Recognizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Rights and Perspectives Through Civics and Citizenship

We acknowledge that we live and work on the country of Aboriginal traditional owners, who have been custodians of this land for many centuries on which they have performed age-old ceremonies of celebration and renewal. We acknowledge and respect the work of Aboriginal scholars, whose guidance and views on education priorities and Indigenous ways of knowing and being are included in this chapter.

There are divisions in Australia that only time and constructive effort will diminish. The process of reconciliation aims to reduce these divisions and to suggest ways in which the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider community can be healed, with respect for humanity on all sides.

The development of a deep understanding of the rich and ancient cultures and histories of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their battle to achieve citizens’ rights and equity in this nation has been neglected or excluded from the education of many young Australians for too long. Indigenous educator Mark Rose (2015: 69) refers to this knowledge deprivation as ‘silent apartheid’ that ‘transcends generations’, because of discrimination on the basis of race and an education system that ‘overtly suppressed and devalued aspects of Indigenous knowledge’. In some schools, students began to learn about the land rights movement for Aboriginal Australians in the 1960s. But for others, even the crucial historical moment, the passing of the 1967 referendum so Aboriginal Australians could be recognized citizens in their own country, has not been a part of their learning. The overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote signalled that non-Aboriginal Australians were more ready to embrace social and political reform, and to recognize First Australians as citizens.