The well-known mantra 'slip on a T-shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat' articulates the Australian Cancer Council's mission to promote an awareness of the need to ensure protection against the harmful effects of the Australian sun. Of the three actions evoked in the above slogan, the one on which we will focus in this paper is 'the slap'. Christos Tsiolkas' novel 'The slap' (2008) builds on and breaks from a wide range of narratives about Australia, its people and preoccupations. These same elements of Australian culture are currently being explored in the adaptation of that novel - an eight-part drama series screened on ABC television which, like the novel before it, has elicited a variety of audience responses, expressed in a range of cultural forms and forums. In this paper, which constitutes a preliminary discussion of what is envisaged as a more extensive research project and research-informed teaching exercise, we focus on a short segment from the novel and a sequence from the television series to illustrate what rethinking, re-writing and re-viewing of Australia they provoke. In addition, we outline our notion of designing a new (replacement) English, Communication and Media (ECM) unit of study based entirely on and around 'The slap' - as prose and film narratives - and their cultural precursors and repercussions.

This thesis is composed of a novel, 'The Mistake', and an exegesis, entitled 'The Mistake: Some Questions of Ethics and Form'. The exegesis considers a number of critical issues connected to the writing of The Mistake. The exegesis will attempt to answer the question "How can I write this story?", which relates to issues of both ethics and form. 'The Mistake' was initially inspired by the real-life story of Keli Lane, the woman at the centre of a sensational Australian infanticide case, which was under investigation throughout the period I spent researching and writing the novel. Lane was convicted of the murder of her child in late 2010 and was sentenced in late 2011. An appeal is in preparation as I write. Part I of the exegesis examines the genesis of the novel, with an emphasis on the ethical dilemmas involved in writing fiction based on real-life stories. I examine other writers' responses to the vexing question of writerly appropriation, in an effort to find an answer to my own dilemma. Part II examines the issue of genre and discusses the place of the novel both within the wider literary milieu and as part of a larger body of work. Part III, a coda, briefly consider elements of the novel's reception, in particular those connected to issues previously discussed.