My story for starting Wadjela Learning

I chose djangkang (red wattle bird) because it is adaptive and thrives in suburbia

One question I often get asked, is ‘what got you into Aboriginal education?’. My first thought is, everyone should be interested in Aboriginal perspectives as we are living on Aboriginal land. But the more I thought about it the more I understood that if you are non-Aboriginal if you are a wadjela then you don't need to be thinking about Aboriginal perspectives and Aboriginal people in order for you to go about your life. As someone who has spent many years studying and teaching about Aboriginal history and perspectives I have gone through a few iterations of my response to this question.

At first, I attributed my fascination to social justice, I was drawn to stories all over the world of injustice and the powerful stories of those who fought it. I wanted to be one of those people. I wanted to know more about the dark side of Australian history and what I could do to help right the wrongs.

I revisited this question again when I realised that being a ‘white saviour’ was not particularly helpful and delved further into history. In my teens and early 20s I loved learning about ancient history particularly the Roman empire and ancient Britian I wanted to know about ancient Australia too but there was so little that I thought it had all been decimated. But as more information about Aboriginal perspectives on history became easily available (thanks internet) I started to see glimpses of the vast amount of knowledge which hadn’t been lost but kept in story and Country. But wanting to know history never felt like the whole truth either. When I spoke to a group of Elders, I revisited this question and explained my love of history and wanting to know about the Country I lived on. But I came away feeling like there was more to it than that.

As an immigrant coming to Australia as a child, I was looking for a sense of place and a sense of belonging. I remembered clearly when that feeling of ‘where do I belong?’ felt strongest. I was living in Japan and they had the Obon festival where every year you go back to your hometown and have a celebration and connect with ancestors. It wasn't then surprising that people would ask me about my hometown. I had lived in Perth most of my life at that point but I still felt like a visitor which was partially due to my recognisable English accent despite having only lived there for two years. I had no hometown but maybe I could find one.

There was something interesting that happened when I started learning Noongar names and paying close attention to the local plants, animals and birds around my suburb. I started feeling the change of seasons rather than waiting for the date to change. I started to learn some of the ancient stories of Country and I felt that Country was welcoming me. The more I learnt the more I couldn’t believe my luck, that I get to live and work on Noongar boodjar and that there were people who held such ancient knowledge and that if I was patient enough, I might have the privilege of talking to them about it. The more Noongar names I learnt, the more birds I said ‘kaya’ to the less I felt less like an immigrant. I now know that this is my home, this is my Country.

My hope is that I can also guide others to develop and strengthen their connection to the Country (including living and non-living things), and that they see and feel the transformative power of learning from Aboriginal Elders and knowledge holders. My dream is that we give more space for these knowledges in our lives and throughout our education systems.