(Levels 1B to 5)
*** Mater Amabilis thanks Ruth Marshall for generously sharing this history outline with us ***
General Notes
This is a general Australian history program, not a specifically Catholic one. If you have suggestions for Australian Catholic history, please send them to us and we will add an additional reading list.
Title marked *** indicates that the author wrote other books which are also worth reading.
Links:
Australian Living Books: An Annotated List by Ruth Marshall
Wonder … to Wisdom – Ruth Marshall’s website, including CM suggestions and resources from an Australian perspective.
Many Australian texts may be found online here.
Level 1B – Australian History
Resources
- Eve Pownall, The Australia Book [Out of print – available second-hand]
- Nadia Wheatley & Donna Rawlins, My Place
Read-Alouds (Choose from among the following)
- Doris Chadwick, John of the Sirius (the other two books in the series are John of Sydney Cove, and John and Nanbaree)
(Fiction – the First Fleet and the early years of the colony of New South Wales – Very highly recommended) [Out of print – available second-hand] - Ruth C. Williams, Verity of Sydney Town
(Fiction – set in the times of Governor Macquarie; exciting story about bushrangers) [Out of print- available second-hand] - Eve Pownall, Cousins-Come-Lately: Adventures in Old Sydney Town
(Fiction, set in Sydney in 1832) [Out of print – available second-hand] - Ethel Pedley, Dot and the Kangaroo (Fiction – this is an Australian “classic”)
- Matthew Flinders, Trim (Matthew Flinders’ tribute to his ship’s cat.) [In print, or available online]
- Colin Thiele, River Murray Mary*** (Fiction – set in the years between the wars)
Australian Art
- Susan Venn, Roy and Matilda: The Golden Locket (or others in the same series)
- Poetry by:
A.B. “Banjo” Paterson, including “The Man from Snowy River”, “Mulga Bill’s Bicycle”, “The Man from Ironbark”, Clancy of the Overflow” (and others)*** [Available Online] - C.J. Dennis, A Book for Kids [Available online]
Level 1A – British History
- 1st Year: Romans to the end of the Middle Ages
- 2nd Year: Tudors to Victoria
Recommended Resources
- Our Island Story by H.E.Marshall
- Our Lady’s Dowry by Kathryn Faulkner (in preparation: being made available to Mater Amabilis users through the Teacher Training Forum)
Level 2 – American and Australian History
1st Year: American History
Recommended Resource
- From Sea to Shining Sea (Catholic Textbook Project)
Note: This book is expensive, but is a high quality, up-to-date summary of American history from a Catholic perspective. We are not aware whether there is an Australian source for this book. If there is, please let us know!
2nd Year: Australian History
Resources (Choose one of these two books as a spine text)
- Arthur Baillie, Our Sunburnt Country: An Illustrated History of Australia [Out of print – available second-hand]
- or H.E. Marshall, Our Empire Story (Read the Australian and New Zealand sections) [Available online at the Baldwin Project]
Optional Extra Resources
- K.M. Adams Seeing History series [Out of print – available second-hand]:
1. The First Australians, Prehistory – 1810
2. Australia: Gaol to Colony, 1810-1850
3. Australia: Colonies to Commonwealth, 1850-1900
4. Twentieth Century Australia, 1900-1960
Supplementary reading
- Australians in History series [Out of print – available second-hand]
- Joan Phipson, Bennelong (Biography)
- Ian Mudie, River Rivals (Paddle steamers on the Murray River)
- Nancy Keesing, The Golden Dream (The Gold Rush)
- Eve Pownall, The Singing Wire (Story of the Overland Telegraph)
- Nance Donkin, Margaret Catchpole (Biography)
- George Finkel. Matthew Flinders (biography)
- K. Langloh Parker, Australian Legendary Tales [Online at Project Gutenberg]
- H.J. Samuel, A Saddle at Bontharambo (True story of a pioneering family in northern Victoria) [Out of print]
- Kathleen Monypenny, And the Children Came, Too (True stories from Australian history, seen through the eyes of the children who were there) [Out of print]
- Mrs Aeneas Gunn, We of the Never Never (Autobiographical account of life on a remote cattle station at the beginning of the 20th century) [In print; also available online at Project Gutenberg]
- Mrs Aeneas Gunn, A Little Black Princess (Biographical account of an Aboriginal girl)
- A.B. Paterson, Illalong Children (Autobiography of his childhood)
- Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians (Fiction – this is an Australian “classic” – set in the late 19th century)***
- Ethel Turner, The Cub (Fiction – set during World War 1 – A good title for learning about Australia’s involvement in, and the attitudes of ordinary Australians to the war)
- Mary Elwyn Patchett, Ajax the Warrior (Account of the author’s childhood in the early 20th century)
- Mary Grant Bruce, the Billabong series (Fiction)
- Colin Thiele, February Dragon (Fiction – modern story about a bushfire)***
Independent reading from among the books listed as read-alouds for level 1.
Short Stories, including:
- Henry Lawson, “The Loaded Dog”
- Australian Art
- The Heidelberg School & other artists
Poetry
Choose poetry from the following writers (and others). Be sure to include the following:
- Banjo Paterson, “Pioneers”
- Dorothea Mackellar, “My Country”
- C.J. Dennis, “Green Walls”
- Mary Hannay-Foote, “Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest”; “The Australiad” [Online]
- Henry Lawson, “Andy’s Gone with Cattle” [Online]
Level 3 – British History
1st Year: 55BC-1485
2nd Year: 16th-19th centuries
(See Option 2: British History – Level 3)
Level 4 – 20th Century World History
Level 5 – Australian History
Resources
(Choose one of the following three books as a spine – Note that I (Ruth) haven’t yet seen either the Manning Clark book, or Blainey, so can’t vouch for them, though they are recommended by other homeschooling families):
- Ernest Scott, A Short History of Australia
[Available online at Project Gutenberg – other titles by the same author may be worth finding online]
- Manning Clark, A Short History of Australia
- Geoffrey Blainey, A Shorter History of Australia
Supplementary reading
- Primary documents: Project Gutenberg of Australia includes links to a timeline of Australian explorers, a chronology of Australian history, and more.
- Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms (Fiction – bushrangers) [Available online at Project Gutenberg]
- Alan Marshall, I Can Jump Puddles (Autobiography – early 20th century)
- Ion Idriess, Flynn of the Inland (Biography of the founder of the Flying Doctor Service)
- Ion Idriess, The Cattle King (biography of Sir Sydney Kidman)***
- Sally Morgan, My Place [Either the adult version, or the three volumes adapted for young people] (Biography/autobiography about an Aboriginal family)
Short Stories
- Henry Lawson (including “The Drover’s Wife”)
Poetry
- The Oxford Book of Australian Verse (also available online)
- Henry Lawson, e.g. from Mary Called Him Mister (Australian Picturemac, Illustrated by John Anthony King – ISBN 0 7329 1266 0), or other collections; Lawson’s poetry found online here.
