English remains the only subject mandated throughout the years of schooling in Australia. The compulsory nature of this subject reflects its responsibility for the personal, and literate, development of students. Literature has often been charged with the social and moral dimensions of English. Increasingly, in Australia and elsewhere, literature…

In this paper, we examine the ways in which the conceptualisation of literature and literary study encoded in the inaugural secondary school English syllabus in New South Wales (NSW), Australia can be seen to anticipate the conceptualisation so fervently enunciated in "The Teaching of English in England" -- the Newbolt Report of 1921.…

Outlines key transformations of secondary education in New South Wales in the twentieth century. Discusses the debate of whether the study of literature should be compulsory. Details the study of literature articulated in the 1965 syllabus and its revision in the 1990s. (PM)