----- Original Message ----- From: "Yuendumu Mining Co" <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com> To: "Yuendumu Mining Co. Accounts" <ymc.accou...@bigpond.com> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 9:08 AM Subject: Musical Dispatch from the Front
Guten Morgen, du alle (guten Abend euch allen auf der anderen Seite der Welt),
We've just had a visit from the Coordinator General and his party. Duringhis 3 hour "meet and greet" visit he caught up with 12 organisations.Someone dubbed this "Intervention speed-dating" http://www.wikio.com/video/1602564
Lest I be accused of gratuitous taking the piss (me? nooo!!!), I shouldmention that the Coordinator General made the point that he is fully aware of the inadequacy of the time frame of his visit. How did I use Yuendumu Mining's 15 minutes? Not very well I must admit. I got into a rambling passionate tirade instead of a calm rational discussion. The Commonwealth Coordinator General (soon to be known as the 'CCG') is Brian Gleeson who came to the Rudd Government via the United Nations. Whilst I believe him to genuinely want to make a difference (in as far as the Government's latest Indigenous mantra "Closing the Gap") and wish him well in his endeavours; I don't hold out too much hope, that he and all others of goodwill, will be able to succesfully navigate the "Commonwealth and Northern Territory Indigenous policies and bureaucracy" (the 'CaNTIPaB') labyrinth. You'd all be aware that Australia signed up to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Well here is part of Article 14: "1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning." The NT Government's "4-hours English-only" policy ('4HEOP') is a blatant contravention of this. Yet the Rudd Government has chosen to ignore it (and please don't come the raw prawn with me Kevin, none of this: "that is an NT mattter", no such holding back when it comes to the continuation of the Intervention!). So during my diatribe I mentioned the 4HEOP and the NTCG brought up the fact that at Wadeye a group of very senior very traditional men had very strongly expressed their very strong desire that their children should learn English. Whenever I meet this brick wall I tend to lose it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vXEJrU9i0&feature=related (I tend to forget my favourite line of this song: "...your wise men don't know what it's like to be as thick as a brick..."- and I tend not to bite my tongue or carefully think out my response). So let me repeat: I HAVE YET TO MEET A WARLPIRI PERSON THAT DOES NOT WANT HIS CHILDREN TO LEARN ENGLISH. English happens to be the most influential language in the world today. Not bad for a language that has only evolved in the last half a millenium (and linguists, please don't take issue with this generalisation). I consider myself lucky to have learned English as a third language and would be the last to want to deny Aboriginal children mastery of it. Think about it you 4HEOP supporters: the desirability of learning English is not, I repeat IS NOT, an argument against bilingual or two-way education. "Above all, let us permit native children to keep their own languages, -those beautiful and expressive tongues, rich in true Australian imagery, charged with poetry and with love for all that is great, ancient and eternal in the continent. There is no need to fear that their own languages will interfere with the learning of English as the common medium of expression for all Australians. In most areas of Australia the natives have been bilingual, probably from time immemorial. Today white Australians are among the few remaining civilized people who still think that knowledge of one language is the normal limit of linguistic achievement." - T.G.H Strelow,1958.
Oh dear. As you say, the fact that some VERY senior VERY traditional
men VERY strongly expressed a VERY strong desire that their children
learn English is NOT an argument against bilingual education (TWO
languages).
Apart from that,
(1) the men who reportedly expressed this opinion are from another
community. How does this answer the Yuendumu elders' desire for their
children to learn through both languages at school? It's another NON-
ANSWER.
(2) Wadeye has a CATHOLIC school. That school is not bound by DET
policy, as IT IS NOT A GOVERNMENT SCHOOL. So it's an issue for the
Catholic Education Office, not for DET or the government.
