Aboriginal Nation: A strong Kimberley tertiary education narrative
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.2022.45Keywords:
deficit discourse, Aboriginal education history, Kimberley Tertiary Education, Remote Aboriginal Tertiary Education, Cultural security, strengths narrativesAbstract
Our past shapes our present. However, do Australian universities understand the ways historical discourses continue to shape them? Provoked by the findings of our empirical study implemented in Western Australia’s Kimberley region in 2018-2019, we conducted a critical text analysis of recent and past policies to seek historical explanation. As a research team, we noted a demand on behalf of Aboriginal activists to shift from the discourse of ‘problem’ to ‘nationhood’, during the first launch of the Aboriginal flag at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972. However, in our study we observed the ‘problem’ vocabulary lives on, impacting remote Aboriginal tertiary education through its deficit discourse and ‘gap language’. In this paper, we show how the future for remote Aboriginal tertiary education sits within our everyday narratives and explanations. It is to recognise Aboriginal knowledges, strengths, contribution and experience, or remain trapped by the deficit discourses of a colonial era. A strengths-based discourse acknowledges that Aboriginal people living in remote communities have the capacity, knowledge and ‘know-how’ to engage with tertiary education in culturally secure ways. Remote Aboriginal tertiary education could show the way to genuine socio-political transformation in Australia; and the Kimberley could lead this process.
Downloads
References
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989 No. 150 of 1989 (Cth). http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/aatsica1989478/
Aboriginal Education Policy Task Force. (1988). Report of the Aboriginal education policy task force. Commonwealth of Australia. https://vital.voced.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/ngv:20015/SOURCE2
Aborigines Protection Society. (1837). Report of the parliamentary select committee on Aboriginal tribes (British settlements): Reprinted, with comments, by the “Aborigines Protection Society”. William Ball, Aldine Chambers, Paternoster Row, and Hatchard & Son.
Altman, J., Biddle, N., & Hunter, B. (2009). Prospects for “closing the gap” in socioeconomic outcome for Indigenous Australians? Australian Economic History Review, 49(3), 225–251.
Atkinson, J., & Atkinson, C. C. (2017). A healing foundation for Aboriginal community development. In C. Kickett-Tucker, D. Bessarab, J. Coffin, M. Wright, & M. Gooda (Eds.), Mia Mia Aboriginal community development: Fostering cultural security (pp. 110–127). Cambridge University Press.
Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R., & Kelly, P. (2012). Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people: Final report. Australian Government, Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/heaccessandoutcomesforaboriginalandtorresstraitislanderfinalreport.pdf
Bhaskar, R., Danermark, B., & Price, L. (2017). Interdisciplinarity and wellbeing: A critical realist general theory of interdisciplinarity. Routledge Ltd. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315177298
Bodkin-Andrews, G., & Carlson, B. (2016). The legacy of racism and Indigenous Australian identity within education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(4), 784–807. doi:10.1080/13613324.2014.969224 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.969224
Buckskin, P., Tranthim-Fryer, M., Holt, L., Gili, J., Heath, J., Smith, D., Larkin, S., Ireland, S., MacGibbon, L., Robertson, K., Small, T., Butler, K., Chatfield, T., Anderson, P., & Ma Rhea, Z. (2018). NATSIHEC accelerating Indigenous higher education: Consultation paper. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/123520/1/NATSIHEC_%20AIHE_FinaL_%20Report%20Jan%202018_updated_031218.pdf
Channel Ten (Producer). (2008). Sorry, Kevin Rudd’s apology to “The Stolen Generations”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TZOGpG6cM
Coffin, J., & Green, C. (2017). Decolonising Australian community development tools. In C. Kickett-Tucker, D. Bessarab, J. Coffin, M. Wright, & M. Gooda (Eds.), Mia Mia Aboriginal community development: Fostering cultural security (pp. 73–90). Cambridge University Press.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2020). Closing the gap report 2020. Australian Government, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdf/closing-the-gap-report-2020.pdf
Curthoys, A. (2002). Freedom ride: A freedom rider remembers. Allen & Unwin.
