Blak History Month 2012

It's been pretty quiet here on The Critical Classroom front for July. We did get our first 2012 E-News finished and sent out*. But we've been pretty much consumed with getting the 2012 Blak History Month fact sheets completed. 

You can download your own copies of 31 Great Moments in Blakhistory from the Blak History Month Facebook page. I'll update our Blak History Month for Teachers website when I have some free time.

*If you would like to download a copy, you'll find it here. You can subscribe to upcoming monthly E-News by subscribing here.

ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective - online resources

I posted recently three conceptualisations of ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective. This post provides a number of useful online resources based on these ideas.

The War of Colonisation
The war of colonisation has not been recognised as a "war" despite the devastation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and cultures.

Some useful resources: 

• National Gallery of Australia: Aboriginal Memorial exhibition which recognises all thoseAboriginal people who have lost their lives since 1788. http://nga.gov.au/AboriginalMemorial/home.cfm
• A chilling read is a list of massacres of Indigenous Australians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
• The Myall Creek Massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myall_Creek_massacre
• Tracker: ANZAC Day march labelled as disrespectful  http://tracker.org.au/2012/04/anzac-day-marched-labeled-disrespectful/
• Tracker: Invasion debate: Was Australia settled peacefully?  http://tracker.org.au/2011/08/the-invasion-debate-was-australia-invaded-or-peacefully-settled/

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were diggers too
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have given their lives in every official military operation since Federation.

Some useful resources:

• Story of quest for a local Aboriginal War Memorial (Adelaide) http://city-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/no-sign-of-aboriginal-memorial/
• The Australian War Memorial: Too Dark for the lighthorse: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the defence forces http://www.awm.gov.au/education/resources/box/3/
• Australian War Memorial: Reginald Saunders, the first Aboriginal person to be given a commissioned rank. http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/aborigines/indigenous.asp
• The Australian War Memorial: "One ilan man": the Torres Strait Light Infantry http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/12/ilan-man
• Tracker: Aboriginal War Veteran on memorial on Bondi memorial  http://tracker.org.au/2011/11/aboriginal-war-veteran-featured-on-bondi-memorial/
• Tracker: Renewed calls for an Aboriginal veterans memorial in Sydney  http://tracker.org.au/2011/05/renewed-calls-for-an-aboriginal-veterans-memorial-in-sydney/
• ABC: A light is shone on Aboriginal soldiers'service. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-10-29/a-light-is-shone-on-aboriginal-soldiers-service/2316108

Social Media resources

• Facebook: Mark of respect for Indigenous Australians. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-of-respect-for-indigenous-Australian-soldiers/159267687432284

Leesa Watego

Top ten Indigenous resources for business studies

There has been a lot of emphasis over the last decade on the creation of vocational and educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and rightly so. Emphasis on inspiring and increasing access to career opportunities definitely plays a part in redressing inequity. Programmes to date have tended to focus on increasimg Indigenous students participation in apprenticeships & trades, ín sport, in education, health, the arts and law.

One area that is not discussed at great length as an option for Indigenous students is business and commerce. This may be as as a result of few visible Indigenous role models in the business arena. Lucky for young people today however, there are quite a few business role models out there.

Here are our top ten (so far) -

1) Aboriginal Business Magazine is published by Willmett Group in Brisbane. Coming out each month, it is a very reasonably price, well designed publication featuring a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in business.

2) Indigenous Business Council of Australia (IBCA) is a national body seeking to represent the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in business.

3) Mandurah Hunter Indigenous Chamber was the first Australian Indigenous chamber of commerce. It supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business people in the Hunter region.

5) South East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce was established five years ago to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business people in South East Queensland.

6) Victorian Indigenous Business Directory by the Koori Business Network is a directory of over 100 businesses and organisations in Victoria.

7) Yulkuum Jerrang, Victorian Indigenous Economic Development Conference is a major annual conference held in Melbourne each year for the past three years. Speakers and participants from all around Australia attend.

8) Kinaway Victorian Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce is an active chamber of commerce based in Victoria.

9) Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining, Exploration and Energy Ltd (AEMEE) is a not-for-profit organisations created to support Indigenous businesses in mining and allied industries.

10) Inguides is an independent classifieds and directory created by Cairns based media company Blackvine Media for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, organisations and events.

I look forward to writing a second top ten list of business resources and organisations over the next month.

Leesa Watego

Keeping track of The Critical Classroom

Just a quick update: 

I've just recently created a Facebook Page for The Critical Classroom. I'm finding it's an easy way to share the incidental articles and links that I come across during an ordinary day.

I'm very conscious though that not everyone is a fan of Facebook, so I've created a The Critical Classroom tag on my Delicious account where I'll post the same links (along with my editorial in the comment section).

The Delicious account won't have everything though - links to internal FB pages will probably not work. But if you're not into Facebook, yet don't want to miss out on additional ideas and resources, bookmark or subscribe to this link - http://www.delicious.com/lwatego/thecriticalclassroom

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks, Leesa

Update: Delicious.com have recently updated (it was a service originally owned by Yahoo but was sold). The Delicious folks have created a new feature called Stacks. I've created a The Critical Classroom Stack for readers. 

