Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2015
A number of issues critical to Aboriginal Studies Courses are extrapolated from the literature. These issues are expressed as questions important for evaluators of Aboriginal Studies Courses to ask. They may also be seen as guidelines for the construction of Aboriginal Studies Courses. In conclusion, a summary of the developed guidelines is presented.
The Commission of Inquiry into Poverty (1975:183) reported of Aborigines and Islanders:
…they stand in stark contrast to the general Australian society, and also to other ethnic groups whether defined on the basis of race, nationality, birthplace, language or religion. They probably have the highest death rate, the worst legal status of any identifiable section of the Australian population.
The National Aboriginal Education Committee (1980:4) notes that the Australian Schools Commission Report (1975) adds that they also have the least schooling. With this in mind the NAEC, in its policy statement on Aboriginal Education (1980:3), says:
Since 1788 the Aborigines of Australia have been subjected in varying degrees to an authoritarian system which has rationalised their dispossession from the land, and deprecated their cultures. This dispossession forced indigenous people from their land and from the source of their own rich cultural background and uniqueness.