These schools are generally grouped together for practical and geographical purposes, although they cover a broad spectrum from remote Community Primary Schools with Secondary Departments catering for Years 8, 9, and 10, through Aboriginal/Islander Community High Schools to Secondary Departments or High Schools in relatively remote country areas with a significant proportion of Aboriginal or Islander students. Schools included are: Aurukun, Kowanyama, Doomadgee, Mornington Island, Yarrabah, Palm Island, Thursday Island, Bamaga, Weipa North and Normanton.

A new and highly successful initiative in education this year has been to introduce ethnobotany into the school’s Culture Program. We feel certain that this approach will be successful through all school grades and will promote oral and written discourse for Aboriginal children.

Following co-ordinated effort on the part of teachers and Aboriginal school assistants from three Port Augusta schools and an Aboriginal Education and Aboriginal Studies adviser throughout 1980, courses have been developed for an Aboriginal Studies program at Year 8 and 9 levels.

All Year 8 students at Port Augusta High School, Augusta Park High School and Caritas Catholic School currently participate in the one term course. Each of the three secondary schools has committed both teacher time and available facilities to the successful development and implementation of the course. They continue to co-ordinate their activities and resources through the management of an Inter-school Aboriginal Studies Faculty which meets fortnightly.

The initiation of these developments came from the felt need of the schools to cater more for the cultural requirements of the Aboriginal students and to provide all students with an insight into local Aboriginal cultures.

Each of the people involved in developing the course had previously made efforts to incorporate elements of Aboriginal Studies in other subject areas like Social Studies, History, English and Science but felt that the topics were not being developed to their full extent. Also, whether or not Aboriginal Studies topics were taught tended to depend upon the individual interest of the teachers. By developing a course outline that could eventually be taught at each year level and accepted as a part of the curriculum of the course, writers believed that the future of the course could be ensured.

“Woolah” means “Hurray – Well done” in the language of the Aboriginal people of the south-west of Western Australia and is the title of the magazine published by the Aboriginal students at the Kewdale Senior High School and of the program that focuses on the magazine’s production.

The aptness of this title has been demonstrated by the students in their latest endeavour, a study tour to Bali, planned and financed by the group. It all started this way :-

In third term 1980, at the conclusion of their Social Studies program and study of various cultures around the world, student discussion centred on how much they would like to travel and see the world for themselves. Their thinking was wishful, centring on the fact that such trips were far out of their reach, in fact impossible to attain.

These were “fightin’ words” to the teachers and after much discussion we all made a commitment to travel to South-East Asia in 1981. This commitment had three thrusts –

Teaching Aboriginal children often conjures up thoughts of being stoned or speared alive and many people contemplating a career in teaching, Or actually teaching, shy away from the thought of teaching Aboriginal children. But do they really know what they are missing out on:

Yirara College is a secondary boarding school for tribal Aboriginal students from throughout Central Australia. The College is 8 kilometres from Alice Springs but takes students from 40 separate communities, in a radius of about 800 kilometres or more from Alice. This includes the southern two-thirds of the Northern Territory, and some communities in South Australia and Western Australia. The

College is entirely residential, and caters for male and female students. The curriculum, which follows Northern Territory Department guidelines, is aimed at adjusting students to reach Year 10 (the N.T. Junior School Certificate), and thereafter have the opportunity to enter various further education courses and colleges. Emphasis is also given to social education in its broadest sense, and vocational education. After leaving Yirara, the majority of students return to their own communities to fill positions of skill, where and when available.

“They can’t be educated”, say the critics. “Send them south to boarding school, beyond the influences of tribalism”, say the unsympathetic. “Why try to school the young while the unschooled elders negate their new-found skills?” say the liberals. “Education is disruptive and diminishes tribal authority”, say the ignorant.