Teaching RECONCILIATION

RECONCILIATION can only begin when a student understands the person, the culture first!

The nice thing about having worked with first nations students from four states in Oz and in media covering stories for mags etc on Indigenous movers-n-shakers, is that schools trust me to pen my own program within the curriculum. I am teaching RECONCILIATION right now in Queensland…now, that’s a challenge, right? Not thus far, have been doing it there for a while. The Gold Coast is conservative, but aspects of multiculturalism exist. Up in Innisfail it is uber multicultural, like a small version of Darwin. Like my time in the Northern Territory and Lismore, the kids taught me there. I share my work back to other teachers and this provides for conversation on their own knowledge base. Sadly, most teachers know almost nothing about Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal history. It is a worry. I speak to this in my book, What the Monsoon Knows.

There are courses being held, but experience with indigenous folk on the ground, is best. I attended Indigenous studies, including Torres Strait Islander studies at Uni, along with Applied Anthropology, as well as working with folk from about 100 clans…doing courses as a teacher too, while writing up and presenting cross-curriculum programs for schools in New South Wales. The bigotry existing? Well some of this arrives from poor experiences within community, leading to people tarring all with the same brush. You don’t have to enjoy those bad experiences, but it would be nice to look beyond your street, also acknowledging all the loving, kind folk, doing their best to allow us to all walk together. I have seen students gob-smacked in class this week when showing them all the clans, language groups and describing the dynamics of the trade routes and human interactions, including from Asia, and the songlines within the land. Teachers don’t know any of this, so when students hear it, they love it! You must understand what life is/has been like for Indigenous groups, now, and in the past. This week we journey within the relationship to land, kinship, and the Dreaming. Part of what I have said here is mirrored in the boss lady for RE, who too gets it, and has plenty of meaningful knowledge to share with the kids.

As for the negative stuff in some communities, well, I have mostly seen good in all the places I have lived. But why are some people behaving badly? There are plenty of current factors, sure, but the bigots; the rednecks are not quick to admit their ancestors were the ones who murdered, raped, poisoned, stole children, influenced blacks to track down and kill other blacks, put clans on welfare while taking their tribal law and roles away from them, and when things become dodgy, blame them for being disconnected. I have hundreds of enriching moments working with staff & students in Lismore with Bundjalung & Kamilaroi kids, and in the Top End with kids from all over northern Australia, down into the red heartland. But it was in Far Nth Qld at Innisfail during the most amazing NAIDOC week I have seen - when attending a Kup Murri feast (TSI hungi) for 900 – well, I was talking to a local Ma:Mu elder on his bushtucker knowledge, eating some of the delicious rainforest fruits, when all the black kids milled around and stared at this middle-aged white guy giving his full attention to their old uncle, wanting to learn…