AustLit

In Conversation...: BlackWords Interviews

Carried out in 2013 by Professor Anita Heiss, these interviews represent a snapshot of Australian First Nations writing in the twenty-first century, as twenty authors, from poets to Miles Franklin winners to academics, set out their path to writing.

Explore the BlackWords Interviews: Anita Heiss.

Literature (H)as Power: Interviews

This set of six interviews were undertaken by Dr Estelle Castro-Koshy during the course of her PhD in 2007: they are now being published on AustLit, accompanied by detailed essays by the interviewer.

Note: Readers are warned that this collection contains the names of people who have died.

Explore Literature (H)as Power.

A ground-breaking exhibition curated by Fiona Foley and located in the Great Court at The University Of Queensland's St Lucia campus, Courting Blakness was originally available in September 2014. In 2017, the original website and ancillary materials were moved to AustLit for archival purposes.

Explore Courting Blakness.

This small collection of biographical stories that capture the experience of growing up in Australia as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person arises from the overwhelming volume of stories submitted to Black Inc. for consideration in Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia. AustLit is pleased to have the opportunity to make these works available.

Explore Growing Up Indigenous in Australia.

This collection of essays by Professor Anita Heiss has been produced for teachers, students, researchers, and readers in order to highlight AustLit’s BlackWords project, the most comprehensive resource of Indigenous Australian writing available. The essays aim to assist readers to better understand the impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing and publishing on Australia’s literary landscape.

Read The BlackWords Essays.

This Exhibition directs readers to BlackWords texts about the Stolen Generations. It identifies many different kinds of works, from anthologies to film, poetry to oral histories. There are also instructions for finding further resources about the Stolen Generations in AustLit.

Visit the Stolen Generations Exhibition.

The Language and Country Exhibition provides a sample of First Australians cultures and languages. There are samples of texts from Country as well as information on languages. Also included are instructions of searching for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in BlackWords, as well as resources to aid the celebration of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019.

Visit the Exhibition.

This trail presents some of the information in BlackWords about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sportspeople. Some of these stories celebrate great sporting achievements, but others also examine the cultural obstacles that Indigenous sportspeople have faced throughout history. Some items can be viewed online and others will be accessible at your local library or bookshop.

This trail should not be considered comprehensive, but as an introduction to works about Indigenous sportsmen and sportswomen.

Click here to read the trail.

The David Unaipon Award was inaugurated in 1988 by University of Queensland Press. Awarded to the best writing of the year by an unpublished Indigenous writer, the award was named in honour of David Unaipon, one of the earliest published Indigenous writers.

This trail collects together Unaipon Award-winning books and authors.

Click here to view the trail.

The BlackWords Historical Events Calendar traces significant dates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since 1788. You can use the calendar to see what happened in a particular historical period, and then check out the content in BlackWords. Suggested search subject terms and keywords have been supplied, as have links to individuals with records in the database.

Click to explore the Calendar of Events.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have served Australia in war from the Boer War (1899-1902) to the present, exhibiting the same loyalty and patriotism as their European counterparts, but received limited recognition, especially in the wars before the late 1960s.

This trail explores works relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders participating in the armed services.

Click here to view the trail.

1967 Referendum and Constitutional Reform Resources is a collection of resources relating to the 1967 Referendum, and its consequences, including the debate around Constitutional Reform.

Visit the Trail.