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1. No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.
-Mahatma Gandhi My name is Greg Lehman. I am a descendant of the Trawulwuy people of north east Tasmania. In recent years, it has become a conventional practice to provide an Aboriginal welcome at conferences and other gatherings. As a writer and cultural interpreter, I believe that there is very little point in performing this task without asking for something in return. We human beings are very good at valuing things that we do not earn. So this evening, I would like to do more than simply welcome you to country. I ask for the opportunity to share some understanding.
The business of literacy is of keen interest to Aboriginal people. To succeed in the Australia that was launched upon us in 1770, we must close the gap in outcomes that persists between Aboriginal and other Australian students. The new COAG Indigenous Reform Agenda recognises this as core business. But we must also shift ourselves from the assumption that this gap occurs due to some sort of deficit on the part of Aboriginal people.
To close the gap in Aboriginal literacy we must go beyond being culturally appropriate. We must question our inclusivity and therefore our own competency as educators.
My name is Greg Lehman. I am a descendant of the Trawulwuy people of north east Tasmania. In recent years, it has become a conventional practice to provide an Aboriginal welcome at conferences and other gatherings. As a writer and cultural interpreter, I believe that there is very little point in performing this task without asking for something in return. We human beings are very good at valuing things that we do not earn. So this evening, I would like to do more than simply welcome you to country. I ask for the opportunity to share some understanding.
The business of literacy is of keen interest to Aboriginal people. To succeed in the Australia that was launched upon us in 1770, we must close the gap in outcomes that persists between Aboriginal and other Australian students. The new COAG Indigenous Reform Agenda recognises this as core business. But we must also shift ourselves from the assumption that this gap occurs due to some sort of deficit on the part of Aboriginal people.
To close the gap in Aboriginal literacy we must go beyond being culturally appropriate. We must question our inclusivity and therefore our own competency as educators.
2. I would like to suggest that the main thing holding back Aboriginal success in literacy is the appalling state of cultural literacy in our education system.
Many Australians are familiar with the desert art of Rover Thomas. But few recognise these as more than aesthetic works.
This painting is called Willy Willy. It is part of a story of ecological management that Australian scientists have only just begun to appreciate in the last few decades and that land managers still resist. I would like to suggest that the main thing holding back Aboriginal success in literacy is the appalling state of cultural literacy in our education system.
Many Australians are familiar with the desert art of Rover Thomas. But few recognise these as more than aesthetic works.
This painting is called Willy Willy. It is part of a story of ecological management that Australian scientists have only just begun to appreciate in the last few decades and that land managers still resist.
3. It is a story about seasonal burning. It is a window into the intimate knowledge embedded in Aboriginal culture about the complex relationships between vegetation, climate and fire behaviour. More than that it is about sustainable living in the Australian landscape.
It is a story about seasonal burning. It is a window into the intimate knowledge embedded in Aboriginal culture about the complex relationships between vegetation, climate and fire behaviour. More than that it is about sustainable living in the Australian landscape.
4. When the British arrived in Tasmania, they knew that the place was inhabited by Aboriginal people. They saw them and when the felt threatened by their lack of familiarity with Indigenous culture they began killing them.
This was the tipping point. This is where the systems cultural illiteracy became embedded.When the British arrived in Tasmania, they knew that the place was inhabited by Aboriginal people. They saw them and when the felt threatened by their lack of familiarity with Indigenous culture they began killing them.
This was the tipping point. This is where the systems cultural illiteracy became embedded.
5. The sublime vistas that surveyors like Calder encountered in the south west of Tasmania were perceived as pristine wilderness untouched by human hand.The sublime vistas that surveyors like Calder encountered in the south west of Tasmania were perceived as pristine wilderness untouched by human hand.
6. But very same ecologies that were discovered in the more accessible midlands were immediately understood as suitable for pasture.
Of course, this is exactly what these areas were.But very same ecologies that were discovered in the more accessible midlands were immediately understood as suitable for pasture.
Of course, this is exactly what these areas were.
7. They had been farmed with the use of fire for two thousand generations by men like this my ancestor ManalagenaThey had been farmed with the use of fire for two thousand generations by men like this my ancestor Manalagena
8. There are some consequences of cultural illiteracy in Australia.
The Orange Bellied Parrot thrives on buttongrass plains that have been patch burned by Aboriginal people.
