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Education swirls around central Australia

By Harry Throssell - posted Monday, 5 June 2006


SWIRL teachers are aware Australian Aborigines are the custodians of the world’s oldest living culture dating back many thousands of years, well before human written records began. Bearing in mind written records have not been kept, stories are told to educate youngsters on expected behaviour, survival skills, the tribe’s history and spiritual beliefs. The SWIRL team therefore takes care to encourage community elders to be involved in the programs on bush trips. This stamps SWIRL with the blessing of elders, who see their traditional stories respected.

One trainee teacher, Dani, expressed some apprehension before going up country. “I expect it to be a culture shock … some of the community may not see education in the same light as we do … I hope we do meet the community’s needs”.

Megan described her experience. “Team members are fully integrated into their host community, camping in the school grounds and spending every day with local people. They are welcomed by the children and their families and are often invited back … Most of all, they have fun”.

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Tracy: “I really miss the children … I am seriously thinking about living in an Aboriginal community when I finish my degree ... I absolutely love Aboriginal culture”.

Naomi: “Trips like this one should be made compulsory for all training teachers! … Ignorance is often a result of lack of understanding. If we can influence people through sharing our experiences … then perhaps Australia would be a lot better off”.

Daniella Eddy participated in the first SWIRL program, has returned to the Northern Territory six times, and is now acting principal at Harts Range School in Atitjere. “I got a real sense for the communities … Having been with SWIRL a number of times to each location has helped me understand the culture and given me links to the community. It’s also provided people to guide me through the protocols in an Aboriginal community”.

Ben Knowles was a SWIRL participant in 1999 and 2000, and has now taught at Ti-Tree School, north of Alice Springs, for two years. He also organises the annual Ti-Tree sports. “I work with senior secondary children”, he reports. “They have been through ‘business’, meaning they have been initiated into adulthood. The school’s principal is Aboriginal and easily finds a healthy balance between local culture and productive working staff relations.”

Megan Evans, one of the first SWIRLers, now teaches in Victoria, but every year takes students to a school in the Northern Territory. “We get into a classroom and help with literacy [and] also have a reciprocal trip where students from a remote community come down and spend time with us.”

Lawry Mahon is heading off again in this June, 2006, with 40 students, and will be including some places recently in the news.

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His email address is lawry.mahon@vu.edu.au.

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First published in Issue 4 of Journospeak on May 26, 2006.



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About the Author

Harry Throssell originally trained in social work in UK, taught at the University of Queensland for a decade in the 1960s and 70s, and since then has worked as a journalist. His blog Journospeak, can be found here.

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