The Road to Jackie French

Book Summary The third book in Jackie French’s Matilda series, The Road to Gundagai is set in the years 1932- 1935 during the Depression. With epic prose and beautiful Australian settings, this series continues to enchant readers of all ages. Curriculum areas The Road to Gundagai is an excellent resourse for Years 6-9 and could be used for the following subjects:

• English •History It• SOSEcould also be used to achieve the following learning outcomes:

•ACELT 1626 -1632 •ACELT1806 •ACELY 1729 Themes

•The Great Depression •Racism and Prejudice •Women’s History and Rights •Circuses and Travelling Players

Appropriate Ages: 11+ NotesISBN 978 By Robyn0 7322 Sheahan-Bright 9722 0 E-ISBN 978 1 7430 9983 4

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1 The Road to Gundagai The Road to Gundagai Jackie French Jackie French Contents

brother, who is now a medical student, advises Blue Introduction to seek further treatment for her burns; Matilda and

by Andy McAlpine, and they offer refuge to the circus Someone was trying to poison me, she thought. I have lost Thomas O’ Halloran still own Drinkwater, managed •Introduction How could she laugh, with tragedy and terror all about her? somehow that was a world away. workers. This novel, too, is a symbolic reflection of my family. Lost my home. I am scarred and misshapen. But •About the Author Theanother Road Banjo to Gundagai, Paterson The poem Girl ‘The from Road Snowy to River,Gundagai’. (p 82) •Author Inspiration and A Waltz for Matilda each explore nationally Study Notes on Themes and Curriculum Topics andBluebell baby (Blue) brother Laurence have been has lost survived at sea; more her house in her had land and property, social justice, women’s rights, burnedyoung life down than and most she people herself do was in abadly lifetime. burned Her andparents thesignificant responsibility themes of – questionsgovernments of ownership to create social of sent to stay with two aging aunts who clearly don’t harmony, the myths which form nationhood, our like her much. For some strange reason she becomes multicultural heritage, and the threat of racism and increasingly nauseous and to top things off her hair prejudice to national cohesion. Bluebell discovers •English and Literacy that as a woman she has fewer rights than men, but servant and her friend Mah is with them as well, and frequentlybegins to fall smuggles out. Her little only comforts comfort isinto that her their room. former When in life. She feels a sense of home at Drinkwater, but •SOSE alsowill fightdeclares such a inequality commitment and to choose the businesses her own pathher Themes taken her so far from medical attention, but the aunts father built up, and realises her own commercial Uncle Herbert visits he is outraged that the aunts have although their dedication seems based more on duty thanremain affection. fixed on Meanwhile keeping their all around charge herin close other proximity, people that,ambitions. like Matilda, Like the she heroines will be veryin previous generous novels, with she are suffering as well. For this novel takes place during heris strong-willed wealth in later and life. yet Shecompassionate. has survived One several senses •The Great Depression• Racism and Prejudice what has come to be known as the ‘Great Depression’ challenges and overcome her own health issues. This during which unemployment was rife and food in short •Women’s History and Rights supply. Bluebell has to cope with the restrictions of her Blue falls in love with Joey, thus completing a series ofis alsoconnections a romance between (like the these earlier generations novels) in which which are •Circuses and Travelling Players view. She is ‘rescued’ by the circus entertainers and this powerfully symbolic of the legacy owed to the past. Questions and Activities beginsnew life a untilnew andthe Magnificoexciting chapter Family in Circus her life, moves during into Blue confronts her future with the strength of her convictions and the support of her loving partner. ‘family’, and begins to take control of her own destiny. Bibliography which she discovers what she is capable of, finds a This is my world, she thought. Mine to share and to create The third title in a planned series The Matilda Saga, … About the Author of the Notes A Waltz for Matilda The Girl from (p 413) Snowycovers Riverthe years 1932-35; the first was another (1892–1915);two sequels. Characters and the second of the previous novels (1920-3) and this will be followed by

These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study withinn schools but the may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commecial sale. Thesereturn notes may in be this reproduced one – free Joseph of charge (Joey) for use andMcAlpine, study withinn Flinty’s schools but the may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commecial sale.

