Art swallows building in Paris

Indigenous Australian artists have been commissioned to embed artwork into the fabric of a new museum in Paris. Walls, ceilings and glass will contain – or be contained by – artworks. Artist Judy Watson has said it is as if the artists are “swallowing” the building. For more, see the Sydney Morning Herald report.

Young Indigenous guides

How do you get more Aboriginal students to finish Year 12? The South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) has an idea. The plan is to provide more opportunities for Aboriginal secondary students to participate in structured workplace learning – and the expectation is for an increase from 42% in 2004 and up to 50% by 2010. This policy is intended to increase the retention rate of young Aboriginal people to Year 12 or its equivalent from 36.4% in 2004 to the state equivalent of 70% by 2010.

In response to this initiative, an innovative program for Indigenous students in Years 10 to 12 was established at the South Australian Museum in 2005 by the two DECS education officers seconded to the museum. The program aims to offer culturally appropriate structured workplace learning opportunities and increase the participation of Aboriginal students in the South Australian Certificate of Education courses.

Program outline:
Aboriginal students successfully completed the program in 2005 and again in term one this year. It runs for 5 weeks on consecutive Tuesdays from 9.30am to 2.30pm with a maximum of 6 students per program. The students negotiated with their teachers for the program outcomes to be included as a component of SACE Stage 1 and 2 Community Studies or Aboriginal Studies. They worked closely with Elsie Fisher, an Indigenous Cultural Instructor who acted as their mentor and worked with them on developing their own hands-on activities for school groups visiting the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery.

The students worked with staff in the Indigenous Information Centre, Discovery Centre and the Museum Archives which provided them with unique opportunities for to broaden their cultural knowledge and learn about workplace environments while being exposed to potential careers. They were encouraged to undertake a special investigation into an area of the museum that interested them with a particular focus on careers and presented their findings to the whole group.

Feedback and evaluation of the students’ participation and achievements occurred throughout the program and they received a certificate at the end. The students have told us how they benefited from the program and their teachers have reported positive outcomes in regard to their school work.

Student feedback:

• Jessica Parker – ‘I enjoyed the things I’ve learnt, and teaching the young ones. I thought teaching the kids was funny, cause they’d ask really funny questions.’
• Kimberly Mulholland – ‘I enjoyed getting the children involved, teaching others about my culture and seeing the children’s interest in Aboriginal culture.’
• Anil Samy – In the future this work that I did at the museum will help me with my confidence.’

Chris Nobbs
Education Officer
South Australian Museum
26 April 2006

One mob

Lately, if you’re in or near Nimbin, you’ll see this sticker a lot.

It is a vision of Michael Bayles:

One Mob is a living concept.
It is a way of life that people have lived with in this country,
since the beginning of time.

It is about sharing, caring, honour, integrity, principles and pride.

To make people feel good about who they are,
and the place they come from.

We have called this place home for millions of years,
Now you call this place home.

You have to honour and look after it,
like the first people who called it home,
so it will last another million years.

Through your actions today, you will be an honourable Ancestor
to the children of the future.

You can get a sticker – in person – from the community-run Nimbin Museum. It’s worth a visit. But don’t worry if you can’t get to Nimbin, you don’t really need the sticker. This vision is livable.

Every picture tells a story

The Sydney Morning Herald has a fabulous article on a project from the Northern Territory. Our own Kate Smith is quoted. The project gave children from remote communities a camera and asked them to take pictures of the most important parts of their lives.

Apparently many rushed to photograph the public phone, some family and others climbing trees and swimming holes.

I imagine the article does little justice to the whole project. So congratulations to Kate and the team at Museums and Galleries NT. It would be great to read a full summary of the project and I will encourage Kate to do this for us.