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| An old photo of CAJ library |
I really appreciate that we live close to a library, an English library. The CAJ library is a wonderful place where parents are most certainly welcomed and catered for. A little unusual for a school library. However, yesterday, when looking for biographies for my grade two son (an attempt by the teachers to get them to read different genre), I realised that the vast majority of people featured were Americans. Now I have no problem with my boys learning American history, but I just felt like a little balance was necessary.
Well, me, being me, voiced my opinion to the nearest American (who happened to be a friend). Actually we ended up with several Americans involved in the conversation. My friend asked me for five Australians I'd like to see biographies of (just quickly off the top of my head). Between my husband and I, we came up with these:
Captain Arthur Phillip (not Australian, I know, but he was the first governor in Australia when the British colonised the nation in 1788)
Mem Fox (children's author)
Colleen McCullough (author of The Thorn Birds and many other books)
Howard Florey (scientist, Nobel prize for work on penicillin)
Donald Bradman (cricketer)
Now I've had time to think (and do a little, not extensive research), I might add some others like:
Dawn Fraser (swimmer)
Margaret Court (tennis player)
Douglas Mawson (Antarctic explorer)
Edmund Barton (first prime minister)
A.B. (Banjo) Patterson (poet and writer, Waltzing Matilda and The Man from Snowy River - the poem)
Robert Menzies (longest serving prime minister)
Dame Nellie Melba (Opera singer)
Betty Cuthbert (Olympic athlete)
Victor Chang (heart surgeon)
Carolyn Chisholm (social work in the early days of settlement)
Nancy Bird (aviator)
Bert Hinkler (first solo flight from UK to Australia)
Fred Hollows (eye surgeon)
Ned Kelly (outlaw)
Rolf Harris (artist and entertainer)
Probably my husband would like to add some more scientists, but this is just a rough list.
Some modern famous Australians which non-Australians might recognise are:
Nicole Kidman
Mel Gibson
Ian Thorpe
Cathy Freeman
Steve Irwin
Okay, this is a good one for comments.
Australians - who would you like your kids to know about as they grew up?
Non-Australians - which names do you know in the above list? What about other famous Australians, who can you think of?
3 comments:
You have to add Prof Graham Clarke inventor of the bionic ear. Although, I'm not sure he has a biography yet. But he is GREAT Australian and his story is well worth the telling.
Some others to add to the list might be:
* The Rev Dr John Flynn (founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS))
* Bennelong
* Neville Bonner
* Albert Namatjira
Definitely John Flynn! But all the suggestions so far seem like good ones. What about "Weary Dunlop"?
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