Conference Report : “The Aboriginal Child at School”

Extract

On Friday, June 23, 1978, between 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m., an Education Department Staff In-service Conference, organised by Port Augusta’s Central Primary School, was held at the Davenport Aboriginal Adult Training Centre (DAATC), on Davenport Aboriginal Reserve, Port Augusta.

The conference was called, and largely organised by the principal of Port Augusta’s Central Primary School, Mr Ian Westley, with the co-operation of the students and staff of the DAATC, and the Davenport Cultural Club. It was chaired by Ms Catherine Guinness, Lecturer in Aboriginal Studies at Torrens College of Advanced Education. Attending were the staff of Central Primary, the students and staff of DAATC, the students of the Aboriginal Pre-vocational Course at Port Augusta College of Further Education, representatives of all public primary and secondary schools in Port Augusta, representatives from the Adelaide Head Office of the Education Department, as well as visitors from Hawker and Adelaide. In all, between 50 and 60 people were present.

The conference was divided into parts, separated by lunch provided by the Davenport Cultural Club. The first part was taken up by talks given mainly by Aboriginal people, and the second part was for the teachers present to discuss the problems they had teaching Aboriginal pupils, with a summing-up by Mr Ian Westley and Ms Catherine Guinness.