Aboriginal people’s ‘true’ history to be taught in schools

Indigenous languages and lessons about the Stolen Generation would be taught to students under a bold curriculum overhaul in every Australian school.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation program director Tina Raye with students reading one of the many books in an Aboriginal language.

Indigenous languages and detailed lessons about the Stolen Generation would be taught to students under a bold curriculum overhaul that would also see dedicated staff teaching Aboriginal people’s “true” history in every Australian school.

Calls are mounting for specialist staff to teach more Indigenous history in primary and secondary schools after almost 300,000 people signed a petition singer and Aboriginal man Isaiah Firebrace presented to federal parliament in November last year.

With the petition set to become one of the most signed on Change.org, Midnight Oil lead and former politician Peter Garrett and Hunters and Collectors former frontman Mark Seymour are among singers also backing the push to see dedicated ‘cultural educators’ in every school through World Vision’s Know Your Country Campaign.

Isaiah Firebrace at Australia Day Live.

Mr Firebrace, who’s Eurovision single When I’m With You was released on Friday, said he remained in talks with the federal government since presenting the petition and will meet with shadow education Minister Tanya Plibersek in the coming weeks to discuss ideas such as assigning staff to teach students Aboriginal languages of the land on which their school sits, and naming subjects and classrooms in that language.

“It would be great to have black history taught because this is a Black Country. There are still some people who don’t know about things like the Stolen Generation,” he told the Sunday Herald Sun.

Mr Seymour said he “regretted” not being better educated about First Nations culture during his schooling.

“Like many Australians of my generation, throughout my life, I’ve had little contact with First Nations people,” he said.

“My knowledge of language and culture is pretty thin, and I regret that.”

Mr Garrett said: “If we’re serious about achieving Reconciliation, if we’re serious about implementing the national curriculum, this is the way to do it.”

The renewed push comes after Deakin University’s Contemporary History Survey of 5000 Australians that revealed support across all age groups for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in schools.

Victorian students learn about Aboriginal history in all grades until Year 10.

While some schools have already shaken up their Aboriginal curriculum, Institute of Public Affairs Foundations of Western Civilisation Program director Dr Bella d’Abrera said having a dedicated cultural educator was a “completely unnecessary” curriculum change because it could prevent students being taught a “balanced” view of Australia’s history.

Lismore High School new signs for a building block renaming project which sees all the campus buildings renamed in broader Bundjalung language. Photo: Alison Paterson

“It’s clear that for some reason, Peter Garrett and his fellow activists are determined to pretend that modern Australia doesn’t exist,” Dr d’Abrera said.

“They should understand that all Australians are beneficiaries of the great institutions of liberal democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech given to us by the British.”

Researcher at Monash University’s Indigenous Studies Centre and Jaru woman Jacinta Walsh said conservative calls for further emphasis on Western history risked excluding Aboriginal perspectives on Australia history from the classroom.

Education Minister James Merlino said: “We acknowledge that more can be done to ensure all Victorians have a shared understanding of the state’s history, and the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission’s historic truth-telling process will be critical to that.”

“Victoria is advocating at the national forum of Education Ministers across Australia for stronger representation of First Nations history in the Australian curriculum.”