Stories and literature play an important and necessary role in understanding the past and in creating the future. Yet, in colonised countries such as Australia, the status of contemporary national texts, particularly those reflecting the diverse voices of Indigenous writers, women, and other marginalised groups, continue to be underrepresented in schools. In this article, we explore the reasons why Australian texts continue to be marginalised in education, when there is a clear desire for diverse Australian voices amongst the reading public. We also consider the kinds of national identities that current text selection and teaching policies are creating and maintaining in schools. In order to develop these ideas, we draw on data collected via a survey of secondary English teachers for a pilot research project called Teaching Australia. In this project, we explored the Australian texts being selected and championed by teachers in secondary schools, the perceptions of nation and national identity these convey, and teachers’ approaches to including diverse Australian texts in their classrooms. In the final section of the paper, we consider some future opportunities for engagement with diverse Australian literature for teachers and students of English.

故事和文学在理解过去和创造未来中起着重要和必要的作用。但是，在澳大利亚这样的殖民国家，当代国家文本的地位，尤其是反映土著作家，妇女和其他边缘群体的不同声音的文本，在学校中的代表性仍然不足。在本文中，我们探讨了当阅读人群中强烈希望有多种澳大利亚声音时，澳大利亚文本继续在教育中被边缘化的原因。我们还考虑了当前的文本选择和教学政策正在学校中创建和维护的各种民族身份。为了发展这些想法，我们利用对中学英语教师进行的一项调查研究收集的数据，该研究称为教学澳大利亚。在这个项目中，我们探索了中学教师选择和拥护的澳大利亚文本，传达了对国家和民族认同的理解，以及教师在教室中纳入各种澳大利亚文本的方法。在本文的最后一节中，我们考虑了一些未来的机会，供英语教师和学生接触各种澳大利亚文学。