2011 NAIDOC Poster is available to order

The 2011 NAIDOC Poster is available from www.naidoc.org.au.

The poster was created by Matthew Humphries and is titled Road to Change.

Description of work: A First Australian family link hands as they step out on the road to change – proud of who they are, encouraged by what has already been achieved and united in their goal to be changemakers for a bright new future.

You can order copies of the poster from the National NAIDOC organisation at http://www.naidoc.org.au/naidoc-poster/order/

You can see the 2010 NAIDOC poster here.

Want to celebrate for more than a week? Why not celebrate for a whole month!

Blak History Month is a grassroots movement that is celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, people and communities for the whole month of July. You can order a Blak History Month poster created by Sam Cook from Kiss My Blak Arts from the online store, RedBubble, and you can download free resources from my Blak History Month for Teachers website.


Leesa Watego

You're deadly, I'm deadly. We're all deadly.

I've written before about the 'You're deadly' poster I created a while back.

I have created another poster using Glogster. It's fairly simple as it's the first one I've ever created. I'm sure I'll get better as I do more.

February 2012 Update:

The Glogster link has failed. I'm reposting my original poster. You can download it from Flickr

Leesa Watego

Thinking the 26th of January

For many people the 26th of January is a day of celebration, while for others, it is a day of sorrow or mourning. We have created a series of lessons designed to assist teachers to create activities that are inclusive and respects the beliefs of their students. The document is created as a Google Doc and is accessible via this link.

You will need this Google Presentation - Stimulus Texts for the 26th of January. I will be adding to this presentation over time.




More posts on this topic:

•  Time to celebrate what's great?
• 26/01 What will you teach on Australia Day?
• Australia Day: Part 2

Any difficulties downloading, contact me: lwatego [ @ ] gmail.com

Deadly Ways - Democracy & Politics

Here is the first of the Deadly Ways presentations. It currently sits at 5 Deadly Ways to Explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of democracy, politics and civics in your classroom, but will definitely grow in the coming months.

I did want to note that Annabel Crabb, political commentator and journalist, made an important point on the 1st day of the opening of the 43rd Parliament. On the Drum on the ABC, her and Chris Uhlman were discussing the recent changes to the opening procedures where from now on a Welcome to Country would happen and also changes to the Standing Orders which now instruct the speaker at the start of every sitting of Parliament an Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners must happen. Annabel Crabb while noting that this was a significant step forward, it was still a 'step' that was 'given' by the Parliament (and one that could be taken away).

Free Resources from the Sydney Morning Herald

Popped into Our Lady of Mount Carmel school yesterday at Waterloo, Sydney and spied Part 1 of the Indigenous Australians Educational supplement from the Sydney Morning Herald. Looked pretty deadly too.

The Sydney Morning Herald have also provided a number of online resources for teachers. Click here to access them.

Have contacted SMH to see if they'll be digitising the supplements and making them available online for teachers in the future. Will let you know what happens.

Vernon Ah Kee - Education Resource

This teacher's education resource was produced by the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane to accompany the touring visual arts exhibition, cantchant by Aboriginal artist Vernon Ah Kee.

cantchant was also part of the Once Removed exhibition at the Venice Bienale in 2009.

You can download a copy of the teacher's education resource here.

Easter craft

Here are a couple of things we created using the Easter is Deadly book. The first is a little craft easter gift for someone special. Annie made one for her friend Shanae. The second is a sponge painting of Jaragun's nest. We use enlarged photoccopies to add in Jaragun and some eggs.



(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 03/25/2010)

Jaragun's Country - A slideshow!

Can't get to Idinji Country to see Jaragun's Nest? Here are some photos for your to explore when thinking and teaching about Easter is Deadly. You can also grab the link to post it into your own blog/wiki.




(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 03/25/2010)

Google Map of Jaragun's Nest (Walsh's Pyramid)

View Jaragun's Nest in a larger map

Would like to embed this image into your classroom blog? Click here for the link.

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on 03/24/10)

You're Deadly!

Here is the "Too Deadly" poster for the Easter & Christmas books (and probably many of the books we'll publish in the future). It was actually quite difficult to create this poster, not because it is a feat of design wonder, but because I was confused about how to define "deadly".

Deadly is all of the things in the poster - smart, knowing, solid, excellend, cool, great, fantastic. But its more than that. "Deadly" is an English language word that has been appropriated by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in many parts of the continent. Many communities and individuals feel an absolute sense of ownership over the word deadly.

Here is an article about the term by Troy Vinson. If you're unfamiliar with the term, try googling "deadly" & "Aboriginal". Have a look at the way the term is used. 

Grab the poster from flickr here.

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 03/19/2010)

Easter is deadly - Timeline (Free!)

Have just uploaded a timeline with 2010 dates for the Easter celebration for Easter is Deadly.

You can use this one-page A4 sheet (either black & white or coloured).

Don't forget - you can embed these documents into your own class wiki or blog using the code next to the slides on slideshare.

