African-American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson in Chicago, USA. 

1966. Vincent Lingiari leads the Wattie Creek Gurundji Strike in the Northern Territory. The Gurundji Aboriginal workers walk off Wave Hill Station and return to their traditional land in Wattie Creek, refusing to wait 3 years for equal payment. 

1966 (USA). The Black Panther Party is founded in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seal and Huey Newton. 

1967 (USA). The Black Panthers hold rallies in Richmond, California, and disrupt a legislative hearing on the Mulford Act. The Black Panthers also release their Ten-Point Program - a declaration of their ideals and intentions.

1967 (USA). Huey Newton kills a police officer. The FBI also creates COINTELPRO to investigate and neutralise Black Power threats at this time.

1967. The Holt Government agrees to a National Referendum on Aboriginal citizenship. 90% of people vote 'yes'. A 'No' campaign is not mounted by anyone. The result of the referendum is the repeal of a part of Section 127 of the Constitution - meaning that Aboriginal people would now be counted in the next national census. The only other change is the giving of power to the Commonwealth to enact 'special laws' for Aboriginal people - meaning that the States no longer had the ability to create their own discriminatory legislation concerning Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

1967. Gary Foley, Paul Coe, and Michael Anderson lead the Aboriginal Black Power Movement in Redfern.

1968. W.E.H. Stanner delivers his landmark lectures on the 'Great Australian Silence', concerning Aboriginal history. 

1968 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis. Nationwide riots occur, some led by the Black Panthers.

1968 (USA). Fighting between the Black Panthers and police officers ends in the death of Black Panther leader Bobby Hutton. 

1968. Many young Aboriginal people are inspired by Tommie Smith and John Carlos's iconic 'Black Power' salutes at the Mexico Olympics.

1969. The Aborigines Welfare Board is abolished due to increased media attention on the mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples in reserves. 

1969. Full basic wages are finally awarded to Aboriginal workers on cattle stations.

1970. Sol Bellear and other Aboriginal activists travel to the U.S. and live with the Black Panthers for some time. The Aboriginal Black Panther Party is created in Brisbane by Denis Walker and Sam Watson.

1970. Aboriginal protest takes place against a re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing at Botany Bay.

1970-1975. Collapse of pastoralism in the Kimberley region leads to a mass migration of Aboriginal people to Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, Turkey Creek, and Wyndham. The Western Australian government launches an enquiry into their mass migration to determine causes.

1971. Court case of Milirrpum and others vs. Nabalco and the Commonwealth Government - otherwise known as the Gove dispute between the Yolngu people and the Nabalco mining company.

1971. United Nations Year Against Racism - contrasts with Australian commentators questioning whether the government's goals of assimilating the Aboriginal peoples had been met. 

1971. Luritja Aboriginal man Harold Thomas designs the Aboriginal flag. 

1972. Prime Minister Billy McMahon rejects proposed land rights for Aboriginal peoples.

1972. Links forged between the Aboriginal Black Power movement and the Polynesian Panthers. 

1972. A Moratorium for Black Rights takes place on National Aborigines Day, 14 July. Many of the people who would go on to form the Tent Embassy are mobilised by the event.

1972. Activist Kevin Gilbert mounts a campaign against the McMahon Government over land rights. Aboriginal Tent Embassy created by Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, and Tony Coorey.

1972-75. Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister - the White Australian policy is official ended and a Department of Aboriginal Affairs is created.

1975. Creation of the Racial Discrimination Act. 

1975. Senator Neville Bonner puts forth a resolution for parliament to acknowledge prior ownership of Australia by the Aboriginal people. This is unanimously endorsed. 

1976. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is legislated.

1979. D.H.C. Coombs proposes a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

1980. The Yuin Aboriginal people are restricted from harvesting abalone by traditional means.

1981. Pintjantjatjara Land Rights Act legislated. The Justice for Aboriginal Australians Report is also released at this time. 

1982. Stamp controversy - an Australia Day stamp depicting an Aboriginal face alongside a First Fleeter and a 20th century migrant draws criticism.

1982. Three Murray Islanders - including Eddie Mabo - begin proceedings against the State of Queensland, and then in the High Court of Australia, regarding their land right claim.

1983. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is amended and updated.

1984 (world). A committee starts work on the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

1986. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act is created.

1986. Aboriginal riot takes place in Bourke.

1987. Aboriginal man Lloyd Boney dies in custody, leading to the Brewarrina Funeral Riot on the 15th of August.

1988. Bicentennial celebrations of white settlement take place. Burnum Burnum travels to England and plants the Aboriginal flag on British soil to commemorate the event. He also begins a campaign for the return of Aboriginal remains still held in a British cemetery. 

1988. A Tactical Response Group is sent to Brewarrina to pre-emptively prepare against 'anti-police' Aboriginal activists on Australia Day.

