Preface

This website has been created as a resource for Years 3-6 teachers to use with their students at Orange East Public School. Orange East Public School sits on Wiradjuri land and has 22% Indigenous population. This year Orange East has commenced an Indigenous Education Committee where we are implementing strategies to work towards reconciliation. Orange East celebrates National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week by inviting community members into the school for various events and we strive to build a positive cultural identity in our Indigenous students. We are currently building an Indigenous garden in consultation with the AECG and our student Indigenous Garden Committee. Over the past two years, four staff members at Orange East have been trained in Stronger Smarter, resulting in a heavy focus on building student cultural identity and visual representations around the school. This training has enabled staff members to run whole staff meetings focused on different Indigenous aspects in a safe environment, where everyone feels valued in a yarning circle.

The aim of this website is to build a strong cultural identity in our Indigenous students but to raise the knowledge about Indigenous culture in our non-Indigenous students. Indigenous people have endured profound traumatic events throughout their history since colonisation and this has had a widespread effect on positive Aboriginal identity. Daily I observe the lack of cultural knowledge all my students have and the effects this has on my Indigenous students. This website will be utilised as one tool to raise their knowledge and awareness about the Wiradjuri nation, Indigenous culture and the land we live on. Kickett-Tucker (2009) explains that some Indigenous youth have accepted the negative perceptions from wider society of what it means to be an Indigenous Australian and these ideas have now become part of their own ideas of being Indigenous. I want my students to feel like they are strong and smart Indigenous people and be proud of who they are.

Most teachers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are non-Indigenous themselves and have little understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures (Anderson 2012, p. 96). Parbury (1999 p. 66) explains that ‘teachers need to know about the cultural background and history of Aboriginal students as well as how to effectively teach them’. This website aims to equip the teachers of Orange East Public School with knowledge of Indigenous culture through the Teachers Page and a tool to assist them teach Wiradjuri culture in their classrooms.

The following objectives will be met through the Wiradjuri Webquest:

· Provide opportunities for students to develop understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages (AITSL 2014).

· Enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to see themselves, their identities and their cultures reflected in their learning in the classroom to build their self-esteem (Australian Curriculum n.d.).

· Provide opportunities for all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world continuous living cultures (Australian Curriculum n.d.).