Teacher Professional Development with Dr Anita Heiss. National Library of Australia.
Join Dr Anita Heiss for a teacher professional development workshop at the National Library of Australia.
Learn strategies for teaching early Australian Colonial history with contemporary literature and gain valuable insights from Dr Heiss’ research, writing and educational resources.
Dr Heiss will discuss Dirrayawadha (Rise Up), a groundbreaking historical novel about resistance, resilience and love during the frontier wars and share resources to support your teaching.
The content of this workshop supports the Australian Curriculum for Senior Secondary English, Year 4 History, Year 5 History and Year 9 History: Making and transforming a nation (1750-1914).
Tickets cost $15 per participant and bookings are essential.
Teachers wishing to claim 2 hours of TQI accredited PL will be required to complete a take-home written reflection task (supplied at the event).
About Anita Heiss
Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 books across genres. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central NSW, an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland.
Her adult fiction includes Manhattan Dreaming, Paris Dreaming and Tiddas which she adapted for the stage. Her novel Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms was shortlisted for the QLD Literary Awards and longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Prize. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, was shortlisted for the 2021 HNSA ARA Historical Novel (Adult Category) and longlisted for the 2022 Stella Prize. In 2023, Anita released a children’s book Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) illustrated by Samantha Campbell, and became Publisher of her own imprint, Bundyi Publishing (Simon & Schuster). In 2024 she released the historical novel Dirrayawadha (Rise Up).
About Dirrayawadha (Rise Up)
Bathurst, 1820s
Miinaa was a young girl when the white ghosts first arrived. She remembers the day they raised a piece of cloth and renamed her homeland ‘Bathurst’. Now she lives at Cloverdale and works for a white family who have settled there.
The Nugents are kind, but Miinaa misses her miyagan. His brother, Windradyne, is a Wiradyuri leader, and visits when he can, bringing news of unrest across their ngurambang. Miinaa hopes the violence will not come to Cloverdale.
When Irish convict Daniel O’Dwyer arrives at the settlement, Miinaa’s life is transformed again. The pair are magnetically drawn to each other and begin meeting at the bila in secret. Dan understands how it feels to be displaced, but they still have a lot to learn about each other. Can their love survive their differences and the turmoil that threatens to destroy everything around them?
From the bestselling author of Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams) comes another groundbreaking historical novel about resistance, resilience and love during the frontier wars.
The details
What: Teacher Professional Development with Dr Anita Heiss at the National Library
When: Thursday, 15 May 2025 from 4 pm to 5 pm
Where: National Library of Australia, Parkes Place West
Cost: Tickets cost $15 per participant. Tickets available through National Library of Australia.
