Colgate at Curtin University: Day 1

Today was our first day at Curtin University, which is located just outside of Perth. We left our hotel before 8 a.m. to catch a bus out to the University. After a welcome by Clive Walley, the director of the Center for Indigenous Studies, we had a number of excellent speakers on topics such as indigenous peoples and climate change and housing issues amongst Aboriginal people.

I was particularly impressed by our talk by Tom Stannage today. A professor emeritus of history, Professor Stannage has spent a long career advancing a revisionist account of Australian history that seeks to include an Aboriginal perspective. He shared some traditional Australian poetry, as well as influential poetry by Jack Davis, an Aboriginal man who was especially prolific in the 1970s and 80s.

After lunch we met with two professors – one from journalism and the other from film and television stories – and two of their students who were part of a class that produced a four episode television series about Noongar culture. This class project has actually won a number of awards in Australian community television, and they generously gave a copy of the show to us for the Colgate library. We watched the first episode in class, and they interviewed the dance troupe from the Sorry Day commemoration on the show!

We also had a really great lecture after lunch on indigenous people and sport, led by a very energetic man, Darren. Asking us to draw on our own sporting experiences, we discussed the importance of involving Aboriginal children in athletic activities as offering them an arena for success. (Aboriginal people have been very successful in Australian and international sports.) Therefore, we literally drew a portrait of ourselves as athletes and spoke briefly about our own experiences. Clive, Jaime and Darren were able to ask questions about our own sport backgrounds and learn some about sports in America, as well. As we left, Clive gave us baseball caps from a foundation started by David Wirrpanda to support Aboriginal youth in sports.

Unfortunately, I’m not feeling too well from lunch (a curry pie and some really gross pea soup), so I think I’m going to head to dinner and bed. Tomorrow we are having lunch with the Vice-Chancellor of the University, and I am presenting her with a thank you from our study group, and Colgate as a whole.

Peace,
Jill