Mollie Wood: S00153633

Social Issue: The respect and awareness of Indigenous Australians

Global Aboriginal Australians are not the only indigenous people that continue to
relevance be affected by settlement, the United Nations (2016) state that “living
across 90 countries there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in
the world, which account for 15% of the world’s poorest people”.
Indigenous people across the world are faced by several issues, including
human rights issues, limited education and lack of economic and social
development. Many of these issues may have stemmed from a lack of
awareness, respect and appreciation of their culture and historical and
present significance.
National There are issues circling throughout the current national news in regards to
relevance the lack of equality, respect and awareness for Aboriginal Australians.
Indigenous Australian Football League players Adam Goodes and Eddy Betts
have recently been targeted in racially motivated attacks by members of
the Australian public, which has highlighted a lack of respect for
indigenous Australians. 

Another national issue that is prevalent is the difference in the quality of
lives between the Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The
Department of Families (2009) Have stated that “despite the formal
recognition of equality so many years ago, Indigenous people remain
among the most disadvantaged Australians” and without a foundation of
respect for the indigenous Australians, the inequality will remain. The
Department of Families (2009) has cited recent research by Reconciliation
Australia, that showed Australians are beginning to form a strong desire to
better understand Indigenous cultures, which is significant step in
addressing the prevalent social issue.

Relevance to The community of which the Primary School stands was once owned and
the local occupied by indigenous Australians. Whether indigenous Australians still
community live there or not, cultural and historical significance still remains. Naylor
(2014) suggested that there should be a focus on the importance of the
student and their relationship with the community, thus by preserving
Indigenous culture through respect and awareness, the students of the
local community will be able to foster a relationship with the indigenous
aspects of their community. Reynolds (2014) states that students in levels
three and four are encouraged to find out more about their local
community and how the history fits in with the history of the wider
world,thus the importance of preserving the indigenous significance of the
land should be highly valued by students and the wider community.

2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians:
This task required me to consider the social issue ‘The respect and awareness of Indigenous Australians’ on a
global, national and local level in addition to the relevance to learning of the humanities in primary schools. As a
result I conducted thorough research into the history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples,
and thus gained a wealth of understanding, knowledge and respect.
 Mollie Wood: S00153633

Relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures is a cross-
learning of curricular priority throughout the Victorian and Australian curriculum. An
Humanities in importance on all Victorian teachers and students to engage respectfully
primary and feel connected to the indigenous identity of Australia (VCAA) is
schools
prominent throughout the curriculum and is a focus within the humanities;
thus the respect and awareness of Indigenous Australians is highly relevant
within primary schools.
Victorian History / Levels 3 and 4 / Historical Concepts and Skills / Historical
curriculum significance
!Content description
!Describe the significance of Australian celebrations, symbols and emblems
!Relevant elaborations
assessment and reporting: !
2.3 Curriculum,

I created the three •generating questions about the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples, and the nature of contact in early Australia
activities alongside the
VCAA. I used my
!
•posing questions about explorers, for example, 'Who were they? 'Where
knowledge of the cross- were they from?' 'Where did they go?' 'What did they do?'
curriculum priority of !
‘Learning about Aboriginal •identifying the meaning of celebrations from different perspectives, for
and Torres Strait Islander example, Australia Day for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
histories and cultures’, in compared with other cultural groups

addition to the ‘Historical 

Concepts, skills and History / Levels 3 and 4 / Historical Knowledge / First contacts

Knowledge’ domains to 

Content description
create these lessons.
!The diversity and longevity of Australia’s first peoples and the significant
ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are connected to
Country and Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the effects on
their daily lives



Relevant elaborations



•mapping the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language
groups in Australia, with particular emphasis on the local area and state/
territory

!•investigating pre-contact ways of life of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders people, their knowledge of their environment including land
management practices, their sense of the interconnectedness of Country/
Place, people, culture and identity, and some of their principles, such as
caring for country, caring for each other and respecting all things


2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians:
The following three activities that I created promote the reconciliation between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians by equipping the students with the knowledge of the first interactions between
British colonisers and Indigenous Australians and the cause and effects of colonisation, the understanding
and respect of the original custodians of the land of which they live and an appreciation of their culture
including traditional artworks and languages.
Mollie Wood: S00153633

Activity one:
 After participating in a lesson on the first Resources:



 interactions between British colonisers and 

The cause and Indigenous Australians and the cause and effects Appendix one:
effects of the of the colonisation, the students are to use the Retrieved from
colonisation flow chart on appendix one to organise their Catherine Hart (n.d);
thoughts and newly acquired knowledge. 
 Innovative Learning
The students are then to use the completed ‘cause Group (1995)
and effects chart’ to consider the following
question in order to infer what it may have been
like during the colonisation. 



Q. What may have the Indigenous Australians been
thinking and feeling when they first saw the
British colonisers boats on the horizon?




Activity two:
 The students are to conduct an inquiry Resources:



 investigation into the original owners of the land http://
Inquiry into of which they live. They are to use the template generationone.org.au/
the original provided on appendix two to discover why, when uploads/assets/
custodians of WelcomeToCountry.pd
the land and how they acknowledge the original owners of f

the land. 
 

They are then to practice ‘Welcome to Country’ Local council website

acknowledgment, which could then be included 

within the class’s morning routine. Appendix two

Activity three:
 The students are to use the webpage provided to Resources:


 research traditional aboriginal art symbols. They 

Traditional are to choose one of the artworks and use the http://
aboriginal art www.japingka.com.au
symbols description and their own senses to complete the /articles/aboriginal-
‘Colour, Symbol, Image’ chart provided on art-symbols/

appendix three. This activity will provided the 

opportunity for the students to learn about the Appendix three:

ways in which Indigenous Australians used to CSI chart, retrieved
from Catherine Hart
communicate, as well as allow the opportunity for (n.d)
them to interpret and make meaning of traditional
art works.


 S2.6 ICT:

 Activity two and three both require the students to use ICT to complete the

 tasks. Activity two requires students to conduct an inquiry investigation into

 the original owners of the land of which they live. I provided a suggestion for

 them to use their local council website to find this information, however they

 were able to use their ICT and inquiry knowledge and skills to source the

 answers from anywhere on the web. Activity three required the students to use

 the specific website provided to complete the task.