1988. The National Museum of Australia comes under fire for having a frontier conflict display.

1988. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is created.  

1990. Protests against amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act at NSW Parliament House. Eleven demonstrators are arrested. 

1991. Pat Dodson releases Report on Underlying Issues in Western Australia for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, prompted by the deaths of Mark Quayle, Eddy Murray, Clarence Alec Nean, and Lloyd Boney, among others.

1991. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is established.

1992. Paul Keating delivers his Redfern Speech, marking the first time a Prime Minister acknowledges the dispossession and pain visited upon the Aboriginal peoples.

1992. Mabo 'Native Title' high court judgement issued in case of Mabo vs. Queensland, legal precedent set for the overturning of the historical concept of terra nullius.

1993 (world). International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

1993. Commonwealth Native Title Act created.

1994. Creation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Land Fund to assist in the purchasing of land for Indigenous Australians.

1996. High Court rules on Wik case that pastoral leases do not overrule pre-existing native title.

1996. Prime Minister John Howard rejects proposal for government-led Aboriginal rights and services.

1996. Aboriginal survivors such as Doris and Doreen Katinyeri speak as part of the government's inquiry into the Stolen Generations, forming the basis of the Bringing Them Home report.

1996. John Howard responds to the Bringing Them Homer report by labelling recommendations for compensation as 'inappropriate and unacceptable'. He also goes on to label Aboriginal rallying at this time as 'un-Australian'. 

1997. Kruger vs. Commonwealth case challenges the right of the Northern Territory to remove Aboriginal children from families (established in 1918) and is overruled. N.T. powers (allowing removal of children) remain in place.

1997-2001. Each of the state and territory governments make formal apologies for the Stolen Generations. John Howard refuses to do the same from a Federal perspective.

1998. National Advisor Council for Youth Suicide releases figures that show suicide is 40% higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

1999. Australian Federal Parliament commits to Reconciliation.

2000. National Sorry Day March - 250 000 people walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for a federal Apology to acknowledge the Stolen Generations. Across the remainder of the year up to 1 million Australians march for Reconciliation.

2000. Spinifex Native Title case determines that the Pila Nguru Aboriginal Corporation will hold 50 000 square kilometres of traditional lands on behalf of the Pila Nguru (also known as the Spinifex People).

2003. A Wukidi Ceremony is held outside of the Supreme Court to symbolically lay to rest Aboriginal elder Dhakiyaa Wirrpanda, who mysteriously 'disappeared' after Northern Territory authorities released him from custody in 1933. 

2004. Aboriginal activist Michael Long takes the 'Long Walk' from Melbourne to Canberra to meet with John Howard and ask for an apology for the Stolen Generations. 

2004 (world). A draft for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is created by a committee made up of 7 nations.

2006 (world). The United Nations vote on the draft for the UNDRIP. Australia votes against it.

2007 (world). The United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples is passed by a large majority in the UN.

2007. The Little Children are Sacred report, which collects together information on abuse in the remote Aboriginal communities, is released. This prompts the Australian govt to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act so that the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (AKA 'the Intervention') can be launched, restricting the rights of Aboriginal peoples throughout regional areas of the territory.

2008. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a formal apology to the Stolen Generations shortly after getting elected.

2010s. The Australian War Memorial rejects calls for the inclusion of the Frontier Wars in the memorial.

2010. The Intervention is amended and the Racial Discrimination Act is partially reinstated.

2010-2012. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces plans to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution. This plan is abandoned in 2012 due to public reaction against it.

2013. The Government commits funding to the Yolngu people on the 50th anniversary of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions.

2017. The 'Uluru Statement from the Heart' petition is launched by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, requesting increased constitutional acknowledgement of the First Nations peoples.

2019. In accordance with longstanding traditional Aboriginal beliefs, walking on Uluru is banned.

2023. Referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to take place, partially in response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

Author Mentors: Yuri Herrara and Structure

English in the 21st century is a strange beast. For older generations, there will be an awareness that the current subject of English taught in Australia is not the English that was taught 50 (or even 25) years ago. The rise of the new version of English in 1960s and '70s academia, with its focus on culture, contextual elements, and new media, would really only truly be felt in the NSW syllabus circa 2000. 

As someone who finished school in 1997 and then didn't come to teaching until 2010, this shift in the English discipline was a bit of a shock. The English essays I had written in Years 11 and 12 were decidedly formalist - focused on the structural purposes of the text, with the idea that the text was 'closed' and that everything you needed to know could be found within the text alone. Come 2010, The History teacher and Postmodernist in me loved that English had developed into something much more wild - that we can trace contextual elements and examine their impact on the text and audience, and that we can also look at the endless ways in which the same text can be read, or the ways in which the reader brings themselves to the text and reads it differently to their peers. 

