As the teaching of History in Australia undergoes substantial changes through the implementation of the national History curriculum, undergraduate student teachers and teachers in classrooms are being required to re-think their teaching/learning strategies for the teaching of History. With the developments in SOSE/HSIE since the 1970s, curricula researchers have found that during the last few decades the teaching of History has drifted almost into oblivion in many Australian schools. More recently, with the implementation of the National History curriculum undergraduate teachers and teachers in classrooms have been asked to re-engage with the subject (Rodwell, 2010). In this chapter, I argue historical narrative offers many effective possibilities for this re-engagement process.

Developments in the use of the historical novel in History classrooms

In this book's Introduction I looked at several authors of historical fiction who were passionate about the use of their genre in the classroom. Some teachers are also passionate about the use of the genre in their teaching. For example, Moran (2005) writes about why she decided to use historical fiction in her classroom. It relates to the curiosity and discourse that the reading of historical fiction generates amongst students:

Throughout Australian States and territories, History students often study the 1954 Petrov affair in Australian history, as they do the 1975 Whitlam dismissal. How might teachers add some historiographical zest to these studies? How can alternate history, or allohistorical narratives, assist?

An Australian example

The recent publication of Nicholas Hasluck's Dismissal (2011) is timely in these regards. Alternate histories are usually set amidst the great events of world history — Napoleon, Hitler and Nazism, and so on. Indeed, as Croome (2011) has stated, in what might amount to a throwaway line, alternate history is ‘a genre often undermined in Australia by the sense that nothing vital happens here, that nothing is at stake’. Indeed, for Croome, ‘Hasluck is on the front foot in this respect, not least because his well-structured set piece hinges on the Whitlam dismissal, one of the handful of events in Australian history capable of stirring genuine emotion and debate’.

The central character in Hasluck's novel is Roy Temple, a romantic and a left-winger, but with a successful career at the Sydney bar.

I once was taking a unit of work on Napoleon in Moscow with my university History Curriculum and Methodology students. What sources could we use? A group of students wanted Tolstoy's War and Peace (1869/2010), an iconic historical novel. What about Adam Zamoyski's 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow (2005), one of the best nonfiction sources on the topic? The class group then debated the relative merits of historical novels versus nonfiction as teaching/learning sources in schools and colleges — a huge and multi-layered topic.

Motivation, however, to write this book came from other sources. First, there was the continued demonstrated concern for the decline in students undertaking History courses in Australian schools. Curiously juxtaposed to this has been the clear evidence of the popularity of history as the subject matter for books, either in their fictional or nonfictional forms, and in feature films, television films and television mini-series as dramas. Then there has been the Commonwealth legislation mandating the teaching of History from the first year of schooling to Year 12, and the demonstrated fact that mandating the teaching of the subject does nothing to increase students' interest in the subject and consequently to pursue its study in university. Last, my motivation to write this book stemmed from my deeply held passion for the historical novel in its various genres, and a well-founded belief that the genre can stimulate students' interests in studying the subject at school.

Taken as a part or as a whole, once teachers have used historical novels and their sub-genres as a teaching/learning strategy in their History lessons, they come to appreciate the huge contribution they can make to their students’ appreciation of history. Many students immediately engage with their historical novels, and this is, I suggest, not surprising.

Historical novels currently enjoy huge popularity amongst the readership of the Australian public, as does children's historical fiction through the writings of such fine authors as Jackie French. While some commentators may lament this rising tide of popularity for historical fiction, with the onset of the National History Curriculum, History teachers in Australian schools are poised to make full use of the genre in their pedagogy. Certainly, this is the message given at recent HTAA conferences. The use of historical novels in the classroom is more than a device simply to pique the interest of History students, who may otherwise be losing their interest in the topic being taught. Historical novels are able to provide deep understanding of historical events and personages, as well as assisting in the development of historical literacy.

The field of historical novels and its sub-genres is ever increasing, and at the same time greatly enriching the historical understanding of readers. This provides a marvellous opportunity for the teachers of History from the beginning of schooling through to the senior years.

The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), through a rolling program, has been mandating the teaching of History in Australian schools. However, this comes at a time when students' interest in studying History in schools is at a low ebb. While I will pursue these topics later in this chapter, here I address the issues associated with having Australian History students engage with historical novels.

The internationally acclaimed Australian children's novelist, Jackie French, titled her presentation to the 2010 History Teachers' Association of Australia (HTAA) Conference in Sydney ‘Turning History into Stories and Stories into History — Subtitle: What We can learn from Queen Victoria's Underpants’. She advertised her paper as:

The inclusion of French's paper in the national conference of the HTAA signifies that Australian teachers of History are recognising the value of the historical novel as a pedagogical strategy in the History classroom. For me, this is all about engaging students in History and cultivating their imagination generally, and in particular their historical imagination.