The influence that television exerts on audiences, especially children, is a matter for much debate. Films have been given less consideration as a matter for concern, no doubt because they are less ubiquitous and less accessible than television. However, in an isolated traditionally oriented Aboriginal community, films, in both the large screen and the newer video format, provide the single major source of entertainment and information on the larger European society. It is possible, in the absence of other forms of sustained contact with European society, that its influence can provide children with inappropriate and culturally dysfunctional models for behaviour.

From observations at a particular isolated community, films appear to influence people’s ideas about the outside world and their attitudes and behaviours in certain situations. This influence is particularly noticeable in the attitudes, language and behaviours evidenced by children. It is often possible to tell what film has lately been shown in camp simply by observing the children at play. The greater the impact a film has made in terms of ‘action’ and excitement, the greater the length of time will aspects of that film be incorporated into play situations. Children are excellent imitators and it is common for specific phrases from films to be used in children’s games long after the film has been shown.

The imitation of language, situations and attitudes portrayed in films is, however, not confined to play situations. For example, in the isolated community with which I am most familiar, a month ago two young men ‘bailed up’ a visiting European contractor and stole his motor vehicle. The circumstances of the theft, bag over the head to disguise identity, flashlight directed into the eyes to dazzle – as well as the language and attitude of the two men, paralleled an episode witnessed in a film three nights previously. The relation between film and incident was so well recognised at camp that the incident itself became a popular piay-scene for children : “Give me the keys or I’ll blow your head off.”

(In Buenos Aires a new curriculum model has been adopted in which reading is seen as a small part of a child’s total schooling.)

In 1975, the Ministry of Education of Buenos Aires Province started an experimental project to change the whole curriculum of the Primary School. In December 1980, the new curriculum for the first cycle of the Elementary School was approved as the result of these five years of experimental work.

Australian Race Relations is a new Group Two Year 12 subject recently accredited by the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education for teaching in 1984.

Such a course is long overdue. It is necessary that all Australians understand the attitudes of the conquerors and the consequences of the manner in which this country was taken. Only then can Aboriginal land rights and other claims for compensation be properly appreciated.

These descriptions of Outstation Schools were produced during a training course for senior Aboriginal teaching staff from Aboriginal schools which was held at Bathurst Island in early August, 1982. A major aim of the training course was to assist Aboriginal assistant teachers to encourage and develop children’s writing skills. As a means of achieving this all participants spent a significant portion of each day writing. The Aboriginal Child at School has published the article on Outstation Schools at Yirrkala previously, but it is thought appropriate that it appear in context here.

Since 1980 the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education has implemented a new style of program for the Higher School Certificate course. Australian history is a Group 1 subject within this restructured program.

Australian history, according to most literature, is only two hundred years old. In teaching Australian history some teachers have ‘done’ the Aborigines by studying a traditional precontact history. Teachers may have even allocated a whole week to such a program, relying mainly on resource material available on northern or desert peoples. There has been virtually no work done on Victorian Aborigines and very little done on both contemporary and contact history in relation to the traditional history. There is now an option open to teachers to teach Aboriginal history as the HSC core subject, “Aborigional society before European settlement” and “European settlement and the effects on Aboriginal society”, or as the option subject, “Aborigines in the twentieth century”. This has placed an increased demand on the services offered by Aboriginal Education Services. A number of teachers are electing to teach either all three units or a combination of the units. The problem then arises that teachers themselves often have information which is limited, inaccurate and irrelevant.

The archetypal image of an Aborigine standing on one leg on the edge of a precipice, peering out across the horizon, holding a spear and wearing a red ‘nappy’, is often the only picture that the schooling system has presented of an Aboriginal. It is no wonder then that electing to teach even one of the units offered suggests a dramatic redirection of thought. Not only does traditional resource material require revision, but an Aboriginal perspective is essential. This perspective will then validate Australian history.

During 1973 the outstation movement at Yirrkala was going in full force. Aboriginal people were moving from Yirrkala to start up their own communities consisting of numbers of their own clan.

During that time Aboriginal people asked many questions about school. So in 1975 the outstation schools were established and were serviced by two visiting teachers from the central school.

The names of the communities and the clans that established their outstations in terms of houses and school are these:

Garrthalala (Djapu); Gurrumuru (Dhalwayu); Gangan (Dhalwayu); Baniyala (Madampa).

Since the above places got established and had a school going the communities listed below got started and are presently operating.

Dhalinybuy (Wangurri); Wandawuy (Djapu); and Bawaka (Gumatj) talking about starting a school; Biranybirany (Gumatj) talking about starting a school.

I’m Moses Mangiru and I’m called Liaison Teacher at Oenpelli. I visit five Home Land Centre Schools. There are about five outstation schools operating.

I need to explain that there are two kinds of staff working for outstation schools. The first kind are Aboriginal assistant teachers who live there and teach every day. The other kind are teachers like myself who live in the central community and visit the outstations about once a fortnight. During the first semester I could hardly visit any of the schools either by road or air. During the first period of the wet season it was very hard because all the roads were closed. The only flight we could use was to share the store and cheque flight to make it a lot cheaper for the Department of Education.

The outstations schools need two or three outstation teachers. Two to go out and visit and one to stay back at the central school to print booklets and make other aids that the teachers need at their schools.

I believe that in the first semester there have not been enough visits. I feel that one of the outstation schools will collapse because they feel that there was not enough visiting from Oenpelli. One of the Oenpelli assistant teacher positions has been moved to Jabiru. This position was at Manmoyi, which is one of our biggest outstations. Children from Manmoyi have moved to the central school at Oenpelli. If there was enough help from visiting teachers for Manmoyi the parents would rather keep their children at Manmoyi than send them to Oenpelli. They only sent them to Oenpelli because there was not enough help for Manmoyi.

Maningrida is in coastal Amhemland, and it is two hundred miles east of Darwin. Maningrida is an Aboriginal settlement. There are two hundred people living at the settlement now, because some Aboriginal people have moved into outstations.

There are one hundred children going to school at the settlement now. In school we have eight classes, and each class has one balanda teacher and one Aboriginal teacher. We have two pre-schools. One is a Kunividji class, the other one is for Aboriginal children who don’t speak Kunividji, and the white children go there too.

Well, we have three Kunividji classes altogether. Pre-school, transition and year one. There are four Aboriginal teachers teaching in Aboriginal languages. One class is where Nancy Gununwanga, an Aboriginal teacher and Brett Westblade, a balanda teacher, both teach in Kunividji. Laurie Magaldagi and Mellanie Mamariyi and myself, we three Aboriginal teachers, teach with little children from preschool and infants. We three Aboriginal girls are working together with Peter Jones. He is a balanda teacher. Nancy Gununwanga takes her own class, 11 or 12 year olds.

We also have two other Aboriginal girls working with the linguist, Kim Djibama and Lena Djabiba. They take a tape and record the children’s stories about what they had been doing during the holidays and weekends. After each class has been recorded, they listen to the tape and then write the story down. Later they print it in a book, and it is used for children to read, or sometimes they go around the camp and sit with old people and get a story from them about olden times of their life.