But, that said, the English of the 20th century hasn't been replaced by this newer English. The two Englishes live alongside one another in our syllabus; you can see elements of both within the outcomes. You can also see them both within the diverse teaching methods of a powerful workforce of English teachers with their own myriad experience and wisdom. Some English teachers thrive on the idea of alternative readings and context, others prefer examining how a text is constructed and what this means. If you're teaching the bulk of the secondary English syllabus you'd be hard-pressed to completely avoid one side in favour of the other. 

Anyway, my point is that, while Part 1 of this series focused on the author and the role of context in shaping a text, today's entry (Part 2) focuses on the structure of the text. I think it's important that we teach students (without necessarily using fancy words like postmodernism and formalism) that reading and writing is a complex process with different 'ways in'. It works as a form of differentiated practice because some students will react better to a contextual study, whereas others will prefer looking at structural elements.

Structure

The author used for this structure lesson is Yuri Herrera, a really interesting Mexican writer who gained some attention in the 2010s for his novellas. Before looking at an extract from his Romeo & Juliet-inspired text The Transmigration of Bodies, it's useful to prime students by giving them an overview of some of the structures we use when writing. This can be done by checking for understanding with the following activities:

Mechanics. Write a bad example of each of the following:

• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Sentence Structure
• Paragraphs

Techniques. Also called 'literary devices', these are figurative, persuasive, and sound-based techniques used to make an impact on the treader.

• List some examples.

Conventions. The motifs or recurring elements that help the reader identify the type or genre of text.

• Give an example.

Writing Choices. Pick one below and discuss why it's important.

• Word Choice
• Point of View
• Tense
• Themes
• Being conscious of controlling how the reader sees your text

Editing. Pick one of your previous answers and re-write it using one of the methods below.

• Re-reading
• Drafting
• Sharing for feedback
• Using criteria
• Polishing

After these opening activities, have students read an extract from The Transmigration of Bodies and then consider some of the elements that have been used. In particular, ask students to look at its 'mechanics' and techniques by answering the following:

1. Find and highlight the following punctuation: comma, dash, colon, capitalisation of a proper noun. 
2. What reason is each one used for?
3. Explain the impact of the following techniques used by the writer:
1. Repetition of the word 'everyday' three times in one sentence.
2. The irony/dark humour of the line "Occasionally, his teeth fell out."
3. The metaphor "Eyeing (...) with venom."

Authors also used various conventions when writing in their chosen genre. A reader's familiarity with these conventions (also called motifs) allows them to better understand the ideas or style of the story. Have students make notes on three of the motifs featured in the extract (a depressing setting, blood, and a less-than-heroic lead character) and then ask them to identify which of the following genres the text fits into:

• Comedy
• Crime
• Romance
• Science Fiction

The lesson then focuses on writing choices. Herrera has a talent for using verbs in fascinating and memorable ways - ask students to locate the following verbs in the extract:

• Trickled, scamper, cricked, dreaming, managed, fell, buzzing, tethering, attempting, rammed, leaned, sucking, blew. 

Students can then answer the following questions. Some of these break away from a strictly formalist approach but we'll keep that to ourselves.

1. What is the impact of using particular verbs?
2. Whose point of view is the text written from?
3. How does the writer want the reader to think of the main character?
4. How does the writer want the reader to think of the setting?
5. What would you change if you wanted to introduce some more drama in the first paragraph?

The above lesson can be found here in these resources:

• PowerPoint on Structure (this walks students through the lesson step by step).
• Suggested extract.

Acknowledgement: The following material has been adapted and modified specifically for this blog. I would like to acknowledge some of my colleagues - Ashleigh Galea, Lauren Hage, Amra Winter - who also developed some additional material not included here

Author Mentors: Kurt Vonnegut and Context

One of the more interesting developments that occurred in Stage 6 NSW English these last few years was an increased and specialised focus on writing craft. This is encapsulated within the Year 12 Craft of Writing and Year 11 Reading to Write modules, which encourage students to use quality texts as models for their own writing. When we look at these modules closely we can see the way in which they build upon previous wisdom about student writing whilst adding some new parameters. In particular, the idea of providing a focus on creative writing has re-arranged itself around a need to include the disciplines of persuasive and discursive writing, which prompts further reflection when it comes to backward mapping some core skills and ideas into earlier years of high school.

Like many others, I've had to think about the idea of using Stage 5 as a formative ground for considering authors in this same way. I've summarised this as the somewhat dorky term 'Author Mentors', which can be extended into a short unit of work. This approach takes students through four different authors, with each one used to explore and model writing in relation to one of four stages of approaching texts:

1. Context
2. Structure
3. Discussion
4. Create

Context

The author used for the context lesson is Kurt Vonnegut (from whose work I took the title of this website, funnily enough!). The purpose of this lesson is to explore what context is, how it works, and how students can use their understanding of this concept to approach a text (the text in question being an extract from Vonnegut's famed science-fiction/war novel Slaughterhouse-Five).

