FEATURE ARTICLE
Revealing Coranderrk -
Framing curriculum resources for the
Minutes of Evidence Coranderrk
Curriculum and Teacher Resource
Package
James Fiford, Executive Officer, Social Education Victoria
James is the Executive Officer of Social Education
Victoria and is a member of the team working on
the Coranderrk Minutes of Evidence Curriculum and
Teacher Resource Package, currently being developed
by the Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development (DEECD) in partnership with the Victorian
Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI).
Introduction
As part of the overarching Minutes of Evidence project, the
Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development (DEECD) has engaged Social Education
Victoria (SEV) to develop, during 2014, curriculum
modules and a Teacher Resource Package for the Australian
Curriculum Years 9 and 10 History (AusVELS) and Civics
and Citizenship (for use in 2015 and beyond). Curriculum-
aligned teacher and student information, plus digital
resources and suggested learning activities and further
resources, will build on key themes for investigation such
as dispossession, justice and collaboration. A Teacher
Resource Package featuring cultural protocols developed
by Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI),
as well as advice for teachers, will be a component of
this resource. The finished resources will be housed on
the DEECD FUSE (Find, Use, Share Education) portal and
available during 2015.
SEV is conducting consultations during 2014 with
community and stakeholders in the curriculum
development process and is working in partnership and
consultation with VAEAI. The curriculum will represent
best practice and draw on historical information and
themes in the context of the 1881 Parliamentary
Coranderrk Inquiry, as researched by the Minutes of
Evidence project (this larger project is explained later in
the article).
The intention of this article is to provide a general
background of the project and its origins. Due to the
fact that the curriculum resource materials are still being
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
developed, it will not discuss in detail the composition
and content of the actual teaching and learning materials
(which will be revealed and discussed at a later time). This
article will offer a brief exploration of the progress to date
and reflect on the integral relationships that will help to
deliver these important educational resources.
Guiding rationale for the curriculum
project
The processes involved in this curriculum project are not
simply about curriculum so in this way it is not solely
about matters of the head. In essence, it is perhaps more
akin to a journey, where those involved can encounter
new ideas, forge new relationships and learn many new
ways in which to interpret the world around them. It is,
participants have discovered, as much about the heart as
it is about the head.
As Mick Dodson has noted:
[W]e should be giving every Australian child a
chance to learn about this countrys Indigenous
history and culture it is the oldest surviving culture
in the world and...its a culture all Australians can
take great pride in. I say, lets begin with education:
I think we can all agree that a good education is a
right and that all Australian children have that right. I
think we can all agree that in bestowing knowledge,
skills, opportunity and a chance at happiness and
self-sufficiency, education also bestows dignity. And
all agree, I think, that this right and this dignity are a
good deal more than symbolic they have profound
practical effects.
(source: Mick Dodson (2010) Challenges and
Opportunities in Australian Indigenous Education)
Although only part of a broader and more complex essay
calling for the improvement of educational opportunities
and outcomes for Australian Indigenous children, this
quote serves as a wonderful starting point for some of
7
the motivations that lie behind the Coranderrk Minutes
of Evidence Curriculum and Teacher Resource Package.
Every child, indeed all Australians, Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal, should have the opportunity to learn about
the oldest continuing culture in the world. It follows, then,
that Aboriginal people must also have the means by which
they can share their knowledge, insights, experiences and
histories with their fellow Australians.
In this way, and effectively underpinning the entire
project, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (2007) is instructive. SEVs approach to
this project is based particularly upon:
Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not
to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction
of their culture.
Article 15
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the dignity and
diversity of their cultures, traditions, histories and
aspirations which shall be appropriately reflected in
education and public information.
