Reflection on Trip
My intentions of this post are in respect to all cultures
and I sincerely hope this is how they convey.
I have been so moved by this opportunity to be immersed in
culture, that I had to reflect and share these thoughts. As a white Australian I think there may be
many other people who may relate to my reflections and hopefully you will gain
some of the insights I did from my trip to the Territory.
After visiting the Territory I have to say that I saw our Indigenous
culture alive and thriving in ways that I have not experienced. The Indigenous
presence is clearly visible and felt everywhere, which is comparatively
different to Wollongong. On the Mindil Beach we watched the sunset with people
of all ages from all around the world, young and old, we sat on the beach for
about 40 minutes and the whole there was there was a strange unexplainable
calmness, the only word to describe this was - awesome!
It made me realise that although our Indigenous peoples within
our local communities may not be as visible, their skin not as black or their
presence as obvious, it doesn’t mean that their culture and their connections
to culture are any less alive or as relevant or important to them as
individuals than those in the Territory. In fact it made me realise the opposite, I
believe it’s for this reason it’s even more important. Their connection to
community and the earth is so innate, that it is a part of who they are- its
their identity. If we want to connect
with these students and their families we can ‘t ignore this. If we do not draw
upon their knowledge and wisdom and come to accept that there are more than one
way of knowing we are running the risk of losing this living culture and the
many stories that teach us so much about this country, the animals, the
environment, our weather patterns and even more importantly our spiritual
connections with the planet and our Creator.
We say we acknowledge country and the traditional custodians
of this land – We say we acknowledge their age-old wisdom and storytelling – do
we really know what these are? Do we know that their wisdom, knowledge and
relationship with animals and the earth can us greater insights and understandings
into building a sustainable future?
At the conference we witnessed a keynote by three
significant Australians – Brian Manning, Ted Egan and Maurie Japarta Ryan
(Great grandson of Vincent Lingiari) titled ‘Living History’ – The story of the
walk off at Wave Hill.
I’ll be honest, I knew very little of Vincent Lingairi and
the story of the Wave Hill Walk Off, and what I did know was learnt through the
lyrics of Paul Kelly’s famous song ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’. I was
not taught this at school, nor have I ever taught it throughout my teaching.
Yet it is such a significant event in Australian history, one that effected and
influenced policy that changed pathways and conditions for so many. Yet upon
returning home and telling this story to family and friends, when I have
stopped to ask “do you know who Vincent Lingairi was?” not one person has known!
One said ‘that’s in Paul Kelly’s song’. Vincent
was a land rights activist, one thing we all may remember is that historical
image of Gough Whitlam pouring the sand into the hand of Vincent Lingairi, a
moment as monumental as Kevin Rudd’s apology.
(if you want to see the speech
Gough made as he poured the soil into Vincent’s hand, go to
Try asking people the
simple question of “where does the saying
‘Fair Dinkum’ comes from?” I
have not found anyone who can tell me the answer – its Chinese meaning ‘real
gold’ and originated on the Australian goldfields. Our roots and connections with Asia and our
Indigenous peoples are our identity.
I think I could safely say our students may know more about global
warming and sustainability in relation to Antarctica, than what they know about
the first Australians. We can still address, culture, communities, global
warming and sustainability in relation to our Aboriginal culture, beliefs
systems etc. To authentically explore this in partnership with the students and
community could have such an impact on all students’ knowledge and
understandings of our Australian Identity and more importantly build
relationships between our diverse cultures.
In the past we have
always referred to the ‘Indigenous perspective’ or we have taught our students
about Indonesia, Japan, China etc. but I don not feel that we have engaged with
the content authentically or in ways that challenge the students to promote deep
knowledge and understandings. We tend to share information and content rather
than engaging deeply, or working with community to build and foster respectful
relations. I am currently doing my master in RE and have been reading the work
by Robert Crotty who explores the importance of culture, he stated ‘to make
sense of the universe, self and others the individual within the group requires
a direction, a purpose, a basic meaning. Culture via the human capacities
provides these’ (Crotty, 2012. p. 150).
One workshop presented a breakdown of the cross-curriculum
priorities and cultural mapping with the four new syllabus documents in the
areas of English, History, Maths and Science in relation to indigenous content
with some interesting results.
The content of each syllabus was interrogated in relation to
Bloom’s taxonomy
So although it is a positive that we do have Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander histories and culture as a cross-curriculum priority,
the above data is concerning.
The fact also that there was not one Indigenous
representative on the ACARA board throughout the planning and writing of the
curriculums, is yet another concern.
This conference has prompted me to reflect on the ways we
address Indigenous education within our Diocese, with one of the sessions
titled ‘Does the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-curriculum
priority pass the cultural integrity test’. He also presented us with a
challenge to assess the integrity of how well our current curriculum has
addressed Indigenous education with our own students.
Three major outcomes to assess:
·
The self-esteem of the aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander learners (within the schools context)
·
Pre and post colonial history
·
The reconciliation agenda
The new Australian Curriculum’s cross curriculum priorities
- · Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
- · Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
- · Sustainability
Present such wonderful possibilities to
connect with our both our Indigenous heritage and our Asian neighbours, in
consideration of building sustainable future for generations to come, together
we can all learn so much from each other.
Making these three areas ‘priorities’
is most apt. They go hand in hand, if we open are willing to embrace the
age-old wisdom and knowledge of our indigenous peoples authentically.
What if we held both cultures in balance?
At present what tend to do in regard to Indigenous education
can often be tokenistic, or be seen as an add-on or only prioritised in NAIDOC week.
The new Australian curriculum presents us with new opportunities;
the worst thing that could happen is that if we keep doing the same old same
old.
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