Context is a tricky beast because it can sometimes feel like it pulls time away from studying the actual text. With this in mind, it's useful to frame context in general terms and to also approach it (in this case) in a way that Year 9 and 10 students will understand. This means communicating to students the way in which the 'background' of a text can help the reader understand what a text is about. The reader can draw useful conclusions about a novel by connecting the text to the life and times of the author. Examining context will typically involve the following four elements:

• When: When was the text written and/or published?
• Where: What society was the author living in when they wrote the text?
• Who: What sort of person was the author and what were the key events that shaped who they were?
• Why: What reasons or events prompted the author to write the text?

After considering the above, students should then be asked to read an extract from Slaughterhouse-Five. I like to use a small part of the text that comes about 15-20 pages before the end of the novel. This is accompanied by some straightforward comprehension questions to help orientate the reader and ensure they have a general understanding of the extract, as well as priming them for more in-depth discussion of context afterwards. Questions are as follows:

1. What is happening in this text?
2. What is the setting?
3. What is the backstory for the protagonist (main character)?
4. What elements of the story let you know these things?

The next step is to look at some contextual information about Kurt Vonnegut. Students read a brief overview of the context of Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five and then rewrite/summarise some information using a basic schema. This means they read the overview and then gather together information that corresponds to the following:

• When?
• Where?
• Who?
• Why?

The final part of the lesson asks students to reflect upon and consider Vonnegut's context more specifically in relation to the novel. It also requires them to make some connections from text to self and text to the wider world. Ask students to respond to these questions:

Reflect: Look back to your answers to the questions of 'When, Where, Who, Why'. How do they stack up in comparison to what you learned from the novel's context?

Considering Context:

1. Why do you think this novel is considered by some to be a classic?
2. Do you think American schools are right to ban it?
3. What did the extract from Slaughterhouse-Five have to say about war?
4. What do you think about war? Write 400 words explaining your thoughts.

The above lesson can be found here in these resources:

• PowerPoint on Context (this walks students through the lesson step by step).
• Suggested extract.
• Context overview.

Acknowledgement: The following material has been adapted and modified specifically for this blog. I would like to acknowledge some of my colleagues (who I no longer get to work alongside but miss all the same!) - Lauren Hage, Ashleigh Galea, and Amra Winter - who also developed some additional material not included here. Hi! :)

Oddments: Five unique texts on the current NSW HSC Prescriptions List

I've been working a bit on researching NSW's Prescribed Texts these past few years and, as we approach the current list's long journey into the night before the next round, I thought this might be a good time to look at some of the more unusual texts on the list.  I say 'unusual texts' but I should clarify that, when I say this, I'm not speaking about a text's subject matter or themes or genre as that's a little too subjective. I want to instead highlight the more textually-distinct outliers - the solitary text types and unusually-originated texts that stand out with a hard and firm point of difference. 

Go Back to Where You Came From

Oddity: The only television series option featured across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English.

Description: Go Back to Where You Came From is a carryover text from the previous 'Discovery' Prescriptions List. The television format presents a challenge to teachers as its runtime is essentially twice that of the average film - this can make it difficult to cover within a busy timeframe that also involves student selection of a related text and coverage of the 'Texts and Human Experiences' module. I taught this when it was part of 'Discovery' and, while I did find that students were able to easily engage with it, it felt like quite a slog to cover it properly alongside a related text and an Area of Study. This meant that I did not opt to explore the text as part of 'Texts and Human Experiences' when the opportunity later presented itself.

Contemporary Asian Australian Poets

Oddity: The only multi-poet anthology - between its presence in the Standard and EAL/D English syllabuses this selection includes works from eight different poets.

Description: Whilst the idea of covering so many different poets seems to pose a significant challenge in covering just as many differing contexts, it can actually force a synthesis of ideas as the teacher finds themselves bringing the texts together in service of the module 'Language, Identity, and Culture'. This conceptual underpinning can be a guiding light for students who might overwise struggle to unite separate poems together to support a thesis. It also helps that the poetry is accessible and provides a wide scope for students to make many different kinds of connections.

One Night the Moon

Oddity: A double oddity. One Night the Moon is the only prescribed text across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English that features characters breaking into song. It's also the only non-feature film (too long to be a short film, too short to be a feature film). 

Description: Rachel Perkins' collaboration with Paul Kelly is an achingly poignant depiction of the colonial violence and contradiction in Australia's past. It's also an unusual text outside of the English-teaching context because it's the only time singer-songwriter Paul Kelly has acted on screen. I haven't taught this text but I think it's relatively short length would allow for some useful drilling down into its finer aspects. 

