Australian School Library Association (ACT)

Annual Dinner

Thursday 12 November 2009

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR

WELCOME?

Acknowledgement of Country

• I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to elders past, present and future for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of Aboriginal Australia

A demonstration of respect dedicated to the traditional custodians of the land or sea where the gathering of participants is being conducted.

• Dare to Lead schools commit to:

(1) improving the educational outcomes of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and to (2) ensuring that all their students develop an informed understanding of Australia's Indigenous people and their cultures, and of the importance of the reconciliation process.

NOTE: 117 (86%) of ACT Schools are members

What’s Happening

& Why

• are less likely to get a preschool education• are well behind mainstream rates in literacy and numeracy

skills development before they leave primary school • have less access to secondary school in the communities in

which they live• are likely to be absent from school up to two to three times

more often than other students leave school much younger • have abnormal hearing among Aboriginal children aged four

to 17 years: 6.8 % ; does not differ by age or level of relative isolation.

• are less than half as likely to go through to Year 12• are far more likely to be doing bridging and basic entry

programmes in universities and vocational education and training institutions

• obtain fewer and lower-level education qualifications.

(as well as other related social statistics – health etc)

On average, Indigenous Australians …On average, Indigenous Australians …

PM’s Apology on behalf of all Australians to Australia's Indigenous Peoples at Parliament House

Canberra 13 February 2008

Transcript of Press Conference with the Prime Minister following Darwin COAG meeting

2 July 2009(NOT HAPPY KEV!!!- NOT HAPPY after PRODUCTIVITY REPORT!)

“More broadly, we the Commonwealth and the States have also agreed on strict reporting requirements and timelines in the measures that we’ve agreed between us on closing the gap.

A large number of intergovernmental agreements have been signed which go to our common national resolve to act to close the gap as it occurs in the critical areas of disadvantage for Indigenous Australians. Areas such as infant mortality to which I have just referred, educational attainment, health outcomes, as well as employment outcomes.”

COAG Reform Council National Baseline Performance Report

November 2009

“Indigenous students were the most disadvantaged in the country – recording the lowest level of school attendance, lowest achievement in literacy & numeracy, low Yr 12 graduations and lowest post-school training or employment.” (COAG Reform Council Thursday 5 November 2009)

ACT Response:“Mr Barr said he also wanted to improve outcomes for the more than 1100 indigenous students in the ACT, whose results were better than Indigenous students in other states and territories but who lag behind their non-indigenous classmates.”(Canberra Times Friday 6 November 2009)

Our challenge for the future is ……to embrace a new partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.……………… the core of this partnership for the future is to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement and employment opportunities.

NOTE: Current NRL Campaign

As a nation Australia values the central role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society – a society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures as a key part of the nation’s history, present and future.

In striving for both equity and excellence, there are several areas in which Australian school education needs to make significant improvement.

First, Australia has failed to improve educational outcomes for many Indigenous Australians and addressing this issue must be a key priority over the next decade.

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for

Young Australians - December 2008

Indigenous

Cultural

Understanding

What is your current knowledge ?

1. What is the traditional land we are meeting on today ? (Do you know the custodians of your Australian birth place?)

2. Who is the current Australian of the Year?3. What does the word “Deadly” mean to many Aboriginal people?4. Which sport played by Noongar man, Lance Franklin, has more

Indigenous players than any other Australian code?5. What do the initials NAIDOC stand for?6. What is the name of the process for bringing Indigenous and non-

Indigenous Australians closer together?7. What is the name of the world famous Indigenous dance company

founded in Sydney 20 years ago?8. What were the Freedom Rides and when and where did they take

place?

Answers

1. Ngunnawal

2. Professor Mick Dodson (AM)

3. Outstanding or Excellent

4. National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee

5. Australian Rules

6. Reconciliation

7. Bangarra Dance Theatre

8. Freedom Rides – NSW - 1965

Wirradjurii

MISCELLANEOUS SEARCH RESULTS

What were the Freedom Rides and when and where did they

take place?

