A recent study of the instructional needs of country children carried out by the author, has revealed that far too many Aboriginal country children (and, it might be added, far too many white country children too) simply do not seem to want to learn! Teachers interviewed during the course of the study viewed this situation variously:

The following Cultural Studies program has been working at A.T.E.C., Batchelor, for two years. The initial fears (how are you going to teach Aboriginals about their own culture? etc.) have been laid to rest and the course entered its second year in a very strong position with a lot of support coming from students.

The structural components of the course come from three areas: Paulo Friere’s Education for Critical Consciousness, Beattie’s Other Cultures, and documentation from the East West Centre, Hawaii, on Cross Cultural Orientation Techniques.

The course runs for four years and is based on a spiral concept with eight subjects discussed each year: law, politics, leadership, economics, kinship, family, language, religion.

Daynawa Nurruwutthun is 20 years old and a teacher at Yirrkala Community School. She belongs to the Munyuku clan and is of the Yirritja Moiety and Narritjan sub-section.

She attended school at Yirrkala and started teaching in 1975. During 1976 and 1977 she completed the 1st Year of the On-site Teacher Training Program at Yirrkala.

After attending the Bilingual Conference in Darwin in 1976 and talking with other Aboriginal teachers she returned to Yirrkala determined to begin an Aboriginal Studies Program for the Infant School.

After discussions with other Aboriginal teachers, four areas of study were developed. These have now been extended to the six following areas: bush food and sea food; natural science; Homeland Centres; old ways; bush medicine; culture, i.e. social organisation and behaviour.

Q. Why do you want a school?

A. It is very important for our children to learn.

Q. What sort of teacher do you want?

A. First of all, Aboriginal teachers to start.

Q. How many teachers do you want?

A. One for a start.

Q. What do you want them to teach?

A. Counting, mathematics, reading, writing in English, Aboriginal culture.

Q. Do you want a school building?

A. We are thinking about an open-air one, a hut with bark and bush materials. Later on we may build a better school.

Another question concerned the degree of assistance required from Europeans.

A. Everything concerning schools will be run only by the local people, but we will appreciate the ideas and help of Europeans when we ask them. All responsibility will be with parents.

This conversation is extracted from a report by Maria Brandl, written in 1974. She was talking to a group of people who had started an Outstation in the Yirrkala area.

This profile of Mr Via Chapman is adapted from the December 1979 edition of “Aboriginal Quarterly” with permission of the Editor and of Mr Chapman.

In submitting his story to “Aboriginal Quarterly” in response to that journal’s request to hear from some of the 15 fully qualified Aboriginal teachers in NSW, Mr Chapman observed: