The curriculum has been fundamentally challenged by First Nations writers in three main ways. First is the proliferation of acclaimed fiction, poetry and drama written and performed by First Nations writers, which has become integral to curricula and the has taken root in the wider Australian imaginary. Second is the increasing presence of First Nations scholars in the literary-critical field who critique inherited practices, the values of the accepted canon, and provide diverse modes of reading and analysis. Third – and no doubt problematically – is the identification with Indigenous ontologies through the crises of the Anthropocene, which has expanded the range of courses that include First Nations literatures.Of critical importance to these transformations is the engagement of the international community including its readers and critics. The connections between First Nations communities across the globe are also vital to these processes. Closest to home, the connections within Oceania and the Pacific are driving change and a comparison of Australia with New Zealand is revealing. For while the formation of New Zealand’s literary institutions occurred later than those of Australia, their decolonization has accelerated faster and more surely. This chapter will include a comparison of these two contexts and their related projects of decolonizing literary studies.

Indigenous epistemology reimagines climate risk narratives as a plethora of disconnected local narratives rather than a linear one. A change in emphasis – from global to Indigenous – is critical because it clarifies the threats to peoples and to communities.