Henry Lawson Short Stories Student Book is a rich exploration of the ways texts represent individual and collective human experiences. Designed to meet the requirements of the NSW Stage 6 English Year 12 Texts and Human Experiences focus area, this resource supports students in developing their understanding of how texts represent experiences related to identity, culture, acceptance, and growth, and how they invite readers to see the world differently by challenging our assumptions.

Through close reading, guided analysis, and scaffolded writing tasks, students will investigate how composers use language, forms and features to illuminate personal and shared experiences — and the emotions, values, and perspectives that shape them.

The prescribed short stories by Henry Lawson covered in this student book include:

• ‘The Drover’s Wife’

• ‘The Union Buries Its Dead’

• ‘Shooting the Moon’

• ‘Our Pipes’

• ‘The Loaded Dog’

These are studied alongside related texts that broaden students’ understanding of human experiences:

• Melissa Lukashenko’s short story, ‘Dreamers’

• Tim Winton’s autobiographical essay, ‘Betsy’

• Kieran Pender’s online article, ‘Stan Grant: I Had a Crazy Career for Someone Who Had Been Brought Up the Way I Had’

Students will examine how authors represent a range of human experiences — including survival, belonging, resilience, marginalisation, identity, and memory — and how these are conveyed through language, narrative, and perspective.

Authors: Emily Bosco and Anthony Bosco

Format: PDF download, 129 pages

ISBN: 978 1 923140 20 2