2. States shall take effective measures, in consultation and
cooperation with the Indigenous peoples concerned,
to combat prejudice and eliminate discrimination
and to promote tolerance, understanding and good
relations among indigenous peoples and all other
segments of society. (source: http://www.un.org/esa/
socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf)
It is hoped that the Coranderrk Minutes of Evidence
curriculum material can be a source of pride for, and
recognition of, Aboriginal people and their cultural
heritage, and it should also serve as an educational tool
with which Aboriginal students and teachers can engage
with their own histories. For non-Aboriginal students
and teachers, engaging with the Coranderrk story (and
the rich and complex stories of Aboriginal history across
Victoria that it links to) might be able to offer them the
chance to better understand the complexity of their
Victorian community, to become more knowledgeable
in the important events and people who have shaped,
and continue to shape, the social, historical and political
landscape of Victoria and Australia.
In this way, this Coranderrk curriculum project can
actually yield far more than interesting historical content.
More than just a symbol of reconciliation, the project
can be an important practical step in building cultural
understanding between teachers and students from all
cultural backgrounds by utilising challenging, interesting,
engaging and diverse resources that have stemmed from
the historical and artistic interpretations of Aboriginal
history and culture in Victoria. Just as the Coranderrk story
comprises many instances of collaboration, mutual respect
and shared humanity, the curriculum project too relies on
these values to achieve its ultimate aim of bringing these
historical events to life in the school curriculum.
8 Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
A brief background to the Minutes of
Evidence (MOE) project
The Minutes of Evidence project is funded by an Australian
Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant, with substantial
support from a wide variety of partner organisations. (For
a comprehensive list, visit the MOE homepage).
According to the MOE website, the:
project is a unique collaborationthat seeks to
promote greater awareness of the effects of settler
colonialism and a more open consideration of how
to live together justly in the future. Through a
multi-disciplinary approach that brings together
research, education and performance, the Minutes
of Evidence project highlights the local and broader
significance of the 1881 Parliamentary Coranderrk
Inquiry by examining how notions of justice have
been formulated, invoked and confronted over time
and space, and how the enduring legacies of past
injustices continue into the presentto foster new
ways of thinking about structural justice in the
present and future.
One way that the Minutes of Evidence project has sought
to make the story of the 1881 Parliamentary Coranderrk
Inquiry more accessible and known to the public, and
students, is through the play, Coranderrk: We Will Show
the Country. This play (and the resultant book) written by
Giordano Nanni and Andrea James, brings together history
and theatre and accesses Australias past in a profound and
engaging way. Audiences are exposed to primary historical
materials, as well as to the language, ideas, opinions and
policies that were once commonly adopted towards
Aboriginal people in colonial (and even in not so distant)
times.
Integral to the entire play are the authentic voices of
Aboriginal people from the nineteenth century, sourced
directly from the historical record; such voices are often
completely absent from historical records. By providing
direct access to the raw materials of history, the play
and the associated book enable audiences and readers,
whether they be adults or students, to assess the evidence
presented and draw their own conclusions on the period
and the policies and attitudes that prevailed.
In seeking to communicate with, and educate, younger
generations about Aboriginal and Victorian history,
the Minutes of Evidence project responds to two key
recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the 1997 Bringing Them
Home reports:
s The need to educate the broader population about
Aboriginal history.
s The need to redress the full range of entrenched
disadvantages [structural injustices] arising from that
history if widespread and long-term change is to take
place.
The progress and further outcomes of
the MOE project
Following the production of the script and a variety of
early performances of Coranderrk: We Will Show the
Country, a schools workshop program was designed
by ILBIJERRI Theatre Company (in partnership with
Healesville High School and with advice from Aunty Joy
Murphy) in 2013 to provide an opportunity for students to
identify the key stories and characters that resonate with
them.
The book Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country, by
historian Giordano Nanni and Yorta Yorta playwright
Andrea James, was published in 2013 and is now available
through Aboriginal Studies Press. Coranderrk: We Will Show
the Country, has been described as:
...a groundbreaking theatrical performance
that combines theatre and history to provide
The plaque at the Coranderrk Aboriginal Cemetery, Barak Lane, Badger Creek (near
Healesville), records the names and origins of 300 people who once lived at the
Coranderrk Aboriginal Station and are buried in the cemetery.
