The benefits of cultural awareness training for workplaces are often spoken about. We talk about the role that cultural awareness training has in improving workplace culture; in improving both internal and external workplace communications; and in better servicing Aboriginal clients.

But we don’t often talk about the effects that extend beyond the workplace. 

Reading social media these days is hard. Everyone has an opinion about everything, and people seem much more comfortable expressing racism from the safety of the impersonal internet. Just in the last few days, I've read comments online saying a young man in a remote Northern Territory community deserved to be shot to death by police, and how it was ‘totally wrong’ to close the Uluru climb because ‘it never hurt the rock’ and ‘the Aboriginals are lying about cultural significance’. Today, I read a post that could have been from 100 years ago: a man advertised that he and his wife ‘would like to help fire victims and have a spare room if you need it … no blacks or immigrants’. This is all on top of the everyday deluge of comments rife with racial hate and myths about Aboriginal people that are perpetuated by print and social media. 

Fear of the unknown and a lack of education are the primary reason these types of posts are so prevalent. Often, keyboard warriors make these alarming statements because they've never had an opportunity to learn about Aboriginal culture—they know no alternative to the myths and ignorance they enthusiastically spout. I've been delivering Aboriginal cultural awareness training for many, many years and I've found that most people become much more accepting of Aboriginal people and culture and open to Reconciliation, when they learn the story of the Aboriginal peoples, and how we got to where we are today. 

Many participants have never heard about Australia’s history with Aboriginal people from an Aboriginal perspective. Cultural awareness training is the first time they've heard the stories of people from the Stolen Generation, or of families forced to live on missions, with no control over any aspect of their lives. ‘Why weren’t we taught this in school?’ is a common response when we talk about past government policies, about the denial of Aboriginal people’s rights to practice culture and the way they were treated by non-Aboriginal people—about how in the past racism was so systematic, and how in many ways it continues to be. 

Cultural awareness training in the workplace can support people to take a stand against the culturally insensitive—or downright racist—posts that are put out into the world every day. It arms people with the knowledge to see through misinformation, so that they don't help spread the myths that fuel hate against our First Nations. By giving people knowledge, training gives people the confidence to challenge the racist rhetoric we all seem to have become so complacent about. 
​
Often employers don’t think they'll benefit from cultural awareness training for their staff because they don’t service Aboriginal people or have any Aboriginal staff. But consider the wider impact: training your staff not only increases their capacity, which strengthens your business, but also, in the case of cultural awareness training, can help protect your reputation. Often, misguided racist comments are made by employees on their workplace social media profile, and I watch as offended readers tag the employers asking them to take action, or demand others boycott them. It's something to consider: if making a positive social contribution is not reason enough to consider cultural awareness training for your workplace, then the potential PR implications if you don't might be. 

The Australian curriculum has broadened the definition of texts to include materials that are written, spoken, multimodal, and in print or digital form. It might be thought that the more modern texts are more relevant to the students of today. However, one form of text - that has existed in continuous use for millennia - lends itself to the teaching of all text types and KLAs – that is, the Dreaming Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
 
Dreaming stories can be explored as an oral tradition or a written text and may include words from the originating Indigenous language (for example “waradah”).
 
Dreaming stories often contain aspects from three main text types, being imaginative, informative and persuasive. Their purpose was to pass on information about culture, language and custom from those with experience to a younger, learning audience. To this end the stories needed to entertain as well as to retell, to instruct, to explain and to argue.
 
Dreaming stories can be a great tool in sharing and teaching Aboriginal perspectives across a number of key learning areas. For example, in STEM subjects, Dreaming stories can be used to:

• explore biological features and adaptations of native plants and animals, 
• investigate environmental sustainability; and 
• learn about the physical science of tool manufacture; and
• unravel the chemical science involved in traditional cooking and medicine.

 
In History and Geography, Dreaming stories can provide an Aboriginal perspective on:

• the formation of geographic features; and 
• the reasons for certain connections between people and the land; and
• customs, culture and kinship systems.

 
Being respectful of the stories you use as well as the people who own them is key to successfully including Dreaming stories in your classroom. 
 
Traditionally these stories were used to share knowledge and pass information from Elders to the next generation. They carried lore, beliefs and practical knowledge so that culture and lifestyle could continue from one generation to the next. 
 