'May the Pen Grace Your Page' by Luka Lesson, and 'Picture a Vacuum' by Kae Tempest

Oddity: Okay, so I'm cheating a little here as this is two texts, but I want to highlight these two as the only poetry performances to be found anywhere in the NSW Prescriptions List. 

Description: The inclusion of these slam poems carries an implication that they should be examined as multimodal performances rather than as written pieces. This is supported by the coding of each text as '(PP)' in the syllabus, meaning 'Performance Poetry' rather than 'Poetry'. The Craft of Writing supporting document from NESA also carries some textual information that suggests this too. This raises some uncomfortable questions about Craft of Writing - specifically the question of how students could be expected to model performance aspects of such a text when writing a piece under HSC examination conditions. 

Actually, I've been puzzled by the inclusion of poetry in Craft of Writing in general as the HSC Module C questions don't seem to allow students the option of composing poetry. But that's perhaps a discussion for another time.

Under Milk Wood

Oddity: The syllabus lists Under Milk Wood as a 'Drama' text but this is a reductive simplification. Over the years the text has been adapted for film, television, and as a stage drama, but its origins are as a radio play. The colour and shape of the text make the most sense in the audio-only format that it was written for. One suspects that the dwindling existence of radio drama led NESA to retroactively reclassify it as just 'Drama', but this does a disservice to the proud tradition of the radio play. 

Description: If you couldn't already tell from my championing of its radio play credentials, I am a big fan of this text. I first taught it because I needed it to make a pattern of study work and I wanted a text that wouldn't be too demanding in terms of having Advanced English students carve off more of their study time for reading. I taught it for these reasons and was very nervous because it is such an odd text and it's so far outside of the natural field of reference for most students in terms of the sorts of texts we usually look at it in English. Anyway, this class engaged with it as intended - by listening to the original Richard Burton-narrated radio dramatisation. We listened to it track-by-track, a few minutes per lesson, and broke the language down, enjoying Thomas's quirky turns of phrase and the games he plays with words. It ended up being one of my favourite thing to teach and quite a few students singled it out at the end of the year as their favorite of the texts we covered. 

The Frontier Wars - Historiography and Combatting Fake History

In the wake of the recent swell of interest in the Australian War Memorial (and its absence of material acknowledging frontier conflicts) there have been new contributions to the ongoing historiographical debates over the status and nature of the Frontier Wars (1, 2, 3). 

Throughout the 20th century there was reoccurring disagreement amongst historians as to whether these Frontier Wars happened, with prominent politicians such as John Howard and Paul Keating occupying different sides in the resultant 'History Wars' that played out in the media. The denial of the Frontier Wars was somewhat quelled in '00s and '10s due to cultural shifts in politics after the 2008 Apology but it would be wrong to say that pushback on this was ever truly gone. Suffice to say, it is now broadly accepted that the Frontier Wars happened.

As we move into the mid-2020s, however, we find that such historiographical debates are also now subject to the metaphysical knot of our times - fake news, information wars, and fake history. The sad reality today is that there are still people who seek to deny the existence of the Australian Frontier Wars, even in light of the increased coverage of this history. Thankfully there is very little in the mainstream media these days that flat-out rejects the Frontier Wars, but dismissal can still be witnessed in the words of politicians and throughout social media. Denial of the Frontier Wars and, by extension other historical tragedies faced by the Aboriginal peoples (such as the Stolen Generations), typically falls into two broad categories:

1. Misinformation - factually incorrect history reported or shared by someone who isn't aware that it's factually incorrect.
2. Disinformation - factually incorrect history but with the added complication that the person reporting or sharing the information is perfectly aware that it's factually incorrect.

On the surface, misinformation and disinformation look very similar but they operate in slightly different ways. Misinformation can be shared by people with a range of agendas - some may be seeking objective truth, others may be all too happy to find anything that confirms their own political biases. That's not a slight against a particular side of the political spectrum; everyone has political biases both conscious and unconscious.

Disinformation on the other hand is very much a sign of something more sinister. This is the creation of fake information intended to sway or mobilise support for something. It functions like the war propaganda of the 20th century but it's a lot sneakier - in the information age of the hyperactive 1440 minute news cycle with social media sharing, items going viral, and the increasingly blurred line between print and digital media, intentionally-created fake information can very quickly become legitimised. This legitimisation, in which the origins of the fakery become obscured through layers of information and widespread exposure, occurs when reputable public figures and news outlets pick up viral stories and report them under their own banner. This phenomenon (in which disinformation becomes widely available) is known as information laundering, and it's becoming disturbingly more common with every passing year. 

In connection to the above, something else to watch out for is pseudohistory - a practice in which myths, legends, conspiracy theories, etc., are treated as historical fact. This usually originates from non-academic and amateur sources and can (but not always) be explicitly politically motivated. Pseudohistory plays a part in this discussion of fake history because it can take the form of both misinformation and disinformation.