All of this suggests that sadly, the Coordinator General is either not
across the issue, and responds with something slightly relevant, or he
has the same monolingual mindset as the Minister and his minders and
the Chief Executive and his, and thinks that obviously, the best way
to learn English is just to hear it all the time, and anyway
Indigenous languages have no value and are just a nuisance, so why
should we give money and time to them? Perhaps he also was chosen for
these opinions. :-(
<yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yuendumu Mining Co" <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com>
> To: "Yuendumu Mining Co. Accounts" <ymc.accou...@bigpond.com>
> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 9:08 AM
> Subject: Musical Dispatch from the Front
> Guten Morgen, du alle (guten Abend euch allen auf der anderen Seite der
> Welt),
> We've just had a visit from the Coordinator General and his party.
> Duringhis 3 hour "meet and greet" visit he caught up with 12
> organisations.Someone dubbed this "Intervention speed-dating"
> http://www.wikio.com/video/1602564
> Lest I be accused of gratuitous taking the piss (me? nooo!!!), I
> shouldmention that the Coordinator General made the point that he is fully
> aware of the inadequacy of the time frame of his visit.
> How did I use Yuendumu Mining's 15 minutes? Not very well I must admit. I
> got into a rambling passionate tirade instead of a calm rational discussion.
> The Commonwealth Coordinator General (soon to be known as the 'CCG') is
> Brian Gleeson who came to the Rudd Government via the United Nations.
> Whilst
> I believe him to genuinely want to make a difference (in as far as the
> Government's latest Indigenous mantra "Closing the Gap") and wish him well
> in his endeavours; I don't hold out too much hope, that he and all others
> of
> goodwill, will be able to succesfully navigate the "Commonwealth and
> Northern Territory Indigenous policies and bureaucracy" (the 'CaNTIPaB')
> labyrinth.
> You'd all be aware that Australia signed up to the United Nations
> Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
> Well here is part of Article 14:
> "1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
> educational systems and institutions providing education in their own
> languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching
> and
> learning."
> The NT Government's "4-hours English-only" policy ('4HEOP') is a blatant
> contravention of this. Yet the Rudd Government has chosen to ignore it (and
> please don't come the raw prawn with me Kevin, none of this: "that is an NT
> mattter", no such holding back when it comes to the continuation of the
> Intervention!).
> So during my diatribe I mentioned the 4HEOP and the NTCG brought up the
> fact
> that at Wadeye a group of very senior very traditional men had very
> strongly
> expressed their very strong desire that their children should learn
> English.
> Whenever I meet this brick wall I tend to lose it.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vXEJrU9i0&feature=related > (I tend to forget my favourite line of this song: "...your wise men don't
> know what it's like to be as thick as a brick..."- and I tend not to bite
> my
> tongue or carefully think out my response).
> So let me repeat:
> I HAVE YET TO MEET A WARLPIRI PERSON THAT DOES NOT WANT HIS CHILDREN TO
> LEARN ENGLISH.
> English happens to be the most influential language in the world today. Not
> bad for a language that has only evolved in the last half a millenium (and
> linguists, please don't take issue with this generalisation). I consider
> myself lucky to have learned English as a third language and would be the
> last to want to deny Aboriginal children mastery of it.
> Think about it you 4HEOP supporters: the desirability of learning English
> is
> not, I repeat IS NOT, an argument against bilingual or two-way education.
> "Above all, let us permit native children to keep their own
> languages, -those beautiful and expressive tongues, rich in true Australian
> imagery, charged with poetry and with love for all that is great, ancient
> and eternal in the continent. There is no need to fear that their own
> languages will interfere with the learning of English as the common medium
> of expression for all Australians. In most areas of Australia the natives
> have been bilingual, probably from time immemorial. Today white Australians
> are among the few remaining civilized people who still think
> that knowledge of one language is the normal limit of linguistic
> achievement."
> - T.G.H Strelow,1958.
Today was a very sad day in Yuendumu. It was the funeral of the
strongest fighter (and practicioner) for bilingual Warlpiri/English
education. We will miss Nungarrayi. All the more reason to keep up the
fight against the forces of ignorance.
It has been pointed out to me that strictly speaking Article 14 of the
UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has not been
breached. "...have the right to establish and control.....". This of
course to a society that hasn't the economic and political power to
"establish" isn't very helpful. Reminds me of Mining Agreements "you
will use Aboriginal Contractors whenever possible".
Must read Catch 22 again.
Wendy reckons that the only way left out of the present situation is
the establishment of Independent Schools. Of course at present there
is at least one school that whilst a Government School is a de-facto
Independent School. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
On Oct 24, 2:39 pm, tcreeknt63 <greenre...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Oh dear. As you say, the fact that some VERY senior VERY traditional
> men VERY strongly expressed a VERY strong desire that their children
> learn English is NOT an argument against bilingual education (TWO
> languages).
> Apart from that,
> (1) the men who reportedly expressed this opinion are from another
> community. How does this answer the Yuendumu elders' desire for their
> children to learn through both languages at school? It's another NON-
> ANSWER.
> (2) Wadeye has a CATHOLIC school. That school is not bound by DET
> policy, as IT IS NOT A GOVERNMENT SCHOOL. So it's an issue for the
> Catholic Education Office, not for DET or the government.
> All of this suggests that sadly, the Coordinator General is either not
> across the issue, and responds with something slightly relevant, or he
> has the same monolingual mindset as the Minister and his minders and
> the Chief Executive and his, and thinks that obviously, the best way
> to learn English is just to hear it all the time, and anyway
> Indigenous languages have no value and are just a nuisance, so why
> should we give money and time to them? Perhaps he also was chosen for
> these opinions. :-(
> On Oct 23, 8:57 am, "Yuendumu Mining Co"
> <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Yuendumu Mining Co" <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com>
> > To: "Yuendumu Mining Co. Accounts" <ymc.accou...@bigpond.com>
> > Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 9:08 AM
> > Subject: Musical Dispatch from the Front
> > Guten Morgen, du alle (guten Abend euch allen auf der anderen Seite der
> > Welt),
> > We've just had a visit from the Coordinator General and his party.
> > Duringhis 3 hour "meet and greet" visit he caught up with 12
> > organisations.Someone dubbed this "Intervention speed-dating"
> > http://www.wikio.com/video/1602564
> > Lest I be accused of gratuitous taking the piss (me? nooo!!!), I
> > shouldmention that the Coordinator General made the point that he is fully
> > aware of the inadequacy of the time frame of his visit.
> > How did I use Yuendumu Mining's 15 minutes? Not very well I must admit. I
> > got into a rambling passionate tirade instead of a calm rational discussion.
> > The Commonwealth Coordinator General (soon to be known as the 'CCG') is
> > Brian Gleeson who came to the Rudd Government via the United Nations.
> > Whilst
> > I believe him to genuinely want to make a difference (in as far as the
> > Government's latest Indigenous mantra "Closing the Gap") and wish him well
> > in his endeavours; I don't hold out too much hope, that he and all others
> > of
> > goodwill, will be able to succesfully navigate the "Commonwealth and
> > Northern Territory Indigenous policies and bureaucracy" (the 'CaNTIPaB')
> > labyrinth.
> > You'd all be aware that Australia signed up to the United Nations
> > Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
> > Well here is part of Article 14:
> > "1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
> > educational systems and institutions providing education in their own
> > languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching
> > and
> > learning."
> > The NT Government's "4-hours English-only" policy ('4HEOP') is a blatant
> > contravention of this. Yet the Rudd Government has chosen to ignore it (and
> > please don't come the raw prawn with me Kevin, none of this: "that is an NT
> > mattter", no such holding back when it comes to the continuation of the
> > Intervention!).
> > So during my diatribe I mentioned the 4HEOP and the NTCG brought up the
> > fact
> > that at Wadeye a group of very senior very traditional men had very
> > strongly
> > expressed their very strong desire that their children should learn
> > English.
> > Whenever I meet this brick wall I tend to lose it.
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vXEJrU9i0&feature=related > > (I tend to forget my favourite line of this song: "...your wise men don't
> > know what it's like to be as thick as a brick..."- and I tend not to bite
> > my
> > tongue or carefully think out my response).
