Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:47:58.652Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cherbourg State School in Historical Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

Grace Sarra
Grace Sarra*
Affiliation:
School of Education, Queensland University of Technology, PO Box 1376, Caboolture, Queensland, 4510, Australia
Get access

Abstract

Cherbourg State School is some 300 kilometres northwest of Brisbane. It is situated in an Aboriginal community at Cherbourg with approximately 250 students, all of whom are Indigenous Australian children. Cherbourg State School aims to generate good academic outcomes for its students from kindergarten to Year 7 and nurture a strong and positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in today's society. In a context where the community continues to grapple with many social issues born of the historical processes of dispossession and disempowerment, Cherbourg State School is determined that its children can and will learn to become “Strong and Smart”. It is a journey that has been charted by Chris Sarra, the school's first Aboriginal principal, in his paper Young and Black and Deadly: Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Indigenous Students (2003), which describes how pride and expectations were engendered in the school over a four-year period from 1998. In this paper I will discuss the historical context of the school and its impact on the Indigenous people of Cherbourg. My aim here has been to consider the historical, political, social and cultural context around the creation of Cherbourg State School. I critically examine the historical records of the role of the State Government and the white settlers in the setting up and creation of the Aboriginal Reserve and later the primary school. Throughout I address an absence – a voice missing from history – the voice of the Aboriginal people. This exercise in collective memory was designed to provide an opportunity for those who have seldom been given the opportunity to tell their story. Instead of the official view of Cherbourg School it provides a narrative which restores the victims of history to a place of dignity and indeed humanity.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , 2008 , pp. 108 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benjamin, W. (1979). Illuminations. London: Fontana.Google Scholar
Berger, J. (1979). Historical afterward. In Berger, J. (Ed.), Pig earth (pp. 195–213). London: Writers & Readers Publishing Coop.Google Scholar
Bhaskar, R. (1989). Reclaiming reality. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Bhaskar, R. (1991). Phibsophy and the idea of freedom. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Blake, T. (2001). A history of the Cherbourg settlement: A dumping ground. Brisbane, QLD: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
Chadwick, G., to Department of Public Instruction, 3 September 1936, QSA A/15995.Google Scholar
Cherbourg State School. (1957). School Report. Commonwealth of Australia (1997).Google Scholar
Cilento, R., & Lack, C. (1959). Triumph in the tropics: An historical sketch of Queensland (1770-1959). Brisbane, QLD: Smith & Paterson.Google Scholar
Deer, B. (1987). Defining social affairs. Retrieved 2 May, 2006, from http://briandeer.com/social/thatcher-society.htm.Google Scholar
District Inspector to Department of Public Instruction, 8 August 1917, QSA Hom/J423 22/3053.Google Scholar
District Inspector to Department of Public Instruction, Cherbourg 1932–1936, QSA EDU/Z569.Google Scholar
District Inspector to Department of Public Instruction, 1 June 1938, QSA A/15999.Google Scholar
Edmund Rice Centre. (2000). What will “Sorry” mean for Australia? Just Comment, 3(9). Retrieved 5 July, 2005, from http://www.erc.org.au/issues/text/sa00.htm.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W F. (1991). The philosophy of history. New York, NY: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. (1997). On history. London: Abacus.Google Scholar
Home Secretary's Department to Visiting Justice, 15 July 1927, HOM/J637.Google Scholar
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). (1997). Bringing them home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. Retrieved 5 July, 2005, from http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/stolen11.html#Heading39.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, W. (Ed.). (1978). The portable Nietzsche. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.Google Scholar
Kidd, R. (1997). The way we civilise: Aboriginal Affairs the untold story. Brisbane, QLD: University of Queensland Press.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, S., & Clark, A. (2003). The history wars. Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Manne, R. (2001). In denial: the stolen generations and the right (Quarterly Essay, 1). Melbourne, VIC: Black Inc.Google Scholar
McConaghy, C. (2000). Rethinking Indigenous education: Culturalism, colonialism and the politics of knowing. Brisbane, QLD: Post Pressed.Google Scholar
Narogin, M. (1990). Writing from the fringe: A study of modem Aboriginal literature. Flemington, VIC: Hyland House Publishers.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, F. (1957). The use and abuse of history (Collins, A., Trans.). New York, NY: Liberal Arts Press.Google Scholar
Nunuccal, O. (n.d.). The Teachers. Retrieved 5 May, 2006, from http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1993/121/121p14b.htm.Google Scholar
Office of the Visiting Justice to Home Secretary's Office, 9 November 1910, QSA A/31708.Google Scholar
Queensland Government (1956). Report Upon the Operations of the Sub-Department of Native Affairs, ‘Eventide’(Sandgate), ‘Eventide’(Charters lowers), ‘Eventide’ (Rockhampton), Institution for Inebriates (Marburg) and Queensland Industrial Institution for the Blind (South Brisbane), Brisbane, Government Printer.Google Scholar
Roth, W. (1906). Annual Report of Chief Protector.Google Scholar
Sarra, C. (2003). Young and black and deadly: Strategies for improving outcomes for Indigenous students (Quality Teaching Series 5). Deakin West, ACT: Australian College of Educators.Google Scholar
Sarra, C. (2005). Strong and smart: Reinforcing Aboriginal perceptions of being Aboriginal. Unpublished PhD thesis, Murdoch University, Perth.Google Scholar
Skelton, R. G., to Department of Public Instruction, 18 November, 1919, QSA A/15993.Google Scholar
Skelton, R. G., to Under Secretary Department of Public Instruction, 19 October 1922, QSA A/31708.Google Scholar
Strong & Smart Foundation (2004). Black on track – 100 years of the Cherbourg State School, 2004. DVD.Google Scholar
Superintendent to Director of Native Affairs, 1 April 1948, SRS 4320/1, QSA A/55336.Google Scholar
Wilson, L., to Deputy Premier, 11 June 1934, QSA A/3699, 34/5048.Google Scholar
Windschuttle, K. (2001). Why there should be no Aboriginal treaty. Quadrant, 45(10), 15–24.Google Scholar
Windschuttle, K. (2003). The fabrication of Aboriginal history. Vol. 1, Van Diemen's Land 1803-1847. Sydney, NSW: Macleay Press.Google Scholar
Windschuttle, K. (2004). The White Australia Policy. Sydney, NSW: Macleay Press.Google Scholar
Wyschogrod, E. (1998) An ethics of remembering: History, heterology and the nameless others. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar