Bringing Aboriginal Culture and Experience to Classrooms

This issue of visibility for Indigenous Australians is persistent, for the majority of us living in the cities, contact with first nations people will be limited and most would agree that our knowledge around the world’s oldest continuous culture could use some work.

The Aboriginal Languages Syllabus, planned for introduction on the back of strong interest from students and teachers, will be instrumental in improving what we know of the rich Indigenous heritage that exists in Australia.

Teacher author, Irish-Australian Michelle McGrath who has worked extensively in educating Indigenous students says, “This is such an exciting initiative for Australian schools. Most of the Indigenous languages which were around at the time of colonisation are now extinct and so it is of critical importance that those that are left are kept alive. They need to be nurtured.

“The success of this program will depend on the quality of the teaching and each school’s commitment to the lessons. I think it will be challenging for some communities to find the right teachers and collaboration with the community will be key.

“Some communities have protocols in place around languages and it’s not just as simple as teaching one language. Many First Nations people will only want to speak their own language which - if they are not living on their homeland - may be a different language. I often think “does it matter? Can’t we just teach any language? Surely any is better than none?’ but we must respect the protocols which are in place,” says McGrath.

There are two levels to the initiative: the Language revival pathway - for students with no prior learning and the First language pathway - for students who use the language at home.

“Often language selection - from a parent’s perspective - is guided by the perceived value they will receive. For some it is important that their child learn Mandarin to keep their own culture alive or they may choose a particular language to give the child more opportunities in the future.

“I hope that parents can see the long-term benefits - to our country and our culture - which will be gained by having our children grow up surrounded by Indigenous languages. Imagine an Australia where our Indigenous languages are celebrated and used in everyday settings. This would be a wonderful extension of our culture and to have it embedded in the school curriculum would be very powerful.

“Linguistically, Indigenous languages are very different from English. But they are beautiful to listen to and I’ve no doubt that children will enjoy learning them. For those children who already speak these languages they will get validation from having their peers speak the language too.”

For seven years, McGrath worked as a teacher’s assistant at a public school where there were no Indigenous kids. She now works at Redfern Jarjum College which is exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Most of these children are from challenging domestic backgrounds and the school offers a level of support which is not found in most schools.

“I have long been frustrated with the lack of education around Indigenous culture and history and how this needs to be taught to all children in Australia. As we are told a lot today, this is the world’s oldest living culture. It deserves to be nurtured."

And there is also the consideration of trauma. Some Indigenous people are still suffering as a result of colonisation, and they need a level of care that other children don’t.

“It was not until I attended my first session on trauma that I began to understand how intergenerational trauma translates to dysfunction in families today. I was blown away when I learned that trauma can not only change neural pathways in the brain but can actually change a person’s DNA!” says McGrath.

Too often our way of dealing with troubled children is to put it into the ‘behavioural’ basket. McGrath believes we need to do better, to try to understand where this pain comes from and nurture these children.

Meaningful progress can often be made by involving the parents in this approach, developing support systems which help both family and child. Generally, this is not an approach taken by schools, simply because of the resourcing needed to do it properly, but it can be done.

“In terms of Aboriginal cultural education, we have come a long way. There are some amazing resources available to teachers that can support them in the delivery of First Nations lessons. These resources are just a click away (see Resources).”

Many schools are developing Reconciliation Action Plans, and Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali website offers an easy-to-follow platform for the development of RAPs in educational settings as well as support groups that meet once per term where you can engage and swap ideas with other education professionals who are also developing their RAPs.

Another way that McGrath is looking at the aboriginal experience is through her book, Yellamundie: Voices & Faces of First Nations People in Sydney, a compilation of stories gathered from aboriginal communities, illustrating the issues they face.

“The beauty of this book is that the 30 contributors - all of whom are Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander - come from all walks of life. From the Archibald winning artist Blak Douglas to high school student Jezarah, the book is full of stories and messages which all Australians can learn from.

“There are many teachers featured throughout the book. Uncle Jimmy is originally from Erambie Mission outside Cowra but grew up in Newtown. He spends his time educating people about Aboriginal history and culture from kindergarten students to Uni students and everything in between. He takes comfort from the improvements in the education system which he has witnessed, particularly over the last ten years and his biggest message is to teachers: ‘Do the right thing and tell the truth. Have the courage to stand up and ask for cultural awareness training’.

“I really wanted the reader to understand where First Nations peoples’ pain comes from. Of the 30 contributors only two were not directly impacted by Australia’s assimilation policy and the Stolen Generations. Just think about that - imagine how many people are walking around today still impacted by it.”

As Uncle Shane Philips said, “this leaves a family with trauma. People congregate when they’ve been through stuff together. And when you get lots of those people in the same spot, they end up having relationships, and often pass the trauma down.” Uncle Shane focuses on the strengths of Aboriginal people and the positive impact that a community working together can have. Shane is the CEO of Tribal Warrior - an organisation based in Redfern which runs programs for Aboriginal people.

The book also contains stories from people who were taken as children and sent to Homes for Aboriginal children. Uncle Widdy Welsh recalls the day when he and his siblings were taken from the train station at Coonamble: “We didn’t know where we were going or why. My little sisters thought we were just going on a train ride! It was an all-night trip to Sydney and my brother and I showed my sisters the bandaar (kangaroo) and dhinawan (emu) out the train windows to stop them from crying."

“My personal favourite - and the story that has stayed with me above all others - is Aunty Val who was taken to Bomaderry Children’s Home when she was two. She never saw her mother again. Some other girls at the home told her that if she put a cross under the peppercorn tree, then her mother would come. But her mother never came. The image of this little girl - in her nightie, her bare feet on the cold ground, making a cross from sticks - has stayed with me. And that is the power of storytelling. When anyone hears these stories - and sees the faces of the person telling the story - they are touched.”

Pastor Ray Minneacon is a founding member of Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, and he has dedicated his life to supporting the Stolen Generations. He addresses the issues very succinctly when he says “Very often the solution for our troubled children is to send them away to boarding schools. But when we take kids away from their families, we’re not growing parents. You must remember that many of the parents were taken too. And so now we have a generation of people - now parents - who have had no parental development. Nobody has shown them how to be a good parent.”

“And that is what I want people to understand. Time and time again people say 'all this happened over 200 years ago - why are our First Nations people still impacted?' The trauma continues today, it is passed down through families. There are reasons behind the pain.”

McGrath started work on the book by talking to students and colleagues at Redfern Jarjum College and then moved on to other community members, most of whom did not know her from Adam.

“I simply knocked on doors, messaged on Instagram, or connected on LinkedIn. I had some credibility in the community, having worked at Redfern Jarjum College for a few years and this undoubtedly helped. Most surprisingly, of the 33 people I asked, 30 agreed to be involved. I was encouraged and thought that maybe I wasn’t so mad after all!”

The stories can be used in a classroom setting, to spark conversations or research into issues such as Australia’s Assimilation Policy, The Stolen Generations, Trauma, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander culture and history.

“I have seen the book used in a Kindergarten class and also in universities by students of Aboriginal studies as well as those studying to be teachers.”

Resources
Wingaru Education – www.wingaru.com.au

Koori Curriculum – www.kooricurriculum.com

Australian Broadcasting Corporation – www.abc.net.au

Reconciliation Australia – www.reconciliation.org.au

Australians Together – www.australianstogether.org.au

How to Order the book
Discounts are available for schools wishing to order multiple copies. Email Michelle directly at [email protected].