Aboriginal Studies in Mount Isa: The Kalkadoon Cultural and Locality Education Group

Extract

Just occasionally you hear of a really exciting project being undertaken. The Kalkadoon Cultural and Locality Education Group is one such project.

The highly enthusiastic and motivated team has been unearthing and collecting a wealth of information which they are feeding back into both primary and secondary classes around Mount Isa. At present they are working under the limitations of a Schools Commission Special Projects Program grant, with no guarantee of continued funding once the initial grant is spent.

Too often, due to lack of resources and/or interest, Aboriginal studies in Queensland schools is merely a superficial glance at what is a culturally rich, diverse and many faceted society. The booklet Aboriginal Studies in Queensland Schools, developed by the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consultative Committee, and published by the Education Department, is too often gathering dust in some obscure corner of the school both unknown and unused by most of the staff.

Hopefully, the Kalkadoon Cultural and Locality Education Group will receive the kind of support that will enable their project to become an integral and continuing part of the schools in Mount Isa. To provide a better picture of the activities of this group I have reprinted two articles. The first is part of a press release by Sunset State School in the North-West Star, Wednesday, 11th March, 1981.