Required reading for Queensland:
To help you better prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime experience I have assigned the following as required reading:

To introduce you to life in the Australian bush in the mid-1900s I have selected the memoir written by Jill Ker Conway, The Road from Coorain.  ISBN 0-679-72436-2

Conway was raised on a sheep station in the NSW bush but managed to become a respected scholar and eventually the President of Smith College. This journey was made more difficult by the very low expectations for women in her upbringing. Describing herself in high school as a chubby, straight-haired, “ugly duckling,” she was even more embarrassed by her worst feature: her brain:  There was more than my appearance to worry about. My family and school friends agreed that I was “brainy.” This was a bad thing to be in Australia. People distrusted intellectuals. Australians mocked anyone with “big ideas” and found them specially laughable in a woman. My mother herself was divided on the subject. One moment she would be congratulating me on my performance at school, and the next contradicting her approval by urging me not to become too interested in my studies. If I did, I would become a “bluestocking,” a comically dull and unfeminine person…I tried hard to develop the right aspirations, but I had no map of the future to guide me. Fretting about this…I remembered my father’s advice about what to do if one were ever to become lost in the bush. “Don’t panic and rush about,” he said. “Stay in the shade, and wait for the night sky. You’ll be able to see the Southern Cross, and you can navigate by that. I wished there were pointers for life’s journeys like the planets and constellations which could help pilot us along the surface of the earth.”

The Road from Coorain is available on loan from Wake County libraries including Cameron Village and D.H. Hill library.

For a overview of Australia's natural history you are required to read chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10 for the book by Tim Berra, A Natural History of Australia Academic Press, 1998. This book is available from Amazon.com.

For background required reading on farm animal production:

The Year Book Australia, 2008 has an overview of Livestock statistics.

Beef: Queensland Beef Industry
Prosperous growing beef industry to face increased competition

Sheep: Australia's wool industry

Pig Industry: QAF MEAT INDUSTRIES Pty Ltd

Dairy: Australian dairy industry

Wool: Australian wool industry

Animal Health and Welfare: Australia's on-farm welfare strategy

In addition there are a number of other resources available to you.  The following are suggested, but not required readings:

  • Robert Hughes, Fatal Shore. Pan books  ISBN 0-330-29892-5. A history of the transportation of convicts to Australia 1787-1868.
  • Hugh Lunn, Over the Top with Jim. University of Queensland paperback. ISBN 0-7022-2255-0. This is a wonderful memoir of growing up in Brisbane in the 1950s.
  • Links to the various animal industry groups.

Course evaluation:

  • Book report 30%,
  • Participation 30%,
  • Daily journal 10%, and
  • Final paper 30%.

TThe sooner you can identify your topic for your final paper and start your research the better.  Your paper should be on a topic relevant to your Queensland experience and chosen in consultation with me, Dr. Morgan Morrow. It will be due towards the end of the program and a minimum of 2000 words.

Towards the end of the program I would like to get your ideas on how we can improve the program for next year's students and specifically any information that you can pass on to subsequents students that you think would be valuable information. Also, any suggestions you have on side-trips that worked for you; where you went, how you got there, how much it cost, etc.

E-mail everything to me but I will accept hardcopy for your daily journal. Marks will be deducted for missing the deadlines.

Daily journal: Your journal must not simply be a repeat of the itinerary but rather your comments and interpretations on the day’s events.

Book Report: After you have read The Road from Coorain choose 5 topics, from the following 15, on which to write a short commentary.  Take care with spelling and grammar.  Take a cue from Jill Ker Conway's excellent prose and try to emulate it.  Each of the 5 answers should be a minimum of 200 words.  Use the book and other sources (the library, the web for example). 

  • The ANZUS pact.  What is it?  What purpose does it serve?
  • Aborigines - Australian attitude to aborigines in the 1950s.  How are they treated today?
  • Nardoo stones - what are they?  What is their significance? 
  • The battle of Gallipoli in World War I and its importance to Australians and New Zealanders - the ANZACs.  Anzac Day is April 25. 
  • Australia's role in World War II - why did Australia enter WWII and what part did the US play in defending Australia?
  • Life in the outback - compare with farming in North Carolina.
  • Sheep farming in Australia compared to the farming you have seen in the US.
  • Discuss city life for Jill compared to her life in the country.
  • School life - discuss 3 ways in which Jill's high school education at Abbotsleigh was similar to your high school days and 3 ways in which her education was different to yours.
  • Discuss Jill's relationship with mother from early days at Coorain and later during her years at Sydney University - what changed and why?
  • University education in Australia in 1950s - compare it with your University experience.
  • Discuss Jill's discovery of socialism, communism, discovery of Marxism.
  • British antagonism to the colonials etc.  Discuss.  
  • Why did Jill decide to continue her studies in America rather than Oxford or Cambridge in England which were the choice of most bright Australian scholars?
  • Jill came from a well-respected grazier's family.  She attended private school in Sydney and won a University scholarship. Yet, she experienced discrimination.  Discuss.

E-mail your book report to morgan_morrow@ncsu.edu by the Sunday before we depart for Australia .  Yes, marks will be deducted for late papers.