The Freedom Riders – NSW 1965

A group of about 30 Sydney University students (including two Aboriginal people) who, in February

1965, undertook a 2,300 km bus tour of northern NSW towns investigating and protesting discrimination

against Aborigines.

Considered by some to be the most significant act in Aboriginal-European relations in the twentieth century, this tour marked the beginning of substantial European

awareness of the problems of Aboriginal people.

It was led by Charles Perkins and Jim Spigelman, with help from Ted Noffs and Bill Ford.

NAIDOC Week 1989 – 4 September to 10 September

The theme for NAIDOC 1989 was "The Party is Over – Let’s be together as an Aboriginal Nation".

Artist: Paul Brandy from Canberra.

Enlistment and Service First World WarWhen war broke out in 1914, many Aborigines who tried to enlist were rejected on the grounds of race; others slipped through the net. By October 1917, when recruits were harder to find and one conscription referendum had already been lost, restrictions were cautiously eased. A new Military Order stated: "Half-castes may be enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin."

EncyclopediaIndigenous Australian servicemen Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have fought for Australia, from the Boer War onwards.Change in attitudesGenerally, Aborigines have served in ordinary units with the same conditions of service as other members. Many experienced equal treatment for the first time in their lives in the army or other services. However, upon return to civilian life, many also found they were treated with the same prejudice and discrimination as before.

Australian War Memorial

Outdoor portrait of unidentifed members of C Company, 35th Battalion in training camp. An aboriginal serviceman holding a bugle is standing to the right. The 35th Battalion was formed in December 1915 in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Source:

NLA Picture Australia

The Stolen Generations

Is a term used to describe those children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments.

The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969, although in some places children were still being taken in the 1970s.

Group at Cootamundra Girl's Training Home, NSW. c. 1930s. Courtesy Department of Aboriginal Affairs

Gurindji strikers at Wattie Creek, next to the sign that they had made to assert their claim over their lands. Photo: Brian Manning.

A tribute to Vincent Lingiari and the Gurindji The exhibition title From Little Things Big Things Grow (NMA) comes from the song of the

same name by Australian artists Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody. Written in the 1980s it tells the inspiring story of the Gurindji people's struggle for equality and land rights after their 'walk

off' at the Wave Hill property in 1966.

PORTRAIT OF ANTHONY MARTIN FERNANDO BY RAJ NAGI

A PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN ACTIVIST, ANTHONY MARTIN FERNANDO, WHO TOOK ABORIGINAL PROTEST TO LONDON IN THE 1920S. STANDING OUTSIDE LONDON'S AUSTRALIA HOUSE IN HIS SKELETON-DECORATED COAT, HIS CRY WAS: 'THIS IS WHAT THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT HAS DONE TO MY PEOPLE'.

AS THERE ARE NO KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHS OF FERNANDO, THE ARTIST DID NOT INCLUDE THE WHOLE

FACE IN THIS IMAGINED PORTRAIT.

Aboriginal Tent EmbassyAfter nine months of deliberation, the government chose Australia Day to announce that there would be no Aboriginal title to land.

The text of Prime Minister William McMahon's speech was released on 25 January 1972, the day before Australia Day. Aboriginal activists in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, heard the speech on the radio. They understood that it rejected the idea of an Aboriginal title to land and decided on action. With the support of the Communist Party of Australia, four young Aboriginal men - Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey, Michael Anderson and Bert Williams - travelled from Sydney to Canberra. By the end of Australia Day they were seated on the lawns facing Parliament House under a beach umbrella with a sign that read 'Aboriginal Embassy'. Michael Anderson told the press, 'The land was taken from us by force ... We shouldn't have to lease it ... Our spiritual beliefs are connected with

the land'.