2 3 The Road to Gundagai The Road to Gundagai Jackie French Jackie French

About the Author Author Inspiration Jackie Writes: includingThe stories adopting of circus indigenous life from about children 1880- from Notes on Themes and Jackie French is a multiple award-winning orphanages1930 are based to train on oral in circus histories skills. from the time, author who deals with a very wide-range of The Road to a Road Curriculum Topics Blue’s injury is based on one of my own, when that: ‘The Road to Gundagai the story of our nation as well as a love song to our my legs were burnt by an alkali when I was topics. Of her books she says on her website seven years old, and for a short time the scars land. A Waltz for Matilda is the third of five books, Characters fused together. (It is easier to write about we have varieties of apples. If something is worth Federation to Gallipoli, 1915 . The Girl from Snowy The Significance of Character: Characters doingThere youwere may over as 140 well at go last heart count, and slightly soul and more boot than River begins in 1916 and begancovers in the 1892, post and war covered period injury in or Flinty’s damaged back in are the heart of any narrative, the catalysts for injuries one has experienced, like Loa’s knee gardening, pests control , chooks and some that must , but I am close to running out of action, and the central core around which all personal injuries to write about and in this case I other narrative aspects must revolve and work. beleather a nightmare ... I write for for book kids shopsand adults, to work fiction, out what history, Theof the Road 1920’s. to Gundagai opens in 1932, in the heart In this work there are several major characters probably not quite up to date list of what is where for the characters in it, as well as . The genre they are. Have a look at ‘which book?’ for a am not hoping for fresh inspiration). and for whom. ‘Matilda’of the depression. of this book Each has book grown is a from voyage the both frightened cast of minor ones. (some of whom figure briefly in the action) and a but determined child into very much her great fear of homelessness, and the gratitude to those Perhaps this book is mostly inspired both by the grandfather’s descendent, increasingly though who made me welcome when, like Blue, I needed Major Characters: fascinating insights into her life and work. benevolently autocratic, tempered by her great places of safety to consider my future. Running Her websites offers further detailed and (Blue) Bluebell Laurence, grandmother’s knowledge and connection to the away to join a circus is a dream that many kids Mah (Marjorie), Fred, Gertrude, Ginger and www.jackiefrench.com land. share, whether they want to run from boredom, fear, or just that glimpse of spangles. their mother Mrs Olsen, Madame, Ebenezer and DiscussionEphraim, Joseph Point: McAlpine, Apart from Sheba Blue, the which elephant. Running towards a dream can help you face character did you consider to be central to the ‘sussoThere iscamp’ no one that place was booksonce on begin. the lower Perhaps end this of our reality too. At the beginning of this book both property,began when a place I learned where about the community Poverty Gully, worked the Blue and Australia have almost lost the power novel’s plot and themes, and why? together to build better lives, especially for their to hope. But by the end of it there are many Discussion Point: Which of the main characters children. It comes from the family circus that used possible paths ahead of them, though you will to regularly camp in the brown paddocks outside our did you find most appealing, and why? town, where my four-year-old son fell in love with For all of us, there are many possible roads to Minor Characters: Blue’s aunts Violet and need to keep reading to find out what they are. a girl in tulle and spangles, and demanded a good Gundagai.’ reason why we could not have an elephant living by Daisy, her uncle Herbert, Sergeant Patterson, our creek. of Drinkwater Station and were main characters Matilda and Thomas O’Halloran are the owners

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4 5 The Road to Gundagai The Road to Gundagai Jackie French Jackie French

