Seven Aboriginal teachers from remote central Australian communities launched their new book We Always Stay last Thursday at the Central Land Council in Alice Springs.
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Co-written with the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education’s Lisa Hall, We Always Stay documents the teacher’s education journey and raises awareness of the achievements of Aboriginal teachers and the barriers they face.
The teachers, all women, have worked in their community schools for more than 30 years beating significant odds to get ahead in their profession and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
“I hope people can hear my story and how people helped me, all the community people… how my family helped me,” Fiona Gibson, a teacher at Nyirrpi a small community five hours northwest of Alice Springs, said.
“Then community people can see it for themselves and start thinking ‘we might ask to study’ because our community needs more Yapa [Aboriginal) teachers.”
Linda Anderson, from Papunya, said “I think it is really important to have Anangu [Aboriginal] teachers in our classrooms because they know the culture from the inside.”
Ms Anderson’s teaching career shows how, with the right support, bi-lingual and bi-cultural local teachers can make an enormous contribution to both their communities and their non-Aboriginal colleagues, who rarely stay long out bush.
“Kardiya [non-Aboriginal] teachers are just visitors. We are the ones who will always be here, teaching our kids,” Barbara Martin from Yuendumu, said.
Ms Martin and three of her co-authors are members of the CLC’s Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (WETT), a community development program which funded the book from gold mining royalties.
We Always Stay is available from www.batchelorpress.com for $35.