Bruce Petty cartoon

satirising Prime Minister

McMahon's position on land rights

25 January 1972

http://delicious.com/amaskell/Indigenous

National Museum of Australia - Source

ANECDOTES:

• Mystery Bay

• Clean, Clad & Shd Policy (NSW)

• Yidaki

• Languages

• ‘From Little things big things grow’ Exhibition

Aboriginal Names in the Canberra Region

• Booroomba – ‘wallaby jumping over a rock’• Canberra – ‘a meeting place’• Ginninderra – ‘sparkling, throwing out little rays

of rock’• Mugga – ‘red ironbark’• Narrabundah – ‘small hawk’• Tuggeranong –’cold plain’• Yarralumla – ‘an echo’

Homework Assignment

1. Find out who are the traditional owners of the land upon which you were born.

2. Research the life of a prominent Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander.

3. Research & find 10 significant dates in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander History.

4. Research at least 10 Canberra place/street names & find out their Aboriginal meaning.

SCHOOLS & CURRICULUM

Creating an inclusive curriculum

How are Aboriginal students included in schools?• Does the curriculum communicate to all students a respect for Aboriginality?• Does the curriculum communicate to Aboriginal students a pride in their

identity and enhance their self-esteem?• Does the curriculum provide all students with information and knowledge

about Aboriginal cultures?• Is the curriculum content actively inclusive of Aboriginal perspectives?• Is the content offensive to, or discounting of, Aboriginal people, their

experiences and aspirations?• Do you provide Aboriginal Studies courses for all students?• Do you provide Cultural Studies courses for Aboriginal students?• Do you ensure that all learning resources used in the school are accurate

about, and respectful of, Aboriginal cultures?• Have you culled old resources that may reflect a lower level of awareness

about Aboriginal cultures and perspectives than is presently acceptable?

© Department of Education and Training, Western Australia, 2006

SIX Success IndicatorsHas your school:

1. School Leadership that is committed to improving its Indigenous students’ learning outcomes and raising the school community’s awareness of Indigenous culture

2. Done a review of its Indigenous Education programs and strategies?

3. Investigated whether it is welcoming to potential Indigenous enrolments?

4. A firm grasp of its Indigenous students’ achievement data, and its implications for teaching & learning?

5. Indigenous perspectives included in your classroom practice and school activities?

6. Engaged staff in professional learning about Cultural Awareness/Understanding/History, Indigenous education and Reconciliation?

7. Started at (or consolidated) connections with your Indigenous families /organisations?

ASLA (ACT) works to:

•Promote school libraries as an essential force in the education of children and to foster public understanding of the aims and needs and importance of school libraries.

- implications for Indigenous education•Promote teachers and teacher librarians as equal partners in the design and implementation of curriculum. - implications for Indigenous education•Promote the interests of teacher librarians by providing a forum for professional discussion and growth.

- implications for Indigenous education•Promote and foster cooperation between and undertake liaison with other school library and educational and community associations with similar aims and fields of interest.

- implications for Indigenous education•Deliver professional development programs to schools.

- implications for Indigenous education

Teaching and Learning

Resources(Examples – refer to handouts

for more resources)

Dare to Lead http://www.apapdc.edu.au/daretolead/

Moorditj – DVD/Lesson Plans/Work Folder http://moorditj.sponsored.uwa.edu.au/

Aboriginal Perspectives Across the Curriculum (WA Dept Education)http://www.det.wa.gov.au/education/abled/apac/index.html

UsMob http://www.abc.net.au/usmob/

Dust Echoes: Ancient Stories, New Voices http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/

What Works – Booklet & CD + Classroom Practice Checklist http://www.whatworks.edu.au/

DVDs - Calwell Conference/Kanyini/Seven of the Best/Yule Brook

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)

Bringing them home (CD & DVD) - Voices of Australia (CD/Booklet/Education Module)http://www.hreoc.gov.au/education/index.html

Aboriginal Education for all learners in South Australia: www.aboriginaledeucation.sa.edu.au