Source: James Fiford, Social Education Victoria
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
unprecedented insight into a remarkable, yet little-
known chapter of Australias past. Its script consists
entirely of the actual words spoken by Aboriginal
and European men and women who testified before
a nineteenth century Parliamentary Inquiry into the
conditions at Coranderrk one of six Aboriginal
reserves in the colony of Victoria at that time. This
book derives from that production .
For a timeline of the MOE project and some of its major
achievements, visit http://www.minutesofevidence.com.
au/the-project/.
A brief historical background to
Coranderrk and the 1881 Inquiry
The Parliamentary Inquiry is a very significant moment
in Victorian history. It was conducted as a result of a self-
determination campaign by Aboriginal people who lived
at Coranderrk. What makes the event so interesting is that
it was unique. In assembling and hearing
evidence from a broad range of witnesses
(Europeans who wanted to remove Aboriginal
people from Coranderrk, Europeans who
supported Aboriginal people to remain and
govern themselves) and testimony from
Aboriginal men, women and children who
were living on the reserve, the Inquiry and
the transcripts that are accessible today
provide compelling evidence of collaboration,
as well as conflict, in colonial Victoria.
The Inquiry transcripts, the play and the
accompanying book by Nanni and James,
bring to life this rich verbatim record and
are testament to the nature and variety
of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal voices.
Twenty-two of the sixty-nine witnesses
were Aboriginal, and Anne Bon, who served
as a Commissioner during the Inquiry, was
remarkable as a figure of influence and a
determined advocate for Aboriginal people in
a time when women were rarely included in
matters of politics and government.
As a result of the 1881 Inquiry, Coranderrk
was gazetted as a Permanent Reserve,
although this outcome was tragically short-
lived due to the passing of an amendment to
the Aborigines Protection Act in 1886, which
allowed officials to remove people who were
considered to be of mixed descent. In this
way, the 1881 Parliamentary Coranderrk
Inquiry serves as a unique resource for
inquiring into the history of Victoria, the
legal and civil rights of Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal people, and for understanding
how the past might be called upon to foster
justice in the present.
For more, visit: http://www.
minutesofevidence.com.au/education/.
9
A brief overview of the Curriculum
framework and materials
The Coranderrk curriculum project has been tasked
to deliver resources that conform to the Australian
Curriculum (AusVELS): History Years 9 and 10, as well as
the Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship Years 9
and 10 frameworks. (It should be noted that while History
has been fully endorsed in the Australian Curriculum and
translated into AusVELS formats, this process is yet to occur
with Civics and Citizenship. The latest released version of
Civics and Citizenship Australian Curriculum materials has
been consulted for the project.)
For more visit http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
humanities-and-social-sciences/civics-and-citizenship/
rationale.
In this way, one can observe that while the title of
Coranderrk is ascribed to these curriculum resources, it
does not mean that the focus of all the materials remains
solely on the historical time and geographical place of
Coranderrk and the 1881 Inquiry. Nor should it imply
that because Coranderrk lies on Wurundjeri land the
curriculum is only concerned with the people and stories
from this community. While acknowledging and paying its
deep respects to Coranderrk and the Wurundjeri people,
the project also seeks to represent and acknowledge
other communities across Victoria. Many case studies are
focused on Coranderrk as the example, but it is hoped
that teachers and students from elsewhere, be it western,
northern or eastern Victoria, will be able to transpose their
own case studies into this curriculum framework.
The 1881 Inquiry, therefore, and the individuals and
themes that can be studied through this event, will
serve as a platform from which to explore other events
and individuals that have taken place throughout the
nineteenth, twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries.
For example, the experiences of Aboriginal people on
Coranderrk of course should be compared and contrasted
with the experiences of other Aboriginal people at places
such as Framlingham, Lake Tyers or Cummeragunja. In this
way, just as this project highlights people such as William
Barak in the nineteenth century, it also aims to share the
stories of influential people who played crucial roles in
the struggle for the rights and freedoms of Aboriginal
people during the twentieth century. Figures such as
William Cooper and Sir Doug Nicholls, for example, can
as a result be engaged with (and hopefully become better
recognised) in our teaching of Victorian/Australian history
and in our understanding of civics and citizenship.
