Life learner values NAIDOC for all Australians
SYDNEY University senior lecturer and NAIDOC Committee member Lynette Riley is an Aboriginal Wiradjuri woman, raised in Dubbo, and also Gamilaroi with connections to Moree.
She has been involved in Aboriginal Education since the early 1980’s and has held numerous positions of leadership including NSW Department of Education Aboriginal Education State director, Western Institute of TAFE (WIT) campus manager and Aboriginal development manager, University of New England Aboriginal Education senior lecturer and Oorala Centre director where she led the direction for Aboriginal Education in schools, TAFE and Universities.
Ms Riley was also jointly responsible for establishing the first policy for Aboriginal Education (1982) and the documents to support implementation, for the NSW Department of Education’s Aboriginal Education Unit.
“I currently lead Aboriginal Education and Indigenous Studies at the University of Sydney.
You might say Aboriginal Education is my purpose in life, which entails helping the wider community have a greater understanding of Aboriginal people’s cultures, histories and knowledges,” Ms Riley told
She joined the NAIDOC Committee in 2018 because National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Week “is important to celebrate our cultures nationally”.
“The theme this year is: Always Was. Always will Be. The theme for 2020 has been developed to shine a focus on the length of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander occupation of Australia,” Ms Riley said.
Sydney University senior lecturer and NAIDOC Committee member Lynette Riley, an Aboriginal Wiradjuri/ Gamilaroi woman who was raised in Dubbo, believes NAIDOC is an opportunity for learning – for all Australians.
“In our narratives Aboriginal people talk of continuous occupation of being here when time began, we are part of the Dreaming – past, present and future. Anthropologists and archaeologists have dated our sites to being hundreds of thousands years old, in fact recording some of these sites as being the oldest on this planet.
“Additionally, the NAIDOC Theme seeks to get teachers, students and community to explore and learn about, and appreciate the wealth and breadth of Indigenous Nations, languages and knowledge of this continent.
“Exploring and learning about Indigenous understandings of the environment, plants, animals, greater astronomy and cosmology, waters, land use and protection, Indigenous sciences and maths.
“We need to question ourselves and understand how does learning this knowledge expand current western teachings to have a greater understanding of the world around us as individuals, as a community of learners and activists in looking after our environments?” she said.
Ms Riley encourages all Australians, especially students, to visit the NAIDOC website.
“Teaching ideas on the site, which relate directly to supporting teachers in addressing the Australian Curriculum include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture cross-curriculum priority; with provision of content that can be used across multiple learning areas and stages/grades from Foundational Studies to Year 12. The material in the NAIDOC site may also be relevant to VET and University students undertaking Indigenous Studies,” Mr Riley said. The NAIDOC website is:
www.naidoc.org.au