About five years ago the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Melbourne section) invited me to talk to them on this subject and in the discussion which followed there occurred some polite but trenchant criticism of the Australian universities for their neglect of our national literature. My talk had been a defence of the attitude of at least one of our universities but I was compelled to admit the force of what many of my critics had to urge.

It was pointed out that our literature is approaching its second century and, while it has produced few outstanding writers, it has already a respectable and growing body of writing to show. And yet of the eight teaching universities in the country not one has so far established a course in Australian Literature. While there are literatures which it is important for any university to study, it is the peculiar right and the duty of each country to establish and to foster the study of its own writers.