Meeting with Aboriginal women, 17 May 1999 - notes
Participation
Aboriginal women from the local community, Inquiry Co-Commissioner Sister Pat Rhatigan, Julie Sutherland (Gawooleng Yawoodeng Aboriginal Corporation), Susan Newell (HREOC)
There are three schools in Kununurra: St Joseph's (Catholic primary school), Kununurra District High School (Years P-12) and the Barramundi School which provides alternative schooling for secondary school students. Most of the women at the meeting had children who had attended St Joseph's.
Issues raised
- Homework
- Lunches
- Bus transport
- Language/culture
- Preschool
- High school
- Curriculum
- Employment and further education
- Aboriginal involvement in school
Homework
Women are positive about the after-school homework class at St Joseph's, where children are divided into groups and can complete their homework before going home. They said the state school does not have homework classes.
Lunches
Children are given lunch money by their mothers. They thought that children should get a more substantial lunch at St Joseph's rather than just sandwiches and fruit as part of the ASSPA [Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness Committee] funded lunch program. One woman said that she has seen a lot of children at the state school who do not have enough money for lunch or even for pens.
Bus transport
The children get picked up every day by the school bus. If they are not going to school that day, the mothers let St Joseph's know. There is also another bus which is used for night patrol which also picks up kids to and from school. It is difficult to get bus drivers.
Language
Children have lost their language. They do not learn language at school. The women would like their children to learn Miriwoong. It was good that boys and girls were taught separately at the Barramundi School, and that teachers only taught children of their own sex, because it was the proper way in their culture.
Preschool
The women would like preschool classes at St Joseph's. There is an occasional care centre in Kununurra that children can go to, but it only has 10 places and has limited funding.
High school
Some women said they did not like the state school because the children are not happy there. They said that the teachers split the children up so that they are not with their friends.
The women are worried that children who go to from St Joseph's to the state school for secondary schooling do not stay at school, and then cannot get a job. It is difficult to enforce attendance. Many parents gamble and drink. Some parents do not support the children to go to school. There has been talk about establishing a 'Boot Camp' near the Lakeside to teach boys the value of work.
The women want a Catholic secondary school so that their children can continue at the same school with their friends.
There are examples of children who do stay at school until the end of secondary school.
Some women are critical of some aspects of the Barramundi school. They are concerned that they do not teach enough maths and spelling, which they think is necessary for the children to find employment later. They think the classrooms at Barramundi are too small, and they need a bigger space.
Some children are also sent away to boarding school, but they come back after a year or so and then are neither employed nor at school.
Curriculum
The women want the children to learn skills that they could use in employment. For example, spelling, reading, maths, gardening, making clothes, and how to work in shops. They said that when they were at school they worked at picking cotton or baking bread.
Employment and further education
The types of jobs the women would like to see their children doing were in jobs such as farming, mechanics, shops, plumbing and tourism. However, there are only a few Aboriginal people in mainstream employment in Kununurra.
The women did not know anyone who went to TAFE. They said the young people were too shy to go - they need to know someone there to feel comfortable. Some Aboriginal people do work at TAFE.
Aboriginal involvement in school
Some of the women go to St Joseph's and participate in NAIDOC activities but there are no people from Mirama teaching there. They would like another four more Aboriginal teachers at the state school. One woman assists with NAIDOC and with craft at the school.
One woman raised a concern that ASSPA funds at the state school had been spent on musical instruments, but then the instruments seem to have disappeared. None of the women present went to the ASSPA at the state school. However, some of them participate in the ASSPA meetings at St Josephs.
Special needs
Some children are slow learners and some have bad ear problems. There is a deaf child at the state school and one at St Joseph's.
Last updated 2 December 2001.
