The Australian Curriculum has extensive references to literacy. It appears as not only a core strand within English, but also as a General Capability for the Curriculum as a whole. Such considerable focus leads to the question of what literacy actually means within such a context, and this paper aims to better understand the conceptualising of literacy presented in the rhetoric of the Curriculum. Beginning with a discussion of conceptualisations of literacy within education systems, we then focus on approaches to understand curriculum as a foundation for examining the discourse of literacy within the Curriculum. We then conclude by interrogating inconsistencies between these claimed and suggested messages. We find that the "claimed" message of the Curriculum is one emphasising a functional approach to literacy, with less direct (but nevertheless clear) references to the importance of developing a critical perspective. An emphasis on basic literacy, however, becomes very evident in the "suggested" messages underlying literacy within the Curriculum. Such findings resonate with other literature on the retreat from critical and other forms of literacy within current curricular reforms. This is a trend that we see continuing within the Australian Curriculum, despite being an ostensibly progressive text.