Aboriginal education for non-Aboriginal students

While the Australian education system struggles to bring education to Aboriginal children, it also has to take the fear out of non-Indigenous children and adults to learn about Aboriginal culture. Many think if they don't know enough they don't have the right to contribute to the conversation, an attitude which hampers the dialogue true reconciliation requires [1].

94% of parents of school-aged children want them to have an understanding of Aboriginal people and their history. At the same time more than 80% of Australians feel that they know little or nothing about Aboriginal culture [2].

"Initially it was hard to come to grips with Aboriginal culture and society," says author John Danalis in his book Riding The Black Cockatoo. "Its mind-bending timeline; its astonishingly distinct yet interwoven diversities. In many ways it reminded me of the complexity of Europe. Imagine doing a crash course on European peoples, their cultures, languages, cuisine, art, architecture, folktales, myths and belief systems, and then trying to summarise in a few neat paragraphs what it means to be European; it would be an impossible task. And yet that is largely the shallow representation of Aboriginal Australia that was presented to me when I was a young person — a mere caricature, the man on the two-dollar coin." [3]

When I went to school, most of the kids studying Aboriginal history were Aboriginal. It wasn't compulsory [for white kids]. —Timana Tahu, Aboriginal rugby league player [4]

From my experience, Aboriginal people are really only touched on in the history of European settlement. —Alannah Kirby, arts student, Melbourne [5]

When Stolen Generations member Helen Moran told high school and college students her story "many students were outraged to learn that no-one had told them the full, truthful story about Australia's history until this late in their schooling, and that it had come from outside the curriculum." [6].

Students said that having had this knowledge available "would have helped to combat the racism and discrimination that exists in Australia today".

Fact In history curriculums in 2011, the achievements and historical mistreatment of Aboriginal people weren't taught until Year 10 [6]. As a consequence Aboriginal students who did not reach Year 10 could not learn about their own history.

Fact In the history curriculum draft for 2012 for Grade 4, Aboriginal people were grouped together with flora and fauna in the module that briefly covers the impacts of colonisation [3]. The grouping was later changed.

Educating our children with the truth is the way toward healing this great country. —Helen Moran, Stolen Generations member [6]

My real Australian education began at the end of the 1960s when [Aboriginal activist] Charlie Perkins and his mother, Hetti, took me to the Aboriginal compound at Jay Creek in the Northern Territory... The shock at what I saw was unforgettable. The poverty. The sickness. The despair. The quiet anger. I began to recognise and understand the Australian silence. —John Pilger, journalist and filmmaker [7]

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
[1] 'Reconciliation rocks musos', Koori Mail 427 p.38 [2] 'Eco-tourism is helping the process', Koori Mail 452 p.45 [3] 'Riding The Black Cockatoo', John Danalis, Allen & Unwin, p.192 [4] 'It is the hardest thing I have ever done...', Koori Mail 479 p.5 [5] 'Language lessons', reader's letter, Koori Mail 481 p.27 [6] 'It's far too little, and way too late', Koori Mail 507 p.25 [7] 'Pilger takes out Sydney Peace Prize', Koori Mail 464 p.11