The research on which this article is based was undertaken at Pularumpi, Melville Island, Northern Territory in 1984-85. At the time I was employed as the adult educator for Pularumpi, and was conducting courses and classes which involved mathematics at various levels - a course in metrication for the technical staff; mathematics for specific purposes for the health workers, police aides, Council and Housing Association bookkeepers, and for the Essential Services apprentices.

In all this I was never too sure of my methodology: what was the most effective way of helping these adults to learn? The basic problem was that I had no information of their pre-knowledge - the mathematical knowledge they possessed prior to their entry into the classes. Most had formal education to a secondary level, a few had completed secondary schooling in Darwin, Perth or Melbourne, with mixed results. Beyond that formal knowledge, however, I needed to know the students mathematical preconceptions so that I could more effectively assist them to learn the specific purpose mathematics they needed for the jobs they held.

In 1984, the Northern Territory Education Department published a paper by Pam Harris, Money in Aboriginal Communities. This was the first academic work I had encountered which addressed my needs as an educator in this area. Harris examined modern shopping practices and posited a theory of attitudes to numeracy. This information was presented in a readable form and in an effort to assist educators of Aboriginals in mathematics.