Daley, P. (2017, May 18). It’s 50 years since Indigenous Australians were first “counted”. Why has so little changed? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/may/18/50-years-since-indigenous-australians-first-counted-why-has-so-little-changed-1967-referendum
de Ishtar, Z. (2005). Holding yuwulu: White culture and black women’s law. Spinifex Press.
Department of Education and Training. (2019). Selected higher education statistics – 2018 student data. Retrieved November 21, 2019, from https://www.education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2018-student-data
Department of Employment, Education and Training. (1989). National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy [joint policy statement]. https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2015/national_aboriginal_and_torres_strait_islander_education_policy.pdf
Derrida, J. (1994). Specters of Marx: The state of the debt, the work of mourning and the new international. Routledge.
Devlin, B. C., Disbray, S., & Devlin, N. R. F. (Eds.). (2017). History of bilingual education in the Northern Territory: People, programs and policies. Springer.
Dockery, A. M. (2017). Culture, housing, remoteness and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child development: Evidence from the longitudinal study of Indigenous children. Ninti One Limited. https://nintione.com.au/resource/CW028_AboriginalTorresStraitIslanderChildDevt_EvidenceFromLSIC.pdf
Dodson, P. (2010, November 15). Constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians is not just symbolic. Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/genuine-attempt-to-write-first-peoples-into-nations-contract-20101114-17sm8.html
Doring, J., & Nyawarra, P. (2014). Gwion artists and Wunan Law: The origin of society in Australia. Rock Art Research, 31(1), 3–13. http://www.ifrao.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/31-1-Doring.pdf
Dudgeon, P., Milroy, J., Calma, T., Luxford, Y., Ring, I., Walker, R., Cox, A., Georgatos, G., & Holland, C. (2016). Solutions that work: What the evidence and our people tell us: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention evaluation project report. School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia. https://www.atsispep.sis.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/2947299/ATSISPEP-Report-Final-Web.pdf
Dwyer, A. (2017). Climate change and adaptation on Karajarri Country and “Pukarrikarra” places: Nulungu Research Papers 1. Nulungu Research Institute. https://www.notredame.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/44239/Nulungu-Research-Paper-1-FINAL-5-April-2017.pdf
Falk, V. (2004). The rise and fall of ATSIC: A personal opinion. Australian Indigenous Law Reporter, 8(4), 17–19.
Fogliani, R. (2019). Inquest into the 13 deaths of children and young persons in the Kimberley region, Western Australia. Coroner’s Court of Western Australia. https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/inquest-2019/13-Children-and-Young-Persons-in-the-Kimberley-Region-Finding.pdf
Georgatos, G. (2013, April 20). The killing times. The Stringer Independent News. https://thestringer.com.au/the-killing-times-2214#.XJhmgCgzaUl
Gerritsen, R., Whitehead, P., & Stoeckl, N. (2019). Economic development across the north: Historical and current context of possible alternatives. In J. Russell-Smith, G. James, H. Pedersen, & K. K. Sangha (Eds.), Sustainable land sector development in Northern Australia: Indigenous rights, aspirations, and cultural responsibilities (pp. 53–84). CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Gibson, J. (2018, August 4). NAPLAN: Fears language barriers putting Indigenous kids on the backfoot come exam time. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-04/indigenous-kids-language-barrier-disadvantaged-naplan/10071774
Guenther, J., Bat, M., & Osborne, S. (2013). Red dirt thinking on educational disadvantage. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 42(2), 100–110. doi:10.1017/jie.2013.18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2013.18
Guenther, J., Bat, M., Stephens, A., Skewes, J., Boughton, B., Williamson, F., Wooltorton, S., Marshall, M., Dwyer, A. (2017). Enhancing training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners. National Centre for Vocational Education Research.
Guenther, J., Disbray, S., Benveniste, T., & Osborne, S. (2017). “Red dirt” schools and pathways into higher education. In J. Frawley, S. Larkin, & J. A. Smith (Eds.), Indigenous pathways, transitions and participation in higher education: From policy to practice (pp. 251–261). Springer.
Guenther, J., Dwyer, A., Wooltorton, S., & Wilks, J. (2021). Aboriginal student engagement and success in tertiary education. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 50(2), 265–273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2021.2
Guenther, J., Halsey, J., & Osborne, S. (2015). From paradise to beyond: Geographical constructs and how they shape education in the “bush”. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 25(3), 62–79.
