One day a teacher came to me declaring he was totally unable to teach oral English to his Grade 1 class. A young teacher in trouble. Of course I must give a demonstration lesson. I sat the children on chairs in a circle and started out with the patter, “I’m David, you’re Fred”, “I’m David, you’re Jane”, “I’m David, you’re Bill”. As we proceeded I noticed one lad, even by this early stage, was attempting hand-stands on his chair. “Come on. Stop that nonsense and sit down”, I growled, after my quieter pleadings had been ignored. The little five-year-old, knowing virtually no English, stopped, looked me straight in the eye, then grinning, gave himself three light pats on the bottom and sat down. I got out of that lesson as fast as I could, hoping the teacher was satisfied with the demonstration. He wasn’t.

I doubt that anyone would disagree with the need to establish a positive teacher/child relationship in any classroom situation. The fact is that most young children are expectant of this happening and are conditioned by their home environment and experience to relate to the school and the teacher. There is no doubt that this attitude tempers any sense of strangeness and assists in the development of a feeling of security so necessary to a successful school experience. Many of the steps taken to foster a positive relationship between teacher and pupils occur spontaneously and as a result of mutual interaction, on the basis of a common cultural background. In the case of Aboriginal children in a class situation, this common cultural background cannot be presumed to exist. Many aspects of the Aboriginal culture are vastly different from the European one, not the least of the differences being that the very concept of the school institution does not belong to the Aboriginal culture.

Some understanding of the basic cultural differences is necessary to provide for the building up of a feeling of mutual trust and ease. Suggestions, hopefully of a practical nature, are offered to facilitate this most important aspect of a class teacher’s responsibilities, for without it, I am convinced little meaningful learning will occur.

Cherbourg is situated on the Barambah Creek, about 300 km north west of Brisbane. The area of the reserve is approximately 4,000 hectares, adjoining 11,000 hectares of state forest. Cherbourg is 5 km from the township of Murgon and is the third largest Aboriginal settlement in Queensland.

Since 1973 Aboriginal teacher aides have been employed at Murgon High School in a variety of roles. Our jobs have included supervision in various classes and playground, helping small groups of students, resource work (cutting, stapling, cataloguing various materials for teachers), but our most important job is working on behalf of the Aboriginal students, with parents, council, principal and staff. This is part of our liaison work. This year there are about 100 Aboriginal students attending the high school in Murgon.

During 1979, with the help of some staff teachers, we worked on producing two booklets for teachers new to Murgon High. The first booklet, Cherbourg, looks at early history, facilities, industries and employment, as well as entertainment, places to visit and some of the local foods. We gathered information from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, as well as from interviewing people at home and at work. We also discussed a lot of ideas at our meetings, held three times a week. Bevan learned to use the S.LR camera, as well as to develop the photos, so he could look after the photographic aspect of the booklets. Students contributed written ideas and sketches.

Aboriginal communities all over Australia from time to time have to deal with their young people sniffing petrol. It seems to be a ‘craze’, like playing knucklebones or yo-yos. Suddenly everyone is doing it, and all the parents get worried. Then, sometimes, it suddenly stops happening – the kids get more interested in going out bush with the older people, or perhaps someone gets sick, or they might burn themselves with the petrol, and this frightens the others.

When kids sniff petrol they see ‘pictures’, feel dizzy and funny in the head, a little bit drunk, and they like to have those feelings. Young people (and older people) everywhere sometimes take drugs or drink alcohol to help them feel ‘high’. They do this sometimes when they feel depressed or angry, and it seems to help those feelings. Kids use petrol because it is available everywhere and is easy to get. But there is a big problem with petrol which makes it different from other things. It has LEAD in it, to make car engines run better – and lead is very harmful to people, especially children.

One way of trying to understand why children sniff petrol is to look at the ‘good’ things (from their point of view) they experience. Ask the question, “What problems are solved by this sniffing?”

Reading through the reports from different communities in Australia, and also in other countries, and talking to people in Aboriginal communities in South Australia, I noted some problems. There might be hunger. Some people think that sniffing petrol makes children forget about being hungry, and they notice that children who sniff a lot are very thin. There might be loneliness and feeling left out of things. When children sniff, they usually do it together in a group, and have fun together. They get ‘strong’ enough to take no notice of what their relatives and white people say. They get ‘strong’ enough to do things they would not normally do – like breaking into houses or the store, or ‘testing’ themselves against teachers or other people in authority. There might be boredom. When children sniff, they have exciting or frightening pictures in their minds, and they feel as if they can ‘travel around’in their head and visit other places. There might be worry. Children worry about family things (such as whether they have someone to care for them and make sure they have enough food and blankets), or about growing up and the future (what will happen to them if their relatives die; what will they do when they finish school?)

By sniffing petrol and feeling ‘high’ some of these problems are alleviated; there is excitement and stimulation; hunger is forgotten; the fun of being ‘different’ and having a group of friends who do the same thing makes up for being left out and being hit by older people. They can travel around in their heads and see lots of new things.

People under pressure often turn to drugs to help them cope with their difficulties. This seems to happen in nearly every culture in the world. Alcohol is the major drug used in Australia – by all the racial groups. Aboriginal children under pressure often turn to petrol sniffing. The habit seems to have been introduced to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory during World War II. What to do about it is a worrying problem because it often seems that the harder we try, the worse it gets.

A variety of statements made by Aboriginal people and groups about what they see as the aims of education is presented. There are diverse emphases but a common thread relates to the education of children in both cultures and a wish to see the children grow in competence in Western skills and knowledge but also retain their own culture and its associated knowledge, skills and values.

The following sets of statements, made by people from various locations throughout Australia, exhibit concern for the achievement of the basic skills, for education that will permit job access (including emphasis by some on education to tertiary level), for the development of skills to live in the modern industrialized world and/or to contribute to their own communities, and concerns expressed by many that children learn about their own culture, some seeing this as part of the school program and others believing it should be taught by the Aboriginal people themselves.