It administers several awards, holds a yearly conference, publishes a newsletter and journal, and has sponsored several publications.
[1][2] The Australian Literature Society, which had been formed in Melbourne in 1899, merged into ASAL which, since 1982, has administered the ALS Gold Medal.
[4] At this conference, the Association adopted its constitution and appointed A.D. Hope and Judith Wright as patrons.
[1] ASAL has conferred life membership upon Clem Christesen, Mary Lord, Judith Wright, Thea Astley, Peter Cowan, Rosemary Dobson, Gwen Harwood, Eric Irvin, Ken Stewart, Julian Croft, and Ian McLaren.
The bulletin was merged with ASAL's publication of conference proceedings to form the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.