Use of Literary Devices such as Simile and A genre which relies on the author weaving Metaphor Discussionin the first novel. Point: Is there a minor character novel the experiences of people during the great The Literary Trope of the Orphaned Heroine would you have liked to have seen more of this Depressiontogether fact are and juxtaposed fiction seamlessly. against the In imaginarythis is used in this novel symbolically to explore who might have played a larger part? Why story of Blue and the circus people. atLunch the window.was long, and dappled with silences, filled only wider issues. by the chink of forks on plates and the bump of flies Charactercharacter? Arcs are the curve on which key Discussion Point: Activity: (p 9) Discussion Point: Discuss with students the role events show how a character grows or develops literary devices and discuss their meaning and of the ‘orphan’ in this novel. in response to events and to interactions with similar and what wasHow different much did to actual you recognise events effect. Locate other examples of the use of other characters in the novel. from the history you have read? What was The Cover of a book is an ideogram for the Literary References contents and a marketing tool as well. Activity: Choose a character and trace an arc on or people? Talk about the writing of historical which key events indicate some aspect of their Bibliographyfiction with your below. students, with reference to The Road to Gundagai becomes a sort of symbolic Activity: Create a new cover for the work personality or change in their behaviour (e.g. some of the articles on writing such fiction in the goal for the characters. Jackie French explains drawing on either theme or incident to create the The novel follows a chronological structure in her Author’s Note image. Use techniques such as collage. Write a referred to other texts in this book, as well. blurb for the back cover of the book as well. LanguageFred). and Literacy have taken pace earlier such as the loss of Blue’s (pp 414-25) that she has 1932–35, but also refers to key events which Discussion Point: What function do the literary SOSE home. parents and brother at sea and the fire at their Colloquialisms of the era give a tangible Whose History? quotations play? sense of the times. Activity: Create a timeline of all the incidents Activity: Students may wish to study a unit on referred to in the book. bush poetry and visit websites for information. There are as many versions of history as the Activity: Make a list of all the uncommon words Themes would suggest. In the Bibliography or expressions and try to guess their meaning Narrative Perspective www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poems-poetic-form/ below there are websites tracing Australian e.g. ‘Bush ’ Australian Poetry Library from the context in which they appear. Then bush-ballads history from multicultural, Indigenous and check their meanings in a dictionary. Which Blue’s story is written in the third person. women’s perspectives as well as from the other expressions do you know which date from Discussion Point: Activity: Gundagai’ by . wealthyEurocentric person’s views experience which often of featurethe Depression in such an earlier era and are not used now? How might the story have http://alldownunder.com/australian-authors/ Listen to the song ‘Along the Road to historical overviews. How different is the changed if it had been written in first person? This novel is a work of Historical Fiction or banjo-paterson/road-to-gundagai.htm accounts and diaries as an introduction to this Choose a passage and translate it in her voice? Faction topic.to the poor person’s? Read any first person

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6 7 The Road to Gundagai The Road to Gundagai Jackie French Jackie French

Activity: Find out more about such camps, and Themes how people adapted to life in them. Activity: Choose an incident referred to in the novel and then write a diary entry as if the story The Great Depression Work was in short supply during the is being told by Mah or Fred and not Blue. Depression and people put up with extremely Social Class This novel takes place during what is known as poor conditions: Bluebell’s time with the circus makes her the Great Depression. aware of social prejudices and endemic social Activity: Do an ‘image search’ using the key words places where the employees work sixteen-hour Too many still have dirt floors. I’ve seen some ‘Great Depression Australia’ to give students some days and sleep under their benches. Many products Discussiondisadvantage Point: for the What first does time. this novel idea of the conditions in which poorer people are still made by piece labour. lived during the Depression. Valuesdemonstrate about Australia’s social classes? (p 347) The ‘dole’ and food rations were part of the Discussion Point: What was the outcome of everyday life of many people during the Depression. ‘character’ and the qualities or values necessary the Depression in terms of working conditions? toThis make novel your (like life others meaningful. in the series), Discuss is quotes about in Did the Unions fight for better rights? Did things Activity: Research this topic further. What sorts of relation to such values, for example, “ Activity:improve leading Read some up to of World the novels War Two? listed in the Bibliography which are set in the Depression You are a thief,” she told me. “The question is, are you did they stretch the family budget to ensure that food did people eat during the Depression? How and compare them to this one.