NSW Department of Education http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/

The Learning Federation - Indigenous Content & Perspectives http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/verve/_resources/indigenous.pdf

Reconciliation Australia – Action Plans: http://www.reconciliation.org.au/i-cms.isp

Black Ink Press is a community-based Indigenous writing, illustrating and publishing project based in

North Queensland. www.blackinkpress.com.au

Frog & Toad’s Indigenous Australia http://indigenousaustralia.frogandtoad.com.au/index.html

Education Network Australia – a broad based educational network covering all sectors from kindergarten

through primary and secondary school plus technical and higher education. http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/resources/browse/indigenous

VIBE – ‘Vibe School’ – Teachers Classroom Activities http://www.vibe.com.au/

Questacon http://burarra.questacon.edu.au/home.html

Burarra Gathering (Sharing Indigenous Knowledge)

Teaching and Learning Resources - Handout

Health

& PE

Science

• The Primary Connections Indigenous perspective framework aims to accelerate science and literacy learning outcomes for Indigenous students and increase non-Indigenous students’ and teachers’ awareness and understanding of Indigenous perspectives.

MoorditjBringing an Indigenous perspective to your students

MoorditjBringing an Indigenous perspective to your students

• Ideal introduction to an Indigenous perspective– Introduce non-Indigenous students to diversity of

Indigenous culture– Expose Indigenous students to art from other

regions

• Engage student interest through context of music, art, etc– Develop connections to all other curriculum areas

• Growing range of support materials

• Ideal introduction to an Indigenous perspective– Introduce non-Indigenous students to diversity of

Indigenous culture– Expose Indigenous students to art from other

regions

• Engage student interest through context of music, art, etc– Develop connections to all other curriculum areas

• Growing range of support materials

Why use Moorditj?

• A dynamic interactive website set in the Town Camps of Alice Springs. The project includes the website, interactive games and short films following the lives of four Indigenous teenagers.

• The key target audience for the overall UsMob project is 8 - 14 year olds but the site also gives adults an insight into the challenges and experiences of young people living in Indigenous communities.

• UsMob delivers messages of building relationships, experiencing culture and learning about community.

• The website’s teachers’ information includes fact sheets related to each of the 7 episodes.

http://www.abc.net.au/usmob/

UsMob

A series of twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land, telling stories of love, loyalty, duty to country and aboriginal custom

and law.

" Dust Echoes is one way that we are bringing everyone back to the same campfire - black and

white. We are telling our stories to you in a way you can understand, to help you see, hear and know.

And we are telling these stories to ourselves, so that we will always remember, with pride, who we are. "

(Tom Lewis, actor, musician, Indigenous consultant)

Dust Echoes: Ancient Stories, New Voices

Following the world-wide success of the film,Ten Canoes, the Yolngu people of Ramingining in Arnhem Land offer the world a more in depth view of their society and culture. One of the oldest cultures in existence shares its stories using the most modern technology to bring the world Twelve Canoes.

Twelve Canoes is a website which paints a compelling portrait of the art, culture, history and place of the Yolngu people whose homeland is the town of Ramingining and the Arafura Swamp of north-central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

http://www.12canoes.com.au

TWELVE CANOES

‘Kanyini’ is a story told by Bob Randall & in it he explains why his people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for them to

move forward.

“It is also a story that is fundamental for understanding

contemporary Australia, for only by knowing our past and our present can we dream of a

future which includes everyone.”

“ A spiritual celebration of land, spirit and wisdom.”

(Sun Herald)

Website: http://www.kanyini.com/

First Australians - SBS

• First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people.

• First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire.

• Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.

• First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation

• http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/

Best Documentary Logies Awards 2009

Reflection Time

• What’s working in your school & Library?

• What could be improved?

The Getup Mob

From Little Things Big Things Grow

(Get Up Stand Up Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zXFmJmrj0s