Haebich, A. (2000). Broken circles: Fragmenting Indigenous families 1800-2000. Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
Jebb, M. A. (2002). Blood, sweat and welfare: A history of white bosses and Aboriginal pastoral workers. University of Western Australia Press.
Kerins, S., & Green, J. (2019). “Like a rusty nail, you can never hold us blackfellas down”: Cultural resilience in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria. In J. Russell-Smith, G. James, H. Pedersen, & K. K. Sangha (Eds.), Sustainable land sector development in Northern Australia: Indigenous rights, aspirations, and cultural responsibilities (pp. 177–202). CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC). (2016). KALACC submission to the community development and justice standing committee inquiry in to building resilience and engagement for at-risk youth through sport and culture. Parliament of Western Australia. http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/commit.nsf/(Evidence+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/0FE81E014567B26348257FDB00068082/$file/20160620+Submission+5+-+KALACC+(contact+details+removed).pdf
Kimberley Land Council. (2019). 40th anniversary of the KLC. https://www.klc.org.au/40th-anniversary-of-the-klc
Kinnane, S., & Sullivan, P. (2015). An evaluation of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC) cultural governance programme 2013-2015: Repatriation of sacred objects and ancestral remains to the Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) Community. Nulungu Research Institute. http://kalacc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/kalacc-cultural-governance-evaluation-2016-1.pdf
Kinnane, S., Wilks, J., Wilson, K., Hughes, T., & Thomas, S. (2014). “Can’t be what you can’t see”: The transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into higher education. The University of Notre Dame Australia.
Latour, B. (2004). Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry, 30(2), 225–248. doi:10.1086/421123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/421123
Lea, T. (2020). Wild policy: Indigeneity and the unruly logics of intervention. Stanford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503612679
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (1995). A national strategy for the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 1996-2002. Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
Nakata, M. (2018). Difficult dialogues in the south: Questions about practice. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 47(1), 1–7. doi:10.1017/jie.2017.22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.22
National Museum of Australia. (2010). Yiwarra kuju: The Canning Stock Route (1st ed.). National Museum of Australia Press.
Osborne, S., & Guenther, J. (2013). Red dirt thinking on aspiration and success. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 42(2), 88–99. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2013.17
Ouzman, S., Veth, P., Myers, C., Heaney, P., & Kenneally, K. F. (2017). Plants before animals?: Aboriginal rock art as evidence of ecoscaping in Australia’s Kimberley. In B. David & I. McNiven (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the archaeology and anthropology of rock art. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190607357.013.31 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190607357.013.31
Paradies, Y. (2017). Overcoming racism as a barrier to community development. In C. Kickett-Tucker, D. Bessarab, J. Coffin, M. Wright, & M. Gooda (Eds.), Mia Mia Aboriginal community development: Fostering cultural security (pp. 169–185). Cambridge University Press.
Paradies, Y. (2020). Unsettling truths: Modernity, (de-)coloniality and Indigenous futures. Postcolonial Studies, 23(4), 438–456. doi:10.1080/13688790.2020.1809069 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2020.1809069
Pedersen, H., & Phillpot, S. (2019). North Australian history: Dispossession, colonisation, and the assertion of Indigenous rights. In J. Russell-Smith, G. James, H. Pedersen, & K. K. Sangha (Eds.), Sustainable land sector development in Northern Australia: Indigenous rights, aspirations, and cultural responsibilities (pp. 35–52). CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Pedersen, H., & Woorunmurra, B. (1995). Jandamarra and the Bunuba resistance. Magabala Books.
Poelina, A. (2019). Country. In A. Kothari, A. Salleh, A. Escobar, F. Demaria, & A. Acosta (Eds.), Pluriverse: A post-development dictionary (pp. 142–144). Tulika Books and Authorsupfront.
