Happy Birthday David Unaipon

Today, the 28th of September is the 140th birthday of David Unaipon. He was the first published Aboriginal author. He was a scientist and mathematician, an inventor and a religious educator.

We can only image what his life, as an Aboriginal man must have been like 140 years ago. It is not hard to imagine the hardships and disappointment he would have experienced as a result of society's embedded racism against Aboriginal people. And we can only imagine what he might have achieved had he been given the same opportunities as other men of his age.

Sadly, most Australian's, young and old, will say "who?" when we mention his name. Let's spread the word of him and work and begin to make him the household name he should be.

More information about David Unaipon:

• Diju Know about David Unaipon from ABC's Message Club. Written by Anita Heiss.
• Local and history information about David Unaipon from Adelaide
• Fact Sheet from the Racism No Way resource. 

Image credit: A deadly birthday cake for David Unaipon by Annie Ah Kee using Minecraft.

Indigenous Science in P-3 Project with CSIRO

Earlier in the year I headed off to the launch of a partnership between the CSIRO, as part of their Indigenous Engagement Strategy and Education Queensland - P-3 Indigenous Science project. Teachers are trained to deliver Indigenous perspectives in their science curriculum for the early years. Here are my images from the evening. As part of the teacher's training, they went on an excursion to Tully to undertake Uncle Ernie Grant's training at Echo Creek.

ACT Schools teaching Aboriginal landcare knowledge

This article this morning announced that all ACT schools with be teaching Ngunnawa landcare knowledge. Wow!

What a fantastic initiative. The biggest hurdles I would anticipate would be ensuring that schools are provided with the budget to ensure that Ngunnawa teachers are paid appropriate wages and ensuring that there are enough teachers to be able to provide all ACT schools with the service.

Looking forward to hearing how this initiative pans out.