Heads up, eyes on me. There's been a lot of ongoing frippery about the decisions made by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority; decisions as to what to include in the national curriculum,
across some key learning areas in recent years. Most would agree that one of the cross-curriculum priorities of including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isander: Histories and Cultures, is an important one, if we are ever going to address some of the inequities faced by those in these communities.
Today, I pondered 'country and place' with those at the chalk-face, while
addressing the belief that, 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place throughout all of Australia'.
We looked at all sorts of stuff, including flashbacks to Midnight Oil singing Beds are Burning for the people of the Gibson Desert region, Yothu Yindi singing Treaty (Filthy Lucre Re-Mix) conceived after 1988's marking of 200 years of white settlement or invasion,(call it what you may) and lastly heard the astonishing sound of Gurrumul's vocals and guitar .
Do you have a special place? How important has 'place' ever been to you?
Why?
Is it somewhere from your childhood?
The house you grew up in?
A seat, with a view to a favourite collection of things?
A nook where hydrangeas grow.
Or maybe, your fuchsias?
Or a just a certain room.
Or where the sun sets over the water, in the West?
Where is your 'place'?
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