Poelina, A., Taylor, K. S., & Perdrisat, I. (2019). Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council: An Indigenous cultural approach to collaborative water governance. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 26(3), 236–254. doi:10.1080/14486563.2019.1651226 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2019.1651226
Pollard, L. (2018). Remote student university success: An analysis of policy and practice. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/LouisePollard_FellowshipReport_FINAL_Small.pdf
Raciti, M., Carter, J., Gilbey, K., & Hollinsworth, D. (2017). The ‘university place’: how and why place influences the engagement and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students. Retrieved from Canberra: https://ltr.edu.au/resources/SD15-5165_FinalReport.pdf
Reconciliation Australia. (2016). The state of reconciliation in Australia – a summary: Our history, our story, our future. https://www.reconciliation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/State-of-Reconciliation-Report_SUMMARY.pdf
Ryan, S. S. (1986). National Aboriginal Education Committee: Report and ministerial statement. Senate Hansard. https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22
chamber/hansards/1986-03-12/0030%22;src1=sm1
Santana, C. R., Mackinlay, E., & Nakata, M. (2018). Editorial. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 47(1), iii–iv. doi:10.1017/jie.2018.6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.6
Strakosch, E. (2015). Neoliberal Indigenous policy: Settler colonialism and the “post-welfare” state. Palgrave MacMillan.
Street, C., Guenther, J., Smith, J., Robertson, K., Motlap, S., Ludwig, W., Gillan, K., Woodroffe, T., & Ober, R. (2017). The evolution of Indigenous higher education in Northern Territory, Australia: A chronological review of policy. International Studies in Widening Participation, 4(2), 32–51. https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/ceehe/index.php/iswp/article/download/80/99
Street, C., Smith, J., Robertson, K., Motlap, S., Ludwig, W., Gillan, K., & Guenther, J. (2018). A historical overview of responses to Indigenous higher education policy in the NT: Progress or procrastination? Australian Universities’ Review, 60(2), 38–48.
Universities Australia. (2019). Universities Australia Indigenous strategy: First annual report. https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/submissions-and-reports/Indigenous-Report
University of Notre Dame Australia, The. (2019). Broome campus. https://www.notredame.edu.au/study/vet/broome-campus
White, M., & Gooda, M. (2017). Royal commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory: Report overview. Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-01/rcnt-royal-commission-nt-report-overview.pdf
Wilks, J., Dwyer, A., Wooltorton, S., & Guenther, J. (2020). “We got a different way of learning”: A message to the sector from Aboriginal students living and studying in remote communities. Australian Universities’ Review, 62(2), 25–37.
Wilks, J., Fleeton, E. R., & Wilson, K. (2017). Indigenous tutorial assistance scheme: Tertiary tuition and beyond: Transitioning with strengths and promoting opportunities. Australian Universities’ Review, 59(1), 14–23.
Wilks, J., Wilson, K., & Kinnane, S. (2017). Promoting engagement and success at university through strengthening the online learning experiences of Indigenous students living and studying in remote communities. In J. Frawley, S. Larkin, & J. A. Smith (Eds.), Indigenous pathways, transitions and participation in higher education: From policy to practice (pp. 211–233). Springer.
Williams, L. (2018). Transformative sustainability education and empowerment practice on Indigenous lands: Part one. Journal of Transformative Education, 16(4), 344–364. doi:10.1177/1541344618789363 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344618789363
Williams, L., Bunda, T., Claxton, N., & MacKinnon, I. (2018). A global de-colonial praxis of sustainability – undoing epistemic violences between Indigenous peoples and those no longer Indigenous to place. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 47(1), 41–53. doi:10.1017/jie.2017.25 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.25
Wilson, R. (1997). Bringing them home: Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Australian Human Rights Commission. https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-report-1997
Windschuttle, K. (2019). Culture and suicide. Quadrant, 63(3), 4–5. https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2019/03/culture-and-suicide/
Yunkaporta, T. (2019). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. Text Publishing.
Yunkaporta, T., & McGinty, S. (2009). Reclaiming Aboriginal knowledge at the cultural interface. The Australian Educational Researcher, 36(2), 55–72. doi:10.1007/BF03216899 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216899
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 The Author/s
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education is in the process of transitioning to fully Open Access. Most articles are available as Open Access but some are currently Free Access whereby copyright still applies and if you wish to re-use the article permission will need to be sought from the copyright holder. This article's license terms are outlined at the URL above.