An example of pseudohistory:

• There is a pseudohistorical claim that, prior to the arrival of the Aboriginal peoples, Australia was inhabited by another race of 'pygmy' people. I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to get too off-track from the Frontier Wars - you can read more about it here in this clear and comprehensive explanation from the Australian Museum.
• The 'pygmy people' story becomes a form of misinformation if the person or outlet spreading the information is unaware that the existence of the pygmy people has been widely discredited by historical experts. They may be sharing the story because they want to prove something or influence someone's beliefs but they are likely to be genuine when they say that they believe the story themselves. If the story-spreader is familiar with the historical method, is open-minded, or is particularly sensitive to public scrutiny (because they value their own credibility), then it may be possible to counter such misinformation with the provision of evidence to the contrary. 
• The 'pygmy people' story becomes disinformation if the story-spreader is aware that it's untrue or has little care for whether it's supported by evidence or not. In this situation they are definitely sharing the story to further a particular agenda and they evidently do not value the historical method. There is little that can realistically be done to convince an agent of disinformation to stop. The best approach in these cases is fact-checking - to counter the pseudohistorical claims by publicly sharing rational evidence that disproves it, and thus allowing the story-spreader's audience to see the untruths for what they are. This will at least slow down the spread of such disinformation and prevent it from being picked up by legitimate figures/news outlets who may not know better. 

The Frontier Wars

The last few decades and the wider cultural shift within Australian society in light of the Bringing Them Home report, Reconciliation, and other political changes, has meant that there is now an increased acknowledgement of the Frontier Wars in the nation's historical record. There are difficulties in recovering a complete record of events that have, for all intents and purposes, been suppressed for the best part of a hundred years. Nonetheless, the silence of the past is not so insurmountable that we cannot get a pretty clear picture of the tragic violence and warfare that gripped this country for the best part of the 19th century. 

'Bulla' - an illustration by William Hodgkinson, 1861

Below you will find a range of sources that provide information on the conflicts. These aren't exhaustive but they're a good start:

Colonial Frontier Massacres Map. Overseen by Lyndell Ryan.

An ongoing project from the University of Newcastle that draws upon the latest research to construct an interactive database of all of the massacres experienced by the Aboriginal peoples from 1788 to 1930.

Land is Life: From Bush to Town by Richard Baker.

A localised account of the life of the Yanyuwa Aboriginal people in Far North Australia. Much of this text relates to culture and the relationship that the Yanyuwa maintained with the Macassan Asians prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Of interest to a study of the Frontier Wars, the book provides some valuable Aboriginal oral history accounts of the brutal conflict between the Yanyuwa and freshly-arrived Europeans in the 19th century.

A History of Bathurst, Volume 1 by Theo Barker

A large chapter (about 20% of the book) is dedicated to "The Period of Conflict 1820-1832", and details the Governor's declaration of martial law as the early British colony faced an organised and prolonged Wiradjuri resistance. The book has some difficulties with using the phrase 'Frontier War', instead opting to use words like 'attacks' and 'violence', however, there's a lot of primary evidence called upon here that could suggest little else.   

Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed 1793-1802 by Jan Barkley-Jack.

This weighty volume is wholly focused on the creation and development of the Hawkesbury region under British settlement. As such, only a relatively small portion is given over to the Aboriginal history of the area. The author adheres quite closely to the historical method, constructing a narrative based on a range of primary sources. This means that, even though the central thesis is one of settlement and pastoral growth, Barkley-Jack still does not avoid mentioning the protracted conflict between the British and the Aboriginal peoples in the area. That said, there is some effort here to restrict the violence to "just a handful of settlers in a specific location over a five-year period" and the author is not able to attribute the deaths of 30 Aboriginal people in this time to a 'Frontier War'. 

The Black War by Nicholas Clements.

I've read a handful of accounts of the Tasmanian Frontier War and this one is easily the best due to the extensive use of irrefutable primary sources. A highly detailed and heavily-researched account of the most infamous of Australia's Frontier Wars.

Dancing with Strangers by Inga Clendinnen.

A must-read for any history teacher or person interested in Australia's story, Clendinnen weaves a highly engaging narrative around the first days of the Sydney colony, depicting a relatively peaceful first contact between peoples and then portraying the moments that led to the birth of the Frontier Wars. 

Windradyne: A Wiradjuri Koorie by Mary Coe.

An Aboriginal perspective of an Aboriginal war hero of the 19th century. This book provides a compelling narrative of the events of the Bathurst War from the point of view of the Wiradjuri resistance.

The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838 by John Connor.

Of all the books on this list, Connor's is unique in being the only military history book (a distinct subgenre of history writing). One of the more essential texts on this list, Connor provides maps, statistics, and campaign evidence on every known frontier conflict from the nominated time period.

The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery.

