‘Not all gumnuts and outback’: Exploring the attitudes of creative writing students towards Australian literature

Abstract

In Australia, laments for the dearth of Australian literature in both secondary school and university contexts have frequently surfaced in public debate, yet there has been less attention paid to student perspectives. This article discusses a small–scale survey undertaken with creative writing students enrolled in Contemporary Australian Writing at RMIT University to capture their views about Australian literature. The results of this survey indicate that a hybrid approach based on techniques derived from both creative writing and literary studies appears to have a positive effect on the attitudes of students towards Australian literature.