The purpose of this paper is to examine the discourse of Aboriginal reviewers to discover what they regard as important ideas to be resisted and contested. By means of documentary analysis of their book reviews this paper brings into focus the language which legitimises action against Aborigines. It is argued that disabling prejudice in print serves broader social functions, particularly the justification for the status devaluation of Aboriginal Australians. However, there is room for optimism in the realisation that Aborigines are gaining the skill to engage in ideology critique, and the emergence of socially critical literature. Throughout this paper teachers and librarians will find criteria for selecting books for (rather than against) Aborigines, while the appendices list resources according to the recommendations of Aboriginal reviewers.

There is no more promising way of increasing the closeness of subcultural groups to their own roots and culture “than by cherishing and nourishing the speech of the home and the neighbourhood and by helping it to find the kind of expression in story, poem, play, which can communicate the spirit of the subculture to a multicultural audience.”

In this paper we wish to examine some of the issues raised by the situation in a Bilingual program when the children transfer from literacy in the vernacular to literacy in English, and to outline what we consider to be some of the reasons for the success of the Lajamanu program in this area.

Theoretically, the virtue of education for children in their first language first is that they develop a surer grasp of new concepts and skills taught and greater confidence in using them. It follows that, if children can read and write confidently in their first language and they have a sufficient knowledge of a second language, they will learn to read and write in the second language quickly and without undue effort on their part.

This paper utilizes observations and statistics from the case histories from Banyan House, a residential drug treatment program, in an attempt to expose the differences between the myths held as facts by the public and the real parameters and causes of the development of substance abuse by the individual. It includes a description of the treatment approach as it arises out of the perceived development of a substance abusing young adult. It brings to focus the family and parenting situations which appear to be precursors of substance abuse and suggests the possibility of identifying “high risk” individuals prior to the onset of substance abuse. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of the community accepting responsibility to find ways of providing help to parents and their children.

In 1985 there was a Combined Associations Conference held in Darwin. As part of that conference Ann Harrison (a TESL lecturer at Darwin Institute of Technology) and I prepared a workshop to explore some issues concerned with Aboriginal children learning to write in English when it is not their mother tongue. In that workshop we looked at samples of Northern Territory Aboriginal children’s writing in English to consider:

The La Grange Aboriginal Language Program grew out of a strongly expressed need at our first school council meeting earlier this year [1985]. The Bidyadanga Community Aboriginal Council Chairman, Mr Jack Mulardy, and Vice-Chairman, Mr John Dodo, wanted an Aboriginal language program for some time, as they are very concerned that their people’s language will be forgotten.

Kids love computers. Computers are not seen as work but rather, games.

I believe this to be true for most children. The exception would be the young computer buffs who become hooked on computer technology, and even for these computer buffs, it is probably still a game.

Computer technology has become a fact of everyday life. We‘re all affected by computer technology. With this in mind, I believe it is essential that all children become familiar with computers, with regular ‘hands on’ experience. With the right selection of software, schools can incorporate computer-assisted learning across the curriculum. The experiences children have now with computers can lead to a variety of job opportunities in future years.

I was somewhat surprised and disappointed to learn last month that a Year 9 Aboriginal student, whom I have taught since he arrived at high school last year, had broken into the Home Economics section of his local primary school and embarked on a spree of damage and destruction. What could have possessed this lad who can be friendly, helpful and positively trouble free for much of the time at school, to follow such a course of seemingly unprovoked and senseless action. My school, Murgon State High School, frequently plays host to delinquent behaviour by both Aboriginal and European descent students. In the past 16 months I have been physically threatened, sworn at and deliberately disobeyed. Fortunately for my self-respect’s sake, I have not been alone in receiving this tirade of abuse and disrespect. We have 120 Aborigines in a school of 480, and delinquent behaviour is not peculiar to either group.

Amongst all populations there is a normal distribution of physical and mental characteristics. It follows then that in the Aboriginal population there will be the same proportion of children who vary from the intellectual norm as in any other surveyed group. For educators one such cohort which is often ignored is that which we might like to call the intellectually gifted or, individually, the gifted child.

Many of today’s Aborigines, when placed in the Western educational environment, are faced with a range of psychological problems. This is partly because the education system is based on Western traditions and culture which, knowingly or unknowingly, tends to ignore almost completely Aboriginal culture and traditions.

For teachers to develop strategies that will help themselves and their students in the class room, attention must be focused on situations that have contributed to the Aborigines’ low psychological appreciations of Western education.

The Aboriginal and Islander Teacher Education Program (AITEP) is an affirmative action program offering entry to teacher education courses at James Cook University to Aboriginal and Islander students who do not meet direct entry requirements. The program operates with a ‘stretched’ first year. First year subjects in the regular teacher education courses are spread over three semesters instead of two, and students are required to undertake additional subjects - Study Skills and Oral Communications, Written Communications, and Introductory Mathematics during that 18 months. This paper began as a personal exploration into the way in which the teaching of writing within these additional subjects had developed and to provide a greater understanding of the process of teaching writing.

Since the mid 1970s (cf. Mulvaney 1976, p.74) there has been a rapid expansion in the study of Aboriginal material culture which has led to modification of ideas relating to the interpretation of this culture. It is therefore most important that current data sources and interpretations are used by teachers. In response to the comments and opinion of persons not particularly conversant with the field, one is forced to conclude that there are many misconceptions held by our society in general concerning traditional Aboriginal culture.

The purpose of this paper is to dispel some of these subjectively based impressions so that any materials, examples or ideas which are drawn from the area of Aboriginal studies are presented in an accurate context.