In modern Australia, Dreaming stories continue to play an important role in sharing, maintaining and supporting the continuation of Aboriginal culture. They are still used today among Aboriginal communities to share knowledge as they have always been used but they are also a great tool in sharing culture and knowledge with non-Aboriginal people. 
 
There are a couple of things to remember when using Dreaming stories as a teaching tool. 

1. Choose stories that have been published or broadcast by reputable sources in conjunction with Aboriginal people 

The stories shared with non-Aboriginal people may be varied to protect sacred knowledge that shouldn’t be shared beyond the Traditional Owners. Because of this there are often a few versions of the same story. The versions of stories that are shared in quality books or shared through well-known broadcasters have been developed in consultation with the owners of the stories and the appropriate versions used. When choosing sources for Dreaming stories look for acknowledgement of the story origin. Quality resources will list the Language Group and the people involved in the production of the resource. 

2. Acknowledge the origin of the story and the people who own it 
​
It is important when sharing Dreaming stories that you acknowledge where the story came from. The story belongs to the Language Group where the story originates. It is their culture, their knowledge and their intellectual property. Spend some time talking about the Language Group – name them, locate their country on a map and acknowledge that they have shared the story. Choosing quality resources will support you in doing this. Some stories originate from more than one mob, for instance a number of Language Groups have a story about a frog that drinks all the water. It is important to make sure you acknowledge the correct owners of the version you are using. 

We often hear the phrase “Australia’s dark past” in reference to unpleasant aspects of post-colonial history in this country. It includes the deaths of Aboriginal People through disease spread by Europeans; the injuries and deaths caused by conflicts between the expanding colony and the traditional owners; Indigenous incarceration at a rate far higher than their proportion of the population; the theft of wages for forced work and the stealing of children from their families in the pursuit of assimilation.

The conflicts between the European invaders and Traditional Custodians are commonly referred to as the “Frontier Wars”. It is another term used to describe conflict between the European invaders and the traditional owners and conjures a picture of frontiers the world over where territories have been disputed and fought for. 

The advanced weaponry of the European invaders usually saw a higher number of fatalities on the Aboriginal side of the conflicts. 

Many of these conflicts have now been declared “massacres”. The most heinous of these aren’t adequately described by the term “Frontier War”. They were the massacres that went beyond disputes over property or territory and saw white law enforcers exceed their legal duty and undertake murders of innocent, unarmed Aboriginal People. And while this occurred outside the limits of Australian law, the white perpetrators were rarely brought to justice.

It is hard to imagine now that massacres of Aboriginal families could have been officially sanctioned but that was the case less than a century ago near Coniston in Central Australia.

Coniston was a cattle station in Central Australia. 1928 was a time of severe drought which meant many people - Anmatyerr mob, Kaytetje and Warlpiri - migrated to an area near the cattle property known for water springs (Yaruku and Yurrkuru).

Randall Stafford, a pastoralist, had built Coniston Station and claimed the Yurrkuru spring as part of his land. The drought in 1928 had caused him to sell his cattle and lay off his worker, Fred Brooks. Brooks set up his camp next to Yurrkuru and was the first white man that many of the new arrivals to the soakage had ever seen.

But one of the men who arrived, an Aboriginal man known as Bullfrog, was familiar with white people and keen for some tobacco. He sent his wife, Napurrurla, to the white man’s tent to ask for tobacco. Brooks made her do jobs to earn the tobacco and when she didn’t return it was believed that Bullfrog had lost his promised wife to the white man. He was so angry he went to Brooks’ tent and killed him. He quickly buried the body and fled the area.

After Brooks’ body was found the police in Alice Springs sent mounted Constable George Murray (who was also Protector of Aborigines) to Coniston Station. He had orders to find who murdered Fred Brooks, and bring them into town so he put together a posse of station workers to help him.

They found a group of Aboriginal people near the waterhole and opened fire. A few escaped to the hills but everyone else was shot and killed. Murray was supposed to question witnesses and bring suspects into Alice Springs. But, unable to find Bullfrog, he undertook a series of reprisals killing between 14 August and 18 October. Over 60 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed over the following months. 

