Since 1980 the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education has implemented a new style of program for the Higher School Certificate course. Australian history is a Group 1 subject within this restructured program.

Australian history, according to most literature, is only two hundred years old. In teaching Australian history some teachers have ‘done’ the Aborigines by studying a traditional precontact history. Teachers may have even allocated a whole week to such a program, relying mainly on resource material available on northern or desert peoples. There has been virtually no work done on Victorian Aborigines and very little done on both contemporary and contact history in relation to the traditional history. There is now an option open to teachers to teach Aboriginal history as the HSC core subject, “Aborigional society before European settlement” and “European settlement and the effects on Aboriginal society”, or as the option subject, “Aborigines in the twentieth century”. This has placed an increased demand on the services offered by Aboriginal Education Services. A number of teachers are electing to teach either all three units or a combination of the units. The problem then arises that teachers themselves often have information which is limited, inaccurate and irrelevant.

The archetypal image of an Aborigine standing on one leg on the edge of a precipice, peering out across the horizon, holding a spear and wearing a red ‘nappy’, is often the only picture that the schooling system has presented of an Aboriginal. It is no wonder then that electing to teach even one of the units offered suggests a dramatic redirection of thought. Not only does traditional resource material require revision, but an Aboriginal perspective is essential. This perspective will then validate Australian history.