ideachildren of the didn’t foods go prepared hungry? andMake eaten ‘Squished then. Flies’ a good thief or a bad one?” tentatively. Mr Thompson shifted in his armchair, with your students (pp 414-5) to give them some Individual/Community(p 151) andUnemployment hand moving is the a difficultother till problem,’it sat on the she hand said rest. ‘It’s not. It’s a simple one.’ The slurred words the life in camps and shacks is described: ‘Susso Camps’ are mentioned (p 114) and later the interplay between individual action and were easier for her to understand now. ‘People just communityThis novel (and responsibility. series) constantly Blue would records not have When you had nothing but rags and susso rations wooden furniture of the room, the richly coloured have to be less selfish.’ He gestured at the polished survived without the circus ‘family’; or the the sea was your riches, the source of driftwood for can’t keep going in times like these without cutting community of Drinkwater Station. the wild spinach that Madame had told Ginger to wages.’rugs on the floor. ‘Most factory owners claim they your fire, fish for supper, or oysters or cockles or Invite students to consider Discussion Point: Discussion(p 339) Point: Discuss Thomas’s statement how the characters in this novel play a role in and pretend you were a princess, dive through froth- gather yesterday. Here you could build sandcastles about unemployment. their community. topped surf and know that even if poverty rode the wind outside your shanty, here you were ruler of the waves.’

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8 9 The Road to Gundagai The Road to Gundagai Jackie French Jackie French

Good, compassionate managers mean well-run Research the role that Chinese people animal liberation and legal issues. Do you think Activity: Blue felt faintly jealous: a man could be bald and no factories. Well-run factories mean good jobs. Good have played in Australian history and the moves one cared. A man could inherit at twenty-one. A man animals should be trained to perform and be jobs mean families are fed. to have them return home via the Immigration could run a business or be a lawyer.’

(p 9) Discussionkept in cages Point: in circuses? (pp 349-50) Discussion Point: Discuss this further statement DiscussionRestriction Act Point: 1901 Gertrude (White Australia has been Policy). told that women’s lives continued to be restricted until the ‘contemporary circus’ differ from ‘traditional by Thomas about management and workers. she was Spanish but discovers she is Aboriginal Jackie French writes (pp 419-21) about how How does a so-called exists today. Jackie French writes of how many children didn’t was this sort of mistaken or lost Aboriginal 1970s, and some would say that inequality still Activity:circus’? attend school due to work at home or to their heritage,towards thedue endto the of thephenomenon novel. How which common has Discussion Point: Family Circus. come to be known as ‘Stolen Children’ or ‘Stolen Design a poster for the Magnifico How have women’s right class or cultural background. (pp 418-9) Discussion Point: What was the average school Doeschangesd Blue since entirely the 1970s?overcome the obstacles she Activity:Generations’? What other types of prejudice appeared Activity:Jackie French Research writes elephants about elephants and the role(p 421). they played in circuses over the centuries. leaving age at this time? How universal was confronts as a woman? education?Mah mentions the earlier Depressions Circuses and Travelling Players Activity: Women’sin this novel? History and Rights [You might also conduct a unit on circus animals using other picture books such as The traditional circus way of life provided a family those listed in the Bibliography.] in Australia (p 313). Research those as well. Well-to-do women in this era were expected to network and a form of security at odds with the Racism and Prejudice be ladylike, to pursue ladylike hobbies such as fact that they were itinerants who never had a needlework, to ‘marry well’, and to aspire to the permanent home. Australia is a country made up of many ethnic life or a wife and mother without pursuing a groups and yet throughout our history there have career. Children starve in , families are being been many examples of suspicion of those who locked out of their homes in Brisbane, banks in are ‘different’. Discussion Point: fail. But our bellies have been full and we even have new tyres for the truck. We have been lucky. Discussion Point: Mah is looked down upon How does Blue’s attitude to by the aunts simply because she has Chinese Womenlife challenge were this also idea? bound by legal restrictions Activity: Research the history of circus in(p 184) Australia. business in one’s own right, heritage. Why did this sort of attitude exist? Does which made it difficult to own property or a Discussion Point: Animals appear in circus it still exist today? routines far less commonly than they did, due to

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10 11 Key Quotes

The following quotes relate to some of the Themes above. You might like to present any one of them Questions for Reading and Discussion