In addition to Years 9 and 10 curriculum links, however,
it is hoped that the resources produced will be of great
use to teachers and students in other year levels and
across other subjects. The materials, for example, will be
of benefit to VCE teachers and students of Sociology and
Australian History, and of course will be congruent with
the Australian Curriculum (AusVELS) cross-curriculum
priority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
cultures. In the same way, use of these resources should
10
not be considered solely the domain of the secondary
school teacher and student. While always requiring careful
teacher scaffolding, the issues, events and activities will
obviously also appeal to primary schools.
It is anticipated that the Coranderrk Curriculum and
Teacher Resource Package will include:
s Documents detailing specific History and Civics and
Citizenship curriculum available in PDF format for
reference by teachers and students.
s A curriculum map, topic overviews, curriculum
links (AusVELS-specific detail), key focus questions,
suggested learning activities, suggested assessment
tasks and supporting resource links.
s Links to cross-curricular opportunities and external
supporting resources.
s First steps/introductory material to support teachers
with cultural protocols. This will be devised through
collaboration with the stakeholder working groups
and in consultation with VAEAI.
s Student-centred resources, including PDFs, Word
documents, video and podcasts.
s Resources based not only on content but also with
a focus on skill development (resource analysis,
historical interpretation, ethical dimensions).
Curriculum project progress thus far
At the recent Social and Citizenship Education Association
of Australia conference in Canberra, Associate Professor
Libby Tudball quoted the words of ACARAs Chair,
Professor Barry McGaw, who notes Work on the National
Curriculum is never completed. It will always be a work-
in-progress This is true of any curriculum, and most
certainly of the work that comprises the Coranderrk
Curriculum and Teacher Resource Package.
As noted earlier, the Coranderrk curriculum should
more correctly be conceived as a journey rather than
a destination. When a project involves such important
and complex historical and cultural aspects, and invites
engagement from people from across Victoria of both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal heritage, it stands to reason
that it cannot, nor should not, be a static and finished
item. There will always be new and better ways to do
things. There may be (regrettably) voices omitted, or
misinterpreted, that will need correction, and there will
always be the need to refine and expand resources and
approaches as curriculum demands change and schools
pursue their particular lines of enquiry.
What this curriculum project aims to do, instead, is provide
a framework that can be built upon by those who engage
with the resources. It aims to plant the seeds of lasting
relationships that can be developed in the years to come
and enable teachers and students who engage with the
resources to foster their own ways of doing things and
who can, through collaboration, share this in turn with
others across Victoria and Australia.
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
Some of the salient achievements of the project so far are
listed, and briefly explained, below:
s The Coranderrk Minutes of Evidence Curriculum
and Teacher Resource Package project was officially
launched at a successful induction day for the three
trial site schools held on the 7 November 2013 at
Worawa Aboriginal College, Healesville. Welcomed
to Country with a traditional smoking ceremony
conducted by Aunty Lois Peeler and Uncle Bill
Nicholson, it was highly appropriate for participants to
be starting this important curriculum project on the
very site of the Coranderrk Reserve.
s The induction day facilitated a fruitful preliminary
discussion about the curriculum resource proposed
for the trial, including the importance of engaging
students and in connecting the curriculum material
to personalised experiences. A range of possible
resources was suggested, including source analyses,
case studies of the people involved in the 1881
Inquiry, personal stories of activism, excursion ideas
and ways to contextualise the curriculum in other
local areas. The induction day brought together those
who have been involved in the broader Minutes of
Evidence project and was an opportunity for insights
to be shared, as well as questions to be raised, with
the trial site teachers.
s A range of teacher and Aboriginal community
consultations have occurred during 2014 to seek ideas
from interested parties and obtain important cultural
advice. VAEAI has been an invaluable partner in the
project, facilitating consultations with Aboriginal
elders, community leaders and educators and
providing advice, ideas and support along the journey.
