If we recognise the truth in this statement, we acknowledge the importance of providing all children with access to literature which broadens their knowledge and perceptions of society.

In the past researchers have been carrying out such political acts in the firm belief that if we study something long enough, with sufficient disciplines and controls, then we will find “reality” and “truth”, then we will carry out studies which have scientific merit, which will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about how societies work. But research is generally carried out by fairly powerful people on those less powerful. In the process the powerless frequently become even more powerless because, as Guba and Lincoln (1989:125) argue:

Given the opportunity to write my views about education to this journal, I have chosen a topic that is close to me and which I have experienced first hand. I have chosen the teaching profession so that I can help my people gain the opportunity to reach their full potential. However, I feel that most non-Aboriginal teachers are not fully aware of the problems that confront Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in schooling.

FELIKS (Fostering English Language in Kimberley Schools) is a Catholic Education Office initiative having its beginnings in the early eighties when the need to teach English as a second language to Aboriginal students in the Kimberley was recognised. The professional development package, designed and successfully trailed by the Language Team members of the CEO Kimberley Region, is targeted at classroom teachers, Aboriginal Teaching Assistants (ATAs) and Aboriginal community members.

It is timely that this conference has been convened to promote and support the recording of family and community histories. These histories can be offered as an alternative to the one sided view of Australian history currently presented in our schools, and provide students with a balance of viewpoints about events that have occurred in this country in the last two hundred years or so. In the past schools have taught only one perspective of the colonisation of this country, and have shown little respect for views other than those presented in written reports, letters, press articles and other documents by the British colonisers.

One of the founding members of the famous Papunya desert artists, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, was announced the winner of the prestigious Red Ochre Award at the presentation ceremony of Australia's major arts awards at Parliament House, Canberra on the 17th of October 1994.