FMD, I’m sorry but that’s just ridiculous to celebrate a national day because the date (when spoken the American way) sounds like mate.
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None of that was ever covered in my schooling. I can only remember History in high school being Ancient History one year and Modern History the next year. You then had to select it as an elective in following years. I don’t recall Australian history featuring in any of that.
We also did Social Studies/Asian Studies before Geography as an elective. We learnt more about Asia than Australia.
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I was refraining from commenting because of the topic but it seems that horse has bolted and is now running in the Melbourne Cup 3 years away… so hopefully this and the others will be moved to a more appropriate thread.
To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember too much about what we learned back in school and it’s all mixed in with bits that I’ve heard since then. I did know there was the difference between the referendum and the right to vote.
Being in Tasmania we covered the Tasmanian Aborogine history a reasonable amount although to add to the trifecta of missing staples from my education, I’ve never been to Tiagarra which is an Aboriginal museum here in Devonport. It was something that every primary school student in the area did at least once along with school camps and going to Joe Lyon’s house… all three are missing from my education CV!
Anyway, I’m quite indifferent to changing the date. I can see the hurt and the pain that it brings up but I’m quite surprised if it was a 1994 thing of January 26th that it was under a Labor government that must have made that decision. Was there any backlash at the time about changing the date?
I want a discussion to be able to occur so that real progress and discussions can be made to make a unified Australia. The past has happened and there has been some abhorrent things but we need to look to the future and we need everyone to be able to support the future. I would prefer a celebration (yes, I actually want a day where we can celebrate being Australian, all of us) in the summer months or on the edges because a Tassie BBQ in May is not ideal!
Unfortunately, in Tasmania the Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation aren’t the greatest for showing me that progress can be made easily. I’ve seen many posts in the past and many of their events which have unfortunately looked more like just wanting to cause trouble and get on TV than to look for real progress and meaning, although they have been involved in some good things with dual naming now occurring more but I’ve seen them turn actual discussions into a screaming match and arrests and the topics of discussion changed to others and pretty much telling all whites to move off the island.
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Yes we did Myall Creek and Tasmanian Genocide in Year 10 history back in the mid 90s
I am like you. I’m 36 and even I can’t remember even doing anything on aboriginal culture nor history in secondary college or primary school. we touched very briefly on it on tafe when I was doing a tafe equvlent of high school but it wasn’t much. and yes I want us all to celebrate being Australian as one. maybe not may 8 as thought as some suggest to my now deleted to post. I do believe there are good and bad in every culture even in aboriginal culture. i also can see the hurt and pain it brings up every Australia day. this is why I am suggesting we all get together and start talking. and hopefully one day we can bring about change. now referring to the good and bad in every culture . the western highway -freeway duplication near my old home town of Ararat here in VIC is a prime example. the local aboriginal tribes IMO are making them selfs an embarrassment in what they have and are causing to try and stop this from going ahead. even the local elder has said she wanted to go to every resident and pop in their letterbox an apology letter for everything they have caused. i have read a report in the local paper, they have been in the past going up and harassing a local farmer and not allowing him to do the things he needs to do
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My question now is: regardless of losing a public holiday, what reason is there not to change the date of Australia Day?
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Politics - if you’re in the opposition demand it must be changed now and if you’re in the government then it’s taking the heat off the other issues and no doubt you’ve got your list of arguments already there.
Change the government and suddenly things aren’t a priority as they were in the opposition and next Aus Day it’ll become the hottest most important topic by the new opposition.
Rinse, repeat and have the same arguments in 30 years time.
/cynical
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About that - shocking, but in parts not necessarily surprising that PM Scott Morrison said this a few days ago:
“You know, when those 12 ships turned up in Sydney, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either.”
It was thought to be him
drawing a false equivalence between those aboard the First Fleet and the experience of Australia’s Indigenous people.
And I guess you could tell by now that Scott Morrison doesn’t want to change the date.
“It’s not even a debate we’re having at the moment. I don’t want to be distracted by that,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.
Politics really does play a big part in this, and probably one of the only reasons holding this date up as you suggested.
I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but that’s seemingly what the ABC is questioning.
So, should we buckle up for another three decades of wearying debate?
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I wouldn’t say so. I can’t speak for anyone else my age, but I did an entire term’s worth of work on Australian history when I was in Year 4 and Year 9. My Year 4 unit of work on Australian history was mainly based on the early European-settlers and focused on the histories of Ned Kelly, Dirk Hartog, Charles Sturt etc., however this was back in 2009. Political correctness and social media culture wasn’t as big then, so the history-based curriculum in primary schools has likely changed since.
When I was in Year 9 back in 2014, however, the unit of work we did on Australian History in HSIE (History & Geography) was taught entirely from an Indigenous perspective. We were taught about the Mabo decision, the Stolen Generation, the history of the Assimilation polices etc. We also watched “Rabbit-Proof Fence” in class.
That seems a bit light on compared to what I learnt in the 80s and 90s. Perhaps I got lucky. Perhaps it was extra curricular reading on my part.
Well i’m only summarising on what was taught to be fair, but I wouldn’t say that the people who went through K-12 schooling since the turn of the millennium are any worse off when it comes to being taught Australian history. Thanks to social media and smartphones, learning about the history of our past is more accessible than it ever has been.
As is misinformation and alternative facts. Kids today would require a much stronge BS filter than previous generations.
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I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing, you can’t wrap young people in cotton wool and pretend that other people don’t have those extremist beliefs. They need to be taught that those viewpoints are factually wrong and potentially offensive. Besides, who’s to say that the school curriculum isn’t being taught to kids with a degree of factual bias, especially when you consider the fact that the curriculum itself most likely would have been compiled without hearing the perspectives and facts from our Indigenous people beforehand.
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What electorate does Scott Morrison represent again? Oh that’s right, the one named after James Cook. This along with his past form with very nationalistic opinions (eg, complaining about the decision to drop the national anthem from State of Origin matches) tell you everything you need to know.
We had Australian History as a Year 9 subject back in the 1980s (Victoria) but it was a very whitewashed view of history IIRC. We also had an American teacher who didn’t really have any appreciation of Australian history, so that didn’t help either.
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The Myall Creek Massacre and also the treatment of Indigenous people in Tasmania was covered in quite a bit of detail during Year 5 at my school. And I went through the system relatively recently too.
What is taught may vary based on the state.
Wow. If only they were more like white people I guess.
So it’s embarrassing to you that they want to preserve cultural heritage which goes back centuries probably longer on that site?
Here’s a good read about those trees.
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Why can’t it be the date they first celebrated Australia Day? Being 30th July when they raised funds for World War 1? It’s only been on the 26th since 1994.
We did too. But our australian history was watching crocodile Dundee and learning Australian slang… the Australian history subject is an absolute joke and I really do hope they are doing it better now.
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