Flannery's historical scope is much larger than others on this list due to his background as a naturalist. The Future Eaters is a fascinating piece of research that explores the coexistence of the earliest Aboriginal peoples with Australia's now extinct megafauna, and this segues into a more devastating account of the Aboriginal struggle for survival after the arrival of the Europeans. Flannery's book blends scientific perspective with historical research, utilising sourcework to demonstrate cause and effect between European arrival and Frontier conflict. He also unflinchingly examines the role of the Native Police, one of the more disturbing impacts of British arrival upon the Aboriginal peoples.    

Talking to My Country by Stan Grant.

Grant's memoir is highly personal but also focused in particular on his Aboriginal identity. This includes an exploration of the way he sees the Frontier Wars, demonstrating the ongoing reverberations of this history and why it needs to be better addressed.

The Tiwi of North Australia by C.W.M. Hart and Arnold R. Pilling.

Having been written by European anthropologists in the 1950s, there is a lot in this book that is quite outdated and also downright offensive. That said, it's powerful to see that even in 1959 there was an awareness amongst researchers that first contact between Europeans and the Tiwi Aboriginal people was initially quite hostile. This includes a frank account of the failed attempt to turn the Tiwi Islands into 'Fort Dundas', Australia's early 19th century answer to the bustling Asian port of Singapore. Hart and Pilling's assertion that the British and the Tiwi "did not make friends" is an understatement (to say the least) and, after describing the drawn-out four year conflict that led to the abandonment of Fort Dundas in 1829, the authors admit that "Tiwi treatment of outsiders prior to 1900 had been to rob them, spear them, kill them" due to justified fears of blackbirding.

The Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds.

Reynolds explores the idea that a full and complete acknowledgement of the Frontier Wars is needed before true reconciliation can be achieved. The historian parallels the reconciliation movement with accounts of the Frontier Wars, providing evidence to suggest that Aboriginal resistance not only occurred but was widespread and highly strategic. This is a great historiographical study of the way in which Australian society has dealt with the Frontier Wars over time, including an examination of the political commentary throughout the '80s and '90s that sought to reject the history or call attention to it. Of most shocking note is the provision of firsthand testimony from Edward Curr, an 1820s Australian politician who estimated that 15-25% of the Aboriginal population died as a result of the early days of the frontier conflict. Reynolds also assesses the available evidence and written primary sources against the United Nations conditions for classifying something as genocide and... the result isn't good. 

The Whispering in Our Hearts by Henry Reynolds. 

Essentially an account of early settler guilt, this book uncovers the histories of white protesters who agitated for better treatment of the Aboriginal peoples throughout the 19th century. This is juxtaposed throughout the text with primary sources that refer to frontier conflicts and government policy connected to such hostilities.  

Black War by Clive Turnbull.

This 1948 history book isn't particularly reliable in terms of presenting an objective account of the war between Aboriginal Tasmanians and the British. I include this here simply to demonstrate that historians were quite comfortable talking about Frontier Wars some 75 years ago and that there's evidently some continuity in acknowledging its existence over time. 

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A lot of the above is quite grim reading but also incredibly useful to anyone interested in the Frontier Wars. The more I read about these conflicts the more I realise there is still a lot to learn. I'll leave this blog with one final note regarding the ongoing historiography of the Frontier Wars - as of February, 2023, the new chair of the War Memorial, former politician Kim Beazley, has indicated that he plans to dedicate some of the institution's $500 million expansion to a "proper recognition" of the Frontier Wars. 

Creating Worlds - Setting in Imaginative Writing

Imagined and literary worlds are always, in some way, a reflection of the world around us. The bedrock of worldbuilding is a keen awareness of setting - and students need to understand that setting has a precise function if they are to use this element well. When I read a great book or short story, I will find myself transported to that setting and sometimes it will be the one thing that stays with me longest after  I finish reading.

An effective setting will do some or all of the following:

• Remain constant in the reader's impression of the story, even when it isn't being explicitly mentioned. This can be achieved through the consistent use of detail and ensuring that nothing occurs in the narrative to contradict the setting.
• Make use of a set of rules - is everything we read a logical extension of the setting? If the setting is an unusual one, then this needs to interact with the characters and narrative in a way befitting this. 
• Be aware of time and place. A setting should have a particular geography but there also needs to be an awareness of the time of day and year, which may shift according to the progression of the narrative. If it is the height of an Australian summer, for example, then the characters need to act in a way that reflects the constant and often oppressive heat that comes with this.
• Reflect theme or a key idea. The most effective setting will often interact with characters in a way that reveals a concept or message that the writer seeks to explore. 

When we teach setting within a schooling context we need to also think about the syllabus. By all means, students should be encouraged to write for pleasure and to explore their imagination without limit, and time can be spent on this in the junior grades or (if your school has them) English creative writing electives. But if we're looking at the pointy end of the curriculum (in my case, NSW), we do need to teach students how to write within the scope of the Craft of Writing module for the HSC, or for  English Extension 1. This means having the ability to write a short piece within 25-50 minutes (depending on the HSC question and course).

