Indigenous Cultural Appreciation Program

The University of Wollongong has initiated an Indigenous Cultural Appreciation Program in 2002 as part of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy and to coincide with the start of the GATE employment program.

This program, delivered by Paul Knight of Practical Focus Pty Ltd, has had nearly 60 participants over the 5 sessions in 2002. These sessions were clearly beneficial to participants with sessions achieving an overall 5.7 out of 7 on the standard Career Development Unit Participation Satisfaction Index.

While participants were generally self nominated for the training, non-Indigenous staff working for the first time with Indigenous Australians were strongly encouraged to attend. This encouraged a wide cross-section of staff from most of the faculties across the University of Wollongong's main campus as well as the Shoalhaven campus to attend.

The content of the training covers many of the contemporary issues facing Indigenous Australians and includes:

• What is Culture?
• Population Statistics
• Employment
• Education
• Reconciliation
• Stolen Generation
• Language and Culture
• Substance Abuse
• Assimilation
• Self Determination
• Land Rights
• Legislation
  

The training aims to provide participants with an understanding of the implications of history in shaping the current situation of Indigenous peoples.

The training is uniquely delivered using a multi-media format and provides considerable opportunity for participants to reflect and ask questions in a non-judgmental environment, thereby removing the feeling of participants being blamed for the past injustices and allowing them to leave with a considerable understanding of the contemporary position of Indigenous people.

Participant Comments

"The course was great. I got a lot out of it. Paul is an excellent presenter. What I enjoyed most was the way in which Paul focussed the presentation on contemporary aboriginal culture and experience which, considering the usual focus is on the traditional culture, was very useful. I felt he geared it well toward what can be expected in a campus situation."

"Made me aware of how much I didn't know."

"The workshop covered a lot of ground and presented different perspectives, without anything delivered as 'gospel' - it was all open to questioning and interpretation, which made it much more interesting."

Contact

For further information contact:
Project Officer, Indigenous Employment