Oxford Australia Blog

Sharing our love of education, language, and books

Month: March 2015

  • Easter feasts: hot cross buns at home

    Easter is fast approaching and for some it can mean a long weekend filled with chocolate. If you’re interested in eating something else this Easter weekend, grab your baking trays and try this hot cross bun recipe. For a chocolate alternative, replace the currants and sultanas with choc chips for a bun that will melt…

  • Connecting with Law Short Film Competition launches for 2015

    The Connecting with Law Short Film Competition is an annual event run by Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand. Now in its eighth year, the Connecting with Law Short Film Competition is open to all tertiary students currently enrolled in an Australian law school. The Connecting with Law Short Film Competition is an annual…

  • Victorian Fairy Tales

    This newly published anthology contains 14 imaginative tales are full of whimsy, fantastical happenings, dark happenings and, of course, sometimes even fairies. Many are by authors who you would not necessarily associate with fairy tales; John Ruskin, Rudyard Kipling, William Makepeace Thackeray all have stories included in this anthology. Adding to the charm of the tales are…

  • Aussie terms we didn’t realise were Australian

    Oxford Dictionaries recently announced the largest ever quarterly update of Australian English on OxfordDictionaries.com, with over 500 entries added to the free online dictionary of English. These aren’t new terms; they have been added because they represent a historical and cultural breadth of the use of English in Australia. It certainly has been an education…

  • Aboriginal words and terms added to Oxforddictionaries.com

    Oxford Dictionaries recently announced the largest ever quarterly update of Australian English on OxfordDictionaries.com, with over 500 entries added to the free online dictionary of English. This update included a selection of Aboriginal words and terms relating to Aboriginal culture. The words in this update recognise the complex role of Aboriginal language in Australian English….

  • Born on this day: Kenneth Grahame

    Kenneth Grahame was born 156 years ago today in Edinburgh, Scotland. Shortly after his fifth birthday, Grahame and his three siblings moved to Berkshire to live with their Granny Ingles, after their mother’s death from scarlet fever. He was taught to row by his uncle, and loved the countryside, especially the upper part of the…

  • Oxford Word of the Month – March: Ned Kelly beard

    Ned Kelly beard – noun: a full beard. Today many fashionable young men are sporting the latest trend in facial hair—the full beard, which has not had a fashion moment since the 1970s. In Australia, the association of Ned Kelly (arguably Australia’s most famous historical figure) with the style is an evocative way to describe…