"Writing Instruction" in Australia usually means one of two things: creative writing or TESOL, both having rich histories and traditions and usually offered as graduate courses in departments of Education or Linguistics. Academic writing, however, with few exceptions, is an all-but-invisible practice in undergraduate education. It draws attention only when it falls short, at which point the response is to fix what's wrong at the surface level rather than consider the broader needs of student writers. This article presents a brief history of writing instruction in Australia in higher education.