Australian Film:  Not many people would be aware that Australian cinema has produced 100 great films, so the title of Scott Hocking’s compendium immediately arouses interest. According to the introduction the roster was compiled from Top 20 lists solicited from “a selection of esteemed filmmakers, critics and commentators” who were given the criteria of artistic, narrative and technical merit, cultural significance, prior and post achievements of creative personnel, and the characteristics of being typical of their time and being quintessentially Australian. There does not, however, appear to have been a requirement that any film meet all or a significant proportion of these criteria and the result is, to say the least, an eclectic mix. Here are just a few:
Australian Literature:  Australian language, letters and literature in Australia has been influenced by Aboriginal storytelling, convict tales and the desire by colonists to relate their experiences in a new country.
Some of those early works have remained part of the Australian ethos. Marcus Clarke's For the term of his natural life, for example, is still being published today, more than 100 years after it was written. Similarly, the bush ballads of Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson have become so ingrained in Australian history, that most Australians are word-perfect when singing Waltzing Matilda. C J Dennis's The Sentimental Bloke remains another favourite with its use of slang language. Here are some great literary resources: Literary genres Literary nationalism E-publishing and e-sales Australian Art:  The Art of Australia includes Australian Aboriginal art and Colonial, Landscape, Atelier, Modernist and Contemporary art. Australia has produced notable artists from both Western traditions and Indigenous Australian traditions. The importance and sacredness of the land is a uniting theme to be found in both histories of Australian Art.
Australian Aboriginal Art - Resource - www.aboriginalart.com.au Aboriginal group exchanged natural resources, such as ochres, and tools, such as stone axes and boomerangs, thus creating extensive trading networks. Goods travelled hundreds of kilometres from their original source. For example, boomerangs made in Central Australians would find their way to Arnhem Land and the surrounding islands. Didgeridoos from Arnhem Land would find their way down to Central Australia. Pearl shells from the Kimberley were traded through Central Australia down into South Australia. Trading networks were frequently incorporated into formal exchange systems. Large, gatherings of people came together for "exchange ceremonies" where regional specialities were traded. Ritual paraphernalia, sacred ceremonial objects , song verses and dance styles were also passed on from one group to the next at such gatherings. Australian Colonial Art - Resource - Click Here The first descriptions of Australia by European artists were mainly "natural-history art", depicting the distinctive flora and fauna for scientific purposes. Sydney Parkinson, the Botanical illustrator on James Cook's 1770 voyage that first charted the eastern coastline of Australia, made a large number of such drawings under the direction of naturalist Joseph Banks. Many of these drawings were met with skepticism when taken back to Europe, for example claims that the platypus was a hoax. Despite Banks' suggestions, no professional natural-history artist sailed on the First Fleet in 1788, so until the turn of the century all drawings made in the colony were by soldiers, including British naval officers George Raper and John Hunter, and convict artists, including Thomas Watling. However, many of these drawings are by unknown artists. Most are in the style of naval draughtsmanship. Most of these drawings were of Natural history topics, specifically birds, and a few depict the infant colony itself. Australian Contemporary Art - Resource - www.accaonline.org.au The growing diversity of life in Australia is reflected by the Gallery's collection of contemporary Australian art. Since the 1970s artists have explored an increasing variety of media, such as found objects, photography, digital media and film, as well as painting, sculpture and printmaking. Australian artists access ideas and images from all over the world; they question Australia's own identity, and the role of Australian artists in an international context. The Collection includes a strong group of the abstract works which dominated the 1960s and 1970s; artists include Dale Hickey, Robert Rooney, Nigel Lendon and Mike Brown. Conceptualism ― explored during the 1960s and 1980s ― privileges concepts or ideas over form and is represented by works by Peter Tyndall and Ian Burn. Other highlights include photography from the last three decades by Patricia Piccinini, Rosemary Laing, Fiona Hall and William Yang. | 