(or two related quotes) to your students as a catalyst for further discussion, or as the subject of an 1. This novel is about an orphaned girl who befriends two orphaned siblings. essay outlining how the quote reflects a theme which is central to this novel: Nice girls don’t wave their hips, or wear lipstick. I’ve A circus is in plain sight, always. There is nowhere here Discussion Point: been a nice girl all my life. where you can hide from the police. Orphans are often the subject of influential literary stories. Why is the concept of a (p 86) (p 71) 2.child Blue without and her parents friends so Fredthematically and Mah powerful? were orphans. The two siblings were separated and Blue has .. this man thought so little of the circus women that he’d The Depression was like a hungry bear stalking Australia, use a word like ‘hell’ in front of them. We are not ladies to him, she thought. We are … hussies. unemployed, queuing for a hessian bag of food each week —devouring just enough laughter to keep and him prosperity. and his familyOne man from in starvation.four was well.to rely Madame on relatives has made to take it her her business in. Mrs Olsento ‘rescue’ and herorphans brother who Ronald are in danger.were orphans ‘bought’ by Lenny (p 88) Women begged in the streets or stood with hungry children Frearson for their circus. Gertrude was an Aboriginal child on a mission who was bought by Lenny as in silent lines of faded hope just to get a bowl of soup handed Discussion Point: out by a church or charity.’ Were you shocked to read about the treatment of these children? How much more (p 3) protection do orphans receive today? Are social services better equipped to assist such children in need ‘Also it is good to work. To work at what you love, with those you love, that is the heart of life. It withers the soul refuge for the homeless of Sydney here with the sand and the 3.of care?This novel describes the experiences of a wealthy girl and an impoverished group of circus workers to sit and let others work to keep you. But also you must But Hope Town was the largest camp they’d seen yet, a during the Great Depression. work to earn your keep. for water and the thin soil beyond the dunes to try to grow someflies and vegetables. the southerly wind, a greasy creek (pp 103-4) Discussion Point: (pp 115-6) But everyone at the circus knew all too well that if a Couldn’t get a job no matter how hard I tried. A quarter of How might experiences have differed in the city? (Base your answer on research into small town’s policeman had to choose between local Australia unemployed — who’s going to give a job to a skinny lads and the circus in a real scrap, he’d choose the locals 4.life during this time.) every time. If any one of them were locked up on a only just beginning to be threatened by the new communications available. policeman’s whim the circus would have to wait till they twelve year- old who looks Chinese? (p 158) Jackie French explains the history of radio (p 418). At this early stage the popularity of live shows was were freed.’ Discussion Point: She missed her(p 133) family, a deep etched scar that would What had it been like, giving birth in a shack of corrugated never entirely heal. But this life stretched her in a way iron or hammered-out kerosene tin, a hessian sack for a How did radio impact on live performances? What sorts of show were broadcast by 5.the newly created ABC and the commercial stations? of her home. that would never have been allowed in the safe confines door? Had there been anyone to help?(p 173) (p 167) medicinalThe very ones. drastic use of arsenic to poison Blue (pp 59-60) is typical of the crime novel but comes as a shock in this story. However, arsenic has been used for centuries for a range of purposes, including You’re not supposed to know how much money your and ‘after’, like Fred and Mah’s magicians. I am both Blue husband has. It wasn’t good manners even to ask about how Discussion Point:Research the history of arsenic usage, and discuss further. andHer lifeBelle, was she whole thought, again, rubbing not compartments another bite. ofAnd ‘before’ now I much something cost.’ have a past, I can think about a future too.’ ( 6. The novel refers to the number of itinerants on the roads, seeking work and sometimes begging for (p 193) food or handouts. ‘But perhaps you didn’t have to be born on ap patch 175) of Is it a crime to brighten people’s lives with a little pretence country to put down roots there, thought Blue.’ Discussion Point: (p 344) and glitter? (p 93) How many people were unemployed or forced to access dole payments during this period?

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12 13 7. Fred has always had to live on his own resources.