This massacre was illegal by Australian law but the perpetrators were never charged and their actions were considered to be in “self-defence”. This August we remember the fallen at Coniston. Reflecting on one tragedy helps to personalise the staggering statistic that nearly 250 massacres occurred in Australia between 1788 and 1930!

A project to map the locations and scale of massacres across Australia is being undertaken by the University of Newcastle. You can view the results online at: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/map.php

The Guardian also has used the same data to create a map of sites where violence occurred on the Australian frontier: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2019/mar/04/massacre-map-australia-the-killing-times-frontier-wars
​
These tools can help to educate all Australians about the truth of the land we now share. We need to confront this dark past in order to make a better future.

Next Sunday, 4 August, is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, a day for all Australians to show their support for and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The weeks surrounding the day provide classrooms with a great opportunity to explore this year’s theme, “We Play, We Learn, We Belong”, and promote the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
 
Here are 5 deadly activities to celebrate National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day with your kids: 
 
Activity 1: Our FREE downloadable colouring-in sheet. 
 
Get your kids thinking more about this year’s theme with our free downloadable colouring-in sheet. Have a discussion about what each of the topics mean as they colour in each section. Download available below. 
 
Activity 2: Play traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games with our FREE downloadable instructions. 
 
Have a blast with your kids playing one or more of the traditional games using our detailed instructions. Download available below. 
 
Activity 3: Learn more about traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander toys and games. 
 
Log in to Wingaru Kids or Wingaru Bubs and watch our “Traditional Toys” video and discover what they were made from and how they were played. 
 
For primary school teachers, complete the STEM activities with your students and test their knowledge with digital activities. 
 
For early learning educators, print out our “Traditional Toys” poster and matching card game or play a digital matching game identifying if a toy is modern or traditional. 
 
Don’t have a Wingaru Kids account? Primary schools can access our “Traditional Toys” lesson by requesting a free trial of the platform www.wingaru.com.au/wingaru-kids-trial.html
 
Activity 4: Celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people 
 
What great things are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people doing in your school or local community? Celebrate these by creating artworks representing their achievements and display them in your classroom.  
 
Activity 5: Celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture with storytelling 
 
Invite a member of your local Aboriginal community into your classroom to share a Dreaming story. 
 
For more Dreaming stories from around Australia log into Wingaru Kids or Wingaru Bubs and access videos, digital activities and printables.  

​Tip 1: Participate in a simultaneous learning experience with “All Together Now for Reconciliation”. 
 
Across Australia children in early learning centres, primary and high schools, can simultaneously join the reconciliation movement and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices via a new exciting online platform we have developed in partnership with Reconciliation NSW.
 
“All Together Now for Reconciliation” is a simultaneous classroom experience specially created to provide easy and accessible cultural content and is a great way to engage kids in activities for National Reconciliation Week. Each stage explores the 2019 Schools Reconciliation Challenge theme, “Speaking and Listening from the Heart”. Students investigate truth telling and what it takes to walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with courage and pride.
 
To participate join us online at www.togethernow.com.au. Available until 30 June 2019.
 
Tip 2: Learn more about this year’s theme.
 
Visit the Reconciliation Australia website to learn more about the 2019 theme “Grounded in Truth, Walk Together with Courage”. While you’re there download this year’s poster to display in your classroom.
 
Tip 3: Have an open discussion in your classroom. 
 
What does reconciliation mean to your students? Encourage your students to explores the five dimensions of reconciliation as identified by the State of Reconciliation in Australian 2016 Report – historical acceptance, race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity and unity. 
 
Tip 4: Learn more about the significance of the dates at the beginning and end of National Reconciliation Week. 
 
National Reconciliation Week is held on the same dates every year – 27 May to 3 June. Both these dates mark two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, which gave the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to include them in the Census; and the High Court Mabo decision, which saw the concept of terra nullius overturned. 
 
Our Wingaru Kids platform provides informative and engaging lessons on both these important dates with our “1967 Referendum” and “Mabo” lessons. Each lesson includes a lesson plan, curriculum outcomes, video, digital activities and printable resources. 
 
Tip 5: Check out one of the Reconciliation activities 
 
National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. Support your students to attend local events and invite them to share their experiences with the class.