Western Australia

Kidlink Early Intervention program (Inc.)

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Koorliny Together

("Koorliny" means" walking" in Noongar, the local Aboriginal language.)

$43,200 Awarded

| Aims | Activities | Outcomes |

Aims

This project, now completed, aimed to:

  • address and resolve racial issues and conflict within the school and local community

  • promote understanding and awareness, demystify cultural myths and increase harmony between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students at the Kwinana Senior High School

  • develop trust between cultural groups and create more positive attitudes to cultural diversity

  • promote positive changes of attitudes within the school and wider community

  • provide opportunities for different cultures to come together to learn new skills and learn about other cultures

Activities

The project:

  • set up a wide-ranging consultative/steering committee made up of representatives from a number of community agencies including:

    • Kwinana Senior High School;

    • Family and Children's Services

    • Kwinana Community Health and Development Centre

    • Medina Aboriginal Cultural Group

    • Town of Kwinana

    • Kwinana Youth Services

    • Kidlink

  • identified racial conflict issues via anecdotal information, survey, observation and reporting

  • assisted Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students to address issues of conflict at Kwinana Senior High School by providing:

    • a review, information and advice on the school's current practice regarding response to conflict

    • direct mediation service for conflicts

    • peer mediation program for students

    • training in mediation/conflict resolution for staff

    • a counsellor within student services

    • anti-racism training for year 8 students

    • an (Aboriginal) Cultural Awareness day for year 8

    • advice on implementation of the anti-racism policy of the Education Department of Western Australia (EDWA) and help to incorporate it into school procedures

    • assistance in advocacy with EDWA to restore Aboriginal Liaison Officer support on the school staff

    • an LIH poetry competition and a script for a Reconciliation Day play (from the Reconciliation Council of WA) for students

  • held two cultural awareness training workshops for the community

  • arranged for Aboriginal elders and other speakers to share stories and knowledge of the area at meetings with the local community

  • are creating (at present in draft, pending further funding) a culturally accurate history of the local area in a video documentary showing, through a collection of narratives, previously neglected aspects of anglo-centric local history, including:

    • traditional Aboriginal life in the area

    • first contact between local Aboriginal people and white explorers

    • how the development of the small township of Medina in the 1950s into the vast oil refinery of Kwinana, and the arrival of many British and other overseas workers, had effectively submerged the local Indigenous culture

    • what would be necessary to revive the traditional culture

    • contributions of early migrants to area, eg market gardening, dairy farms

Outcomes

The project:

  • reported that although racial attitudes still exist, and there is still conflict at the school, the processes for dealing with the conflict have improved as a direct result of the project

  • was unable to complete the originally planned questionnaire to measure community attitudes towards racism over the course of the project, but informally observed that it challenged attitudes, stereotypes and belief systems

  • gave the Aboriginal story tellers the chance for themselves and others to see and value their contribution to the developing Kwinana community

  • found some difficulty in dovetailing activities with the school, and that time was needed for building working effective relationships with staff for the change strategies

  • found that the film project, although not yet completed pending obtaining further funding from other organisation(s):

    • attracted a further grant from the City of Kwinana to help train young people in film-making techniques to assist in creation of the documentary under an experienced community film maker

    • brought many diverse people together

    • has developed an increased understanding and awareness both of the Aboriginal community and of the migrant history in the area

  • hopes to show the documentary:

    • at the Kwinana festival

    • on SBS and/or Channel 31 community television

    • at Community Arts Centre screening(s)

    • at high school and upper primary school events

    • (and house it) at the Battye Library and Kwinana Library

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