Discussion Point: Non-Fiction for his future life, as a synopsis for another novel in this series. Bibliography What might have become of Fred once he ran away? Write an imagined scenario 8 Change and Survival’ Picture Books www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/Lemon, Andrea ‘Traditional Australian Circus: . Ephraim and Ebenezer are revealed to be two sisters named Euphrasia and Eulalie. australian-studies/article/viewFile/2136/2523 Activity:(p 319). This sort of ‘false identity’ was common in a time when people were often escaping grim pasts, or prejudice. Fenton, Corinne Queenie Ill. by Peter Gouldthorpe Argent,Black Dog Kerry Books, India 2006. the Show Stopper Allen & Horton, David 1994, The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia (2 vol.), Aboriginal Studies aboutTry to adiscover young Aboriginal any fictional girl or who real dressedexamples as of a suchboy as subterfuge many did, in in Australian order to goliterature . or (Aboriginal history. eg Press, Canberra, ACT. ‘The ’s Boy’ is a song written by Ted Egan and later illustrated by (Lothian, 1997) Unwin, 2008. Brasch, Nicolas Eyewitness to Australian History women weren’t permitted to be drovers.) Rogers, Greg Omar the Strongman Scholastic, 2013. Series 2009, 2007. 9. Thompson, Colin The Last Circus Ill. by Kim DiscussionGertrude putsPoint: in Whathours did of practice you think to ofachieve the efforts her flawless children circus had toroutines. undergo in order to perform in Gamble. Hodder Headline, 1997. Crew, Gary.’ Fiction, Nonfiction and the Limits of Fiction Faction’ Magpies, Vol 19, Issue 2, May 2004, pp 8-10. the circus? Should they have been allowed to work as they did? McDonald, Sydney, 1932 Disher, Garry & Caswell, Brian, ‘Looting Allen, Peter Our Don Bradman: The Diary of Victor the Past & Predicting the Future’ in Time Will Tell: Children’s Literature into the 21st (My Australian Story Series) Scholastic, 2004. Conference of the Children’s Book Council of Disher, Garry The Bamboo Flute A&R, 1992. century: Proceedings from the Fourth National

Australia , 1998, edited by Sieta van der Hoeven. CBCA, 1998, pp 81-5. Disher, Garry The Apostle Bird Hodder, 2002, 1997. Gleeson, Libby ‘Writing Historical Fiction My Greenwood, Kerry The Long Walk ,Lothian, 2011. Story Series’ Magpies Vol 16, No 4, September 2001, pp 12-4. Hartnett, Sonya Thursday’s Child, Penguin, 2000. Comments by Three Writers; Jackie French, Catherine‘Parting the Jinks, Veil: Kelly Writing Gardiner’ Historical Magpies, Fiction Vol 21,

Issue 2, May 2006, pp 4-6, 8-9.

St Leon, Mark Circus: Story Melbourne Books, 2011. These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study withinn schools but the may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commecial sale. These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study withinn schools but the may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commecial sale.

14 15 Turton, Rayma Know the Author: Jackie French ‘The Chinese in Australia’ Australian Bureau of Statistics Magpies Vol 15, No 5, November 2000, pp 14-16. www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/ Wheatley, Nadia ‘History Alive’ Magpies Vol 16, No 4, September 2001, pp 8-11. Websites Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article219 25?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodn Australian Aboriginal History Timeline ‘Newo=1301.0&issue=1925&num=&view= Circus in Australia’ www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/ history/aboriginal-history-timeline.html http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australi- an-story/new-circus Australian Folklore

http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian- About the Author of story/austn-folklore the Notes ‘Bush Ballads’ Australian Poetry Library Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright operates justified www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poems-poetic-form/ text writing and publishing consultancy ser- bush-ballads vices, and has published widely on children’s and

Australian History! in Pictures and Narratives AwardYA literature. for Distinguished In 2011 she Services was the to recipient Children’s of www.australianhistorypictures.com/ the CBCA (Qld Branch) Dame Annabelle Rankin

Literature in , and in 2012 the CBCA AustralianAustralianHistoryPictures.com/WELCOME.html History Timelines Compiled by (National) Nan Chauncy Award for Outstanding Jackie Miers Services to Children’s Literature in Australia.

www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/history/ australian.html

Australian Slang Dictionary

www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

Australian Women’s History Timeline

www.womenshistory.com.au/timeline.asp

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