Numerous offers of materials and support have come
from many areas of the Aboriginal community and,
while too many to mention here, they will all find a
place in the Coranderrk resources so that Victorian
teachers and students can benefit from the rich
knowledge and cultural heritage they contain.
s The curriculum project is working with three trial
schools (Worawa College, Melbourne Girls College and
Healesville High School). The schools have approached
the content in vastly different ways and at different
levels, mixing and matching History and Civics and
Citizenship elements to best suit their respective
curriculum documents and teaching cycles. Feedback
gathered in 2014 throughout Terms 2 and 3 has
included advice such as the need for more activities
to break up the dense narrative of background detail,
and reiterated the need for resources to cater for a
diverse range of learning approaches and abilities.
Teacher feedback has endorsed the aims of the
curriculum package in allowing for selective use,
where teachers can choose units applicable to their
contexts and which can be taught in different orders
(i.e. not just considered as an entire unit that must be
taught chronologically and completely). Additionally,
trial teachers have voiced their appreciation of the
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
provision of annotated links, collated according to
topics and themes as described in the Australian
Curriculum Years 9 and 10 History and Civics and
Citizenship.
s The curriculum project has also sought to engage with
universities at both undergraduate and postgraduate
level. A particular focus has been on engaging with
pre-service teachers, both to understand what it is
they might want in such a resource as well as to
benefit from their insights as beginning educators
who may, very soon, be some of the eventual users of
the materials featured in the project. The project has
presented at workshops for the Master of Teaching
program at The University of Melbourne (Teach For
Australia (TFA) teachers). Part of a final mid-year
intensive for TFA Associates who have been in schools,
in Melbourne, regional Victoria, the ACT and the NT,
for the past 18 months, the focus of the session was
on working with Indigenous students and including
Indigenous perspectives in the classroom. This was
an excellent opportunity to speak to teachers in the
final phase of their pre-service experience all with
different experiences in teaching. The sessions were
valuable in seeking feedback from teachers on the
ground in what it is they wanted from resources
and where they felt they needed professional
development.
s As the Coranderrk curriculum project has evolved,
it has worked closely with Lilly Brown, Early Career
Indigenous Researcher at The University of Melbourne.
The project was presented to Lillys third year
students at The University of Melbourne for the
subject Critical Debates which is designed to draw
together the knowledge and learning experiences
students have had in the Australian Indigenous
Studies major. Students are encouraged to reflect
on the deeper implications of this knowledge and
gain perspectives on how it relates to potential
pathways both in and beyond academia. The lecture
presented the Coranderrk project and encompassed
themes such as Aboriginal pedagogy and looked at a
range of critical debates, one being the recognition
and commemoration of Aboriginal people killed in
conflicts (including frontier conflicts).
Lilly Brown is currently working closely with Social
Education Victoria to engage with schools across
Victoria as part of an exciting new research project
she is leading. The Australian Curriculum represents
major national educational reform, in addition
to a valuable opportunity to interrogate existing
educational practice. Lilly Browns project aims to
assess some of the limitations educators may identify
as significant in the teaching of History, Civics and
Citizenship and Social Studies content that relates
to or includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people. This project also provides an exciting
possible opportunity to contribute to shaping the
way in which the Australian Curriculum is formed
11
 in Victoria in relation to teaching about Australias
shared past and the implications of this in the present.
Through qualitative inquiry, Lilly will consider the
attitudes, experiences and readiness of secondary
school educators in teaching content considering
Aboriginal-settler relations within History, Social
Studies and Civics and Citizenship, specifically relating
to Year 9 and 10 students in Victoria. The research
will also serve as an examination of secondary
school educators perspectives of content relating
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians,
more generally in light of the implementation of the
Australian Curriculum.
If any teachers would like to be involved in this
research, potentially as part of or towards their own
Professional Learning Plan or Team, please contact the
project at sevcoranderrkcurriculum@gmail.com.
s In August 2014, the Coranderrk curriculum project
was discussed at the MOE Just Encounters public
forum held at the State Library of Victoria (SLV).
The session highlighted the aims and progress of
the project and was an excellent opportunity to
meet with project stakeholders and partners and
build relationships to help resource the curriculum.