So with this in mind, I would ask students to also think of setting in the following way:

• The previously mentioned dot points still largely apply.
• Come to a decision about whether character or setting will take precedence. Both should reflect the idea the student wants to explore, but if the amount of examination time is particularly short (for example, a double-barrelled Craft of Writing question that requires a reflection as well as a piece of original writing) then I think a student will struggle to give ample space to both characterisation and setting. 
• If focusing on setting, consider how it relates to the idea we want to explore. How does the setting reflect genre? Why is the writer writing about this setting? What is the purpose? How can we ensure that the detail included is consistently relevant to the idea or theme? 
• Don't fall into the trap of fantasy worldbuilding - there is limited space in an HSC examination and we need to consider the stimulus and the parameters of the question. It's great to write an evocative setting but this isn't the place to delve into said setting's extensive history and geography.  

What follows is an activity that uses real world locations to provide inspiration. In NSW it could be used for Years 7-10 English, Year 11 Reading to Write, Year 12 Craft of Writing, or Extension English Literary Worlds. 

Students are taken on a tour of 20 slides - 2 for each setting - and asked to respond to them in a way that will get them started on the above journey. The questions below aren't fixed, they're just a way to get students thinking descriptively and, more importantly, conceptually. 

1. Describe what you see in as much detail as possible.
2. Boil it down to just one key idea that could be used in a piece of writing.
3. What sort of short story could you tell in relation to this setting?
4. What would this short story be about in a single word? (EG. Desperation? Survival? Hope? Secrecy?, etc.)

The slides can be found here - Creating Worlds.

Happy writing!

Disclaimer: The above activity was compiled specifically for this blog. 

Some Great Books

The last few years I resolved to read more. I used to watch a lot of film before this but I found my concentration span for cinema became absolutely shot to pieces when I first became a teacher. Reading became enforced quiet time or something I do while walking. It's a soothing balm on my brain. This year I've had less time to read than I did in years before but I still enjoy it so much.

Below are just five books I really like.

Sabrina: I love comics. Not the superhero kind, the other kind. No, not the Sunday funny strips, the other other kind... the self-contained graphic novels, Belgian and French adventure comics, independent comics; that sort of thing. When I found out that there was a graphic novel that got nominated for the Man Booker Prize, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, I quickly made sure it got in front of me so I could experience it. It was really something else. In the age of fake news, internet trolls, and trial by social media, Drnaso has created an unsettling parable for the times - masterfully constructed and carefully controlled, and every bit as nuanced as any worthwhile literary novel.

Under Milk Wood: I read this three times in 2019 in order to prepare material for a textbook for Into English. I'd read it before, back in 2017, and I fell head over heels for Thomas's slippery, cheeky, self-engineering folklore. Listening to the 1950s BBC production, and reading it several times, allowed me to slowly immerse myself in the language and discover new things in every line. If you're unaware of Dylan Thomas's radio play then I would recommend reading up on it a bit to get an understanding of what it's 'about' before you read it - jumping into it cold turkey can be a disconcerting experience from a contemporary standpoint (I tried once 20 years ago and gave up before coming back to it in 2017). It's a rewarding text, extremely funny in parts, but it's also very unusual - essentially a day in the life of a town with over 60 characters and no real plot. If you can accept that you're not going to get a storyline or remember all the characters, then you'll be fine.

As I Lay Dying: Faulkner is such a dude. I'd never read his work before this and it was such a rich, textured vision of southern misery that I instantly started seeking out more of his stuff. Each of the characters present their own distinct stream-of-consciousness viewpoint, shedding shifting light on dark subject material. I kept thinking I could see where the narrative was going but Faulkner is playing his own game, and the rules to that game aren't easy to gauge through the various shades of narration, much of which is best judged as potentially unreliable. This easily deserves its status as a modern classic of the American Depression. 

The Pueblo Revolt: I did a lot of reading on the contact and colonisation endured by the Pubeloan peoples in America's southwest during the 16th and 17th centuries. In the course of my research I zeroed in on this book by David Roberts as being the best... aside from being well-researched in its depiction of the clash between the Puebloans and their Spanish conquerors, it also happens to be an engaging narrative that conveys the work of a historian travelling across a landscape in search of leads and new primary sources. A great book for anyone who's interested in the way in which history is written, and also a uniquely detailed representation of a fascinating and largely unknown piece of frontier history.

Freddy Lombard: I'm a big fan of the ligne claire comic genre (think Tintin) and this tragically short series expands, subverts, and pays homage to all the things that are great about it. My only criticism is that there will never be any more adventures for Freddy Lombard and his pals due to the untimely death of author Yves Chaland in 1990. I've written more extensively about this gem here.