The cessation of this burning results in an overabundance of mature buttongrass. The result is that this parrot becomes one of the worlds rarest birds perhaps as few as 100 are left in existence.There are some consequences of cultural illiteracy in Australia.
The Orange Bellied Parrot thrives on buttongrass plains that have been patch burned by Aboriginal people.
The cessation of this burning results in an overabundance of mature buttongrass. The result is that this parrot becomes one of the worlds rarest birds perhaps as few as 100 are left in existence.
9. Fire management and species extinction are just a sample of the consequences of cultural illiteracy in Australia.
And these consequences can be largely traced back to a profound act of incompetence by the invading British.
This act was to assume that their cosmos was of exclusive value and any non-conformities that were encountered were a kind of chaos that was anathema to the British Empires progress.
Fire management and species extinction are just a sample of the consequences of cultural illiteracy in Australia.
And these consequences can be largely traced back to a profound act of incompetence by the invading British.
This act was to assume that their cosmos was of exclusive value and any non-conformities that were encountered were a kind of chaos that was anathema to the British Empires progress.
10. In Tasmania, the British project was relatively simple. Aborigines and their chaotic way of life would be removed.In Tasmania, the British project was relatively simple. Aborigines and their chaotic way of life would be removed.
11. To make the land available for improvementTo make the land available for improvement
12. The tribes of Tasmanians were devastated by the Black War. This involved eight years of martial law, where armed roving parties led by colonial heroes like John Batman, were empowered to shoot Aboriginal people on sight.The tribes of Tasmanians were devastated by the Black War. This involved eight years of martial law, where armed roving parties led by colonial heroes like John Batman, were empowered to shoot Aboriginal people on sight.
13. The survivors were imprisoned at Wybalenna on Flinders Island and at Oyster Cove until their death.The survivors were imprisoned at Wybalenna on Flinders Island and at Oyster Cove until their death.
14. This is the sad history of the birth of the Tasmania that most of us are familiar with but too few of us know about.This is the sad history of the birth of the Tasmania that most of us are familiar with but too few of us know about.
15. And this is our greatest liability in attempting to apprehend the educational needs of Aboriginal children today.And this is our greatest liability in attempting to apprehend the educational needs of Aboriginal children today.
16. Understanding other cultures has two notable benefits:
it multiplies our access to practices, ideas, and people that can make positive contributions to our own society; and
it helps us understand ourselves more deeply.
By understanding a range of alternatives, we become aware of our own implicit beliefs beliefs so deeply imbedded that we routinely take them for granted.
(Stigler, Gallimore and Hiebert, 2000).
So I ask that during the course of this conference, all of you preserve a small space in your interrogation of the speakers and presentations.
I ask that all of you consider how little you might know about alternative histories, alternative ecologies, alternative pedagogies.So I ask that during the course of this conference, all of you preserve a small space in your interrogation of the speakers and presentations.
I ask that all of you consider how little you might know about alternative histories, alternative ecologies, alternative pedagogies.
17. To find ones place in the world, the world must be a cosmos.
In a chaos there is no place.
Max Scheler
And I invite you to take advantage of the freedom that is available to all of you buy making it a priority to discover that in the apparent chaos of our ignorance and misunderstanding, there is richness and opportunity.
And I invite you to take advantage of the freedom that is available to all of you buy making it a priority to discover that in the apparent chaos of our ignorance and misunderstanding, there is richness and opportunity.
18. I would like to acknowledge the original owners of this land, the Mouheneener and Moomairemener people, and welcome you to Niberlnna, the land you are meeting on today.
Waranta taypani krakani milaythina nika-tu. Kani mapali kani myri waranta kani rrala rrala. Pakana mana mapali Palawa mana mapali, pakuna luwuna, pakani pliri. Nara-mapali ningina tunapri ningina tunapri.
(We come and sit here to talk with respect - for our culture and our all the mobs in our community. Most of all, we come for our children and for their education.)I would like to acknowledge the original owners of this land, the Mouheneener and Moomairemener people, and welcome you to Niberlnna, the land you are meeting on today.
Waranta taypani krakani milaythina nika-tu. Kani mapali kani myri waranta kani rrala rrala. Pakana mana mapali Palawa mana mapali, pakuna luwuna, pakani pliri. Nara-mapali ningina tunapri ningina tunapri.
(We come and sit here to talk with respect - for our culture and our all the mobs in our community. Most of all, we come for our children and for their education.)