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on  03/02/2010)

Special Days Calendar - March events now added

New Events added for Feb/March -
24 February 2010 - Putsch by proppaNOW Aboriginal Artist's Collective

Their first group exhibition outside of Queensland and as part of the Adelaide Festival, Putsch opened on February 24th 2010 at Tandanya Cultural Centre.

16 March 1995 - The High Court decides against Western Australia's constitutional challenge to the Commonwealth Native Title Act in Western Australia v Commonwealth [1995]

The Native Title Tribunal provides a range of resources about Native Title Law, determinations and issues.

20 March 1969 - The Aboriginal Welfare Board abolished

This website contains detailed history of Aboriginal affairs in New South Wales.

22nd March 2003 - Linda Burney, first Aboriginal woman elected to New South Wales State Parliament.

Linda Burney was elected on the 22nd March 2003, and has since been promoted to various ministerial positions.

28th March 1922 - Neville Bonner, the first Aboriginal person elected to Federal Parliament is born

Neville Bonner was born on Ukerabagh Island on the Tweed River. He was elected to the Senate in 1971. He passed away in 1999.

29 March 1984 - Charles Perkins is appointed Head of the Federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs


29 March 1995 - ATSIC (Indigenous Land Funds) Amendement Act passed.

This amendment created the Indigenous Land Corporation.

30 March 1962 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Qld, NT and NSW are given the right to vote at Federal elections.

The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 (Cth) denied Aboriginal people the right to vote unless they were covered under s41 (allows for those who are already enrolled in State electoral rolls). The Commonwealth Electoral Act was amended in 1962 to allow Aboriginal people to vote if they wished (though it was not compulsory).

NB: This is a Google Calendar that we've created as a public calendar. We're uploading events month-by-month. If you know of any other events that we don't have and you would like to include, please send us an email. You can embed this calendar into your own website/blog by clicking here:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=c0uruhv7tm38vof0n2ib73jta0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Australia/Brisbane

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 03/02/2010)

Q- Cursive - Queensland's Official Font

If you're still a pre-service teacher and are unable to spend extra dollars getting the school fonts, you can download the Q-Cursive style (which is Queensland's official font) from the Education Queensland website.

The font saved to my "fonts" on my computer. But since I use Google Docs right now (which has set fonts), I can tell if its usable in Microsoft Word. I created the above sentence in Q-Cursive Editor which is also available when you download the .zip file.

Thanks EQ for this resource. I'm pretty sure not alot of pre-service teachers know about this one though.

Celebrating Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander culture in the classroom

We have created a different type of worksheet for celebrating in the classroom. We think that no celebration or special day is complete without decorations. These to bunting worksheets (one triangle and one rectangle) give the students an opportunity to create both individually & as a class. There are 2 to choose from so far, with different shapes (triangle or rectangle); different patterns; and different spaces to create (some have the full bunting shape to colour, while others have only the trim). The patterns are also great for fine motor skill development.

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 02/07/2010)

Map of Aboriginal Australia

The Map of Aboriginal Australia was developed by Dr David Horton and the Australian Institute of Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in 1994.


I believe that AIATSIS and Dr Horton own the copyright for the map. We recommend that each classroom should have a copy always available for their students.


You can purchase the Map of Aboriginal Australia (affiliate link) here.


However, if you want to use the map in your presentations and in particular, student presentations, you can download -

• a jpeg (right click & save image as)

• or a pdf 

(Please note: these sites are external to Blacklines and AIATSIS and may not have copyright permission to make the map available).
(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 02/07/10)

Update 2 February 2011 - I have signed up as an Affiliate with Fishpond.com.au, an Australian online retailer of books, dvds and other products. I receive a small commission on each sale generated from my recommendation. 

Indigenous special days calendar

A new resource for teachers - A calendar of special days for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Australians. I've created it as a Google Calendar so everyone can access it. I'll be uploading a month at a time at this stage.



Here is a run down of February events in the calendar (with some links). I've not included wikipedia links in this post.
6 February 1976 - Pat O'Shane becomes first Aboriginal barrister in New South Wales.

An image of Pat O'Shane with information about her early career.

8 February 1868 - Aboriginal Cricket Team leaves Sydney for England.

An image of the team from 1868 is held in National Museum of Australia.

8 February 1939 - Cummerangunja Walk Off

Mission Voices is a website that contains information, resources and timelines about the history of missions and reserves in Victoria, including Cummerangunja Walk Off.

12 February 1965 - Freedom rides begin with Charles Perkins.

The Freedom Rides were designed to protest as well as draw attention to racism and discrimination in New South Wales communities.

13 February 2010 - First Indigenous All Stars "Dreamteam" Rugby League Game

Most Murris & Kooris will be watching this one!

27 February 1968 - Lionel Rose defeats Fighting Harada

Lionel Rose defeated Fighting Harada in Japan to win the WBC bantamweight title and the WBA World bantamweight title.

28 February 1995 Aboriginal Embassy included on register of the National Estate

Links from Australian Heritage Database about the Tent Embassy

* Notes on this calendar - I've found its easy to access information about the YEAR events happened, but not the actual DAYS/DATES. I'll slowly add to this calendar as I find more information & evidence of the actual dates. Look forward to any feedback & additions people can add!

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 01/23/10)