Crime has been the inspiration point for a wide array of Australian fiction. Some of these are works of pure imagination; others offer creative re-tellings of true crime events. The timeline below offers an extensive selection of noteworthy Australian novels, short stories and other fiction related to crime that appeared between the nineteenth and twenty-first century.
Learning Activity
Having gained an impression of Australian crime fiction from the timeline, consider the following questions:
- What are the major types of character who appear in Australian crime fiction?
- What trends are evident in terms of how criminal characters are represented?
- What tropes appear in regards to characters involved in law enforcement?
- What sorts of attitudes or biases do these approaches to characterisation suggestion?
- What are the main types of offences that appear in crime fiction?
- Why do you think these offences have proved more popular as plot points?
- How are locations (e.g. bush, beach, city) important in crime fiction?
- Have there been any shifts in the patterns of crime fiction that have been produced across time?
Further Resources
The Australian Newspaper Fiction Database offers access to over 20,000 stories published as newspaper serials in Australia across the 1820s to 1950s, including many mystery and crime stories. 
Stephen Knight has written extensively on the history of crime fiction in Australia.