Underlying the primacy of collaboration in this
project, and the importance of relationships, the
project aims to utilise the rich resources of the SLV
Between Two Worlds: A bronze sculpture, located at Healesville
Sanctuary, honouring the Wurundjeri leader William Barak.
Source: James Fiford, Social Education Victoria
12
and the Public Records Office Victoria (PROV) that
expressed interest in linking collections and materials
to the project, such as photo archives and relevant
historical documents.
Resourcing the curriculum
In addition to the verbatim script and accompanying book
on Coranderrk mentioned earlier, there is a plethora of
wonderful websites from which teachers will be able to
draw information and locate challenging and engaging
learning activities for their students. Space does not permit
a full analysis of these online resources, but some of the
key resources pertaining to Coranderrk, and Aboriginal
history and culture more generally, include:
VAEAI
http://www.vaeai.org.au
Koorie Heritage Trust
http://www.koorieheritagetrust.com
Mission Voices (ABC)
http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/
Learning Stones
http://www.learningstones.com.au/about/
First Australians (SBS)
http://www.programs.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/content/
State Library of Victoria
http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au
Public Records Office Victoria
http://prov.vic.gov.au/education
A hugely important aspect of the curriculum project is
its engagement with other cultural organisations and
institutions that will be essential to help teachers and
students bring the curriculum materials to life. The
project has explored the wonderfully rich resources
of Melbourne Museums Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural
Centre and, of course, its new permanent exhibition, First
Peoples. In consultation with Melbourne Museum staff
Liz Suda (Program Coordinator) and John Patten (Senior
Program Officer), the project aims to link closely with this
marvellous exhibition and wherever possible highlight
to teachers and students the amazingly rich and diverse
resources that are accessible either through an excursion
to the site or, increasingly as resources are developed, via
online access. For more on the First Peoples exhibition,
visit http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/visiting/first-
peoples/
The project has similarly engaged with Healesville
Sanctuary which in 2015 will be offering two programs
that will be relevant for schools working with the
Coranderrk curriculum that want to support student
learning with an excursion to Healesville Sanctuary which
is situated on the original Coranderrk site. These programs
will go up on their website in Term 4, 2014. The first is
an independent visit, where schools may engage with the
cultural touch-points onsite. This includes meeting with
the Indigenous visitor engagement ranger, engaging with
the cultural interpretive elements (including the William
Barak statue and soundscapes) and Coranderrk Dreaming
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014

The Barak Monument, a gift from Anne Fraser Bon, in memory
of her friend William Barak, was originally located in Healesville
but was moved to Baraks gravesite in 1955.
Source: James Fiford, Social Education Victoria
Space (featuring soundscapes of the people who lived at
Coranderrk and their descendants), scar tree and other
significant sites, as well as the main shows that include
Indigenous content as well as Australian wildlife and how
they are significant to Indigenous people. The second
is a whole-day, educator-facilitated program in which
schools will be welcomed to country by the Sanctuarys
Indigenous ranger as they arrive, and then will have
numerous cultural touch-points and activities provided
throughout the day to help them engage in the Coranderrk
story (including those listed above). The Indigenous ranger
will lead a reflective conclusion and pre and post visit
suggestions will be available on the Sanctuary website. For
more details, visit http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville.
In explaining the Coranderrk Curriculum and Teacher
Resource Package, there has been some confusion as to
how it relates to the various theatre performances that
have toured, and will tour again in 2015, under various
names featuring the name Coranderrk. Firstly, it is
important to note that the Coranderrk curriculum is not a
teaching resource for any of the theatrical performances!
Rather, the plays should be considered by teachers as just
one of many possible resources to utilise when teaching
the Coranderrk curriculum materials.
Readers may have attended one or more of the various
Coranderrk performances that have been staged since
2010 and the early days of the Minutes of Evidence project.
Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014
These have been conducted variously by ILBIJERRI and La
Mama, and productions have evolved and changed over
the subsequent five years. The original verbatim theatre
production, for example, conceived by Giordano Nanni
and Andrea James and featured in the book Coranderrk:
We Will Show the Country, is substantially different to
the Coranderrk version recently performed in Northcote
in August 2014 by ILBIJERRI. The Coranderrk curriculum
project certainly encourages teachers and students to keep
their eyes peeled for future shows of either version of the
play.
For an excellent background on the play, visit http://www.
troublemag.com/coranderrk-we-will-show-the-country/
Ongoing projects exciting possibilities
While the Coranderrk Curriculum and Teacher Resource
Package will largely serve as a point of collation of many
materials that already exist, it also aims to create a range
of educational resources to complement the teaching
and learning of the material. While in their infancy, three
specific proposals are:
s The University of Melbourne has committed to
collaborate with La Mama theatre to produce materials
to support the curriculum. The verbatim script of
Coranderrk: We will Show the Country will be read to
camera and is to be used as an audio-visual resource
by teachers and students. This will be particularly
useful for schools that are unable to attend an actual
production, while it will also enable teachers and
students to analyse the script scene-by-scene in their
classrooms.
s The curriculum project has recently agreed with
VAEAI to create some new resources that will focus
on the themes of Land, Country, Family and
Spirituality. This will involve VAEAI contacting
interested participants (via LAECGs) and working with
SEV to record Aboriginal peoples accounts in audio/
audio-visual format to be used as resources for the
curriculum.
s Scott Darlow, the well-known and successful
Aboriginal singer-songwriter and reconciliation
educator (see page 2627), has agreed to offer some
of his music and lyrics to the curriculum project for
teacher and student use. Songs such as Sorry and
Down Like Flies deal with several of the important
issues (namely the quest for an apology to Aboriginal
people and the closing of the gap in relation to
Aboriginal health). In addition, Scott is working on
several new songs that have been commissioned
specifically for the project and that will access some
of the themes and events that are covered by the
curriculum.
Conclusion and thanks
A project such as this is by its very nature a colossal
undertaking, and one that is subject to many challenges
and constraints (not least of which is time, or lack of
13
it!). I would like to pay special credit to the team who Nanni, Giordano and James, Andrea (2013) Coranderrk: we
is working on this important project, and particularly to will show the country, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Aunty Vera Briggs and Vaso Elefsiniotisat at VAEAI and Julie
Minutes of Evidence website, available at: http://www.
Evans and Giordano Nanni at The University of Melbourne.
minutesofevidence.com.au
Thank you for your ongoing, kind and unflinching support.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
In addition, I wish to thank the team at the DEECD,
Peoples (2007) available at:
represented by Frank Gaylard, all of the writers and
creators involved to this point (including teachers trialling http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_
materials and offering feedback) and the many others who en.pdf
at this time are too numerous to mention here. It goes
without saying that ventures such as this are intrinsically Suggested further reading/resources of interest
team efforts and can only ever hope to be useful if people Bunjilaka website, available at: http://museumvictoria.com.
are pulling in the same direction. au/bunjilaka/
If you are interested in collaborating on this project, or for Healesville Sanctuary website, available at: http://www.zoo.
more information as the project progresses, please email org.au/healesville
sevcoranderrkcurriculum@gmail.com.
La Mama theatre website, available at: http://lamama.com.
au
References
Ilbijerri Theatre Company website, available at: http://
Dodson, Mick (2010) Challenges and Opportunities in
ilbijerri.com.au
Australian Indigenous Education, in Ilana Snyder and
John Nieuwenhuysen (eds) Closing the Gap in Education?
Improving Outcomes in Southern World Societies, Monash
University Publishing, available at:
http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/
view/Closing+the+Gap+in+Education%3F/182/xhtml/
part01chapter01.html

Artwork Title: Corroboree. Artist: William Barak

Barak, one of the key historical voices in the Coranderrk story used his paintings to continue to pass on
banned Aboriginal History and Culture, including Corroborees.
Acknowledgement: State Library of Victoria

14 Ethos Vol 22 No 4 Term 4 2014