The Aborigines faced hardship and danger daily, so it is no wonder that courage was instilled in the youths by example and precept. The myth of the brave fisherman is typical of those told around the camp fires to show the young the kind of behaviour they should try to emulate (L.A.A.)

For many years researchers have documented the high incidence of otitis media (middle ear disease) and hearing impairment among Aboriginal children. While basically suggesting medical intervention and socio-economic development as the main remedies of this situation, there has been some indication of a need for compensatory measures aimed at the education of these children (Stuart et at, 1972)

I am one of a group of young Inala mothers who are involved in a playgroup in which we teach and learn with our children through their different stages of growth.

Each Thursday we are visited by Margaret Henry and Jeannie Barney. They offer me advice concerning different and new methods of play or sometimes we exchange methods of play and communication.

The play involved doesn’t require a set time or any expensive toys. Cotton reels, plastic containers etc., can provide hours of fun. However, we are fortunate enough to have a toy and book library from which our kids can select a toy or book for the week.

Once a month we all meet at the Inala Family Education Centre, and there we mothers have the chance to talk and our children to play. In general, we discuss and experiment with suggestions and ideas, and we get the chance to show off our creativeness in the making of an item of play for our sons or daughters.

The advantages of such a program are many. We are not only teaching our children but we’re learning with them also. We develop a relationship as friends with them, and they shall have some form of preparation for kindergarten. But, for me, there is nothing more fulfilling than to see my son repeat something I’ve shown him, and enjoy doing it.

Three attractive Aboriginal girls graduated last December as air hostesses for the government airline TAA. They are Mary Cross, 20, of Sylvania, a Sydney suburb; Jennifer Patterson, 22, of Townsville; and Evelyn Schraber, 22, of Alice Springs, who are thought to be the only Aboriginal air hostesses now working on an airline in Australia. They graduated with 16 other beautiful and intelligent Australians.

Under the new National Employment Strategy for Aboriginals (NESA), TAA and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs undertook a recruitment drive to find suitable Aboriginal hostesses. None of the three girls chosen had considered applying for an air hostess job before, in fact they said they ‘didn’t think they’d have a chance because they were Aboriginal, and didn’t think they would be accepted’.

They see their jobs as being public relations officers, not just for TAA but for their people.

Sydney girl Mary Cross hails from Shark Bay, a little fishing village in Western Australia, and had been in Sydney for a year studying to be a secretary on an Aboriginal Study Grant. Evelyn Schraber was a clerk with the Central Land Council at Alice Springs, and Jennifer Patterson was a field officer with the Queensland Health Department. Their air hostess training was funded by the NEAT scheme.

TAA’s chairman, Sir Kenneth Vial, said he hoped the three girls would be the forerunners of more Aboriginal hostesses with the company.

As teachers, most of us would agree that our attitudes and expectations do somehow influence the academic goals of our pupils and of ourselves. Research findings indicate that the self-fulfilling prophecy operates in all realms of education and that it results in the kind of behaviour that is expected. The significance of this, especially for teachers in cross-cultural classes, is now well established and generally accepted. However, the ways in which we actually transmit our attitudes and expectations to our pupils are still not clear.

It has been the accepted view that children learn best when the learning experiences progress from the known to the unknown, from the concrete to the abstract, from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

Since the mid-1950’s, educational literature has reflected a deep concern for the relatively poor academic performance of children from particular ethnic minority groups. In the United States, for example, attention has focused on the low achievements of many Negro, Spanish and Indian children, and in Australia there is an increasing concern with the educational achievements of numbers of Aborigines. The data collected to date suggest that a child’s ethnic group membership makes an important contribution to his success in school. More specifically, the data raise the very broad issue of educability of children from some socio-economic and sub-cultural groups.

In most instances educability has been closely linked with teacher performance, suggesting that teachers play an important role in determining their pupil’s behaviours and achievements. It is this possible link between teacher behaviour and student achievement which has provided the impetus for much of the educational research focusing on the influence of the teacher. This area of research, however, is not characterized by a large number of conclusive studies. Nevertheless, some encouraging trends can be noted to indicate a possible relationship between the teacher variable and student achievements and behaviours.

Because of the need to establish clearly the Department’s co-ordinating responsibilities in relation to both Commonwealth functional departments and State governments, the Department’s functional statement in the Administrative Arrangements Order was revised and now reads:

A functional statement for Regional Offices was approved. This gives priority to field officers being the means of effective consultation with Aboriginal communities, keeping the Government informed of the state of affairs in Aboriginal communities, and stimulating, co-ordinating and monitoring the activities of all agencies providing services to communities.

The Department will require officers, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, of rare commitment and versatility to carry out these functions.

The Department, with the advice and assistance of the Commonwealth Department of Education, is concerned to ensure that, at all levels of education, opportunities and programs are available to Aboriginals which are appropriate to their needs and in no way inferior to those available to the general community.