> > So let me repeat:
> > I HAVE YET TO MEET A WARLPIRI PERSON THAT DOES NOT WANT HIS CHILDREN TO
> > LEARN ENGLISH.
> > English happens to be the most influential language in the world today. Not
> > bad for a language that has only evolved in the last half a millenium (and
> > linguists, please don't take issue with this generalisation). I consider
> > myself lucky to have learned English as a third language and would be the
> > last to want to deny Aboriginal children mastery of it.
> > Think about it you 4HEOP supporters: the desirability of learning English
> > is
> > not, I repeat IS NOT, an argument against bilingual or two-way education.
> > "Above all, let us permit native children to keep their own
> > languages, -those beautiful and expressive tongues, rich in true Australian
> > imagery, charged with poetry and with love for all that is great, ancient
> > and eternal in the continent. There is no need to fear that their own
> > languages will interfere with the learning of English as the common medium
> > of expression for all Australians. In most areas of Australia the natives
> > have been bilingual, probably from time immemorial. Today white Australians
> > are among the few remaining civilized people who still think
> > that knowledge of one language is the normal limit of linguistic
> > achievement."
> > - T.G.H Strelow,1958.
have you thought about "home schooling" aka "home education"??? ie
independent schooling funded by parents without any government
funding, that happens in family homes
[but sure my Warlbiri sister Felicity Robertson might not be too keen
on not being paid, of course home schooling is compatible with
government schooling:>> I negotiated with ACT dept of education, for
my sons to be enrolled at school, but me to be registered as a home
schooling family, so I got to be in charge of my sons learning, and
they only went to school for Art and Craft, and Music, and Sport>>>
then loads of white people ganged up to stop me because I started
teaching my children respect for Aboriginal culture, and about our own
ancestry, that it is many many ways, and a little bit indigenous too
{enough indigenous to dream more inside indigenous culture than we can
any other way}, And the courts at first sided with my children's Irish
Dad and took them off me saying terrible things about me, BUT, then,
at trial (five years later), the Judge first refused to make any
ruling since either way was going to be a precedent, THEN, he had to
rule an order saying that I am to be given all normal parental
involvement in my children's schooling. The ACT Department of
Education had already let homeschooling be my normal parental
involvement, so I guess it is the one thing I won, (five years was too
long at their Dad's house for the Judge to be able to give me my
children back unless I could come up with signs of actual bodily harm,
that I would not let happen, so overall I lost, but my youngest son
already had told me the story of the women fighting over a baby who
were taken to be Judged by King Solomon, so I knew it would be O.K.)]
Home schooling exists in every state and this url has info about N.T.:
http://www.hea.asn.au/ Also there is this url: http//homeschoolaustralia.beverleypaine.com/
and its lady (beverley paine) wants me to write something for their
newsletter about homeschooling and indigenous education, because all
the homeschooling families are interested in learning culture with
indigenous children, but nobody is giving enough good schooling
stories to indigenous families yet. (that is what my message is for
now)
Today is a good day for me to send this, since this morning, I dreamed
of sending a message by text/e-mail, and then, my dream turned into a
dream of waking up out of a dream and telling everybody "My whole
dream is coming real, every part of it" (that is what I said inside
the dream of waking while falling, and while I am falling, just before
I say that, I am counting back through my whole nights dream, to be
sure I tell true)
More ways than one to skin a cat indeed
Rebekah (who is true real a nungarrayi from her mother, but like a
nampidjimba from father)
On Oct 24, 6:30 pm, "yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com"
<yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Today was a very sad day in Yuendumu. It was the funeral of the
> strongest fighter (and practicioner) for bilingual Warlpiri/English
> education. We will miss Nungarrayi. All the more reason to keep up the
> fight against the forces of ignorance.
> It has been pointed out to me that strictly speaking Article 14 of the
> UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has not been
> breached. "...have the right to establish and control.....". This of
> course to a society that hasn't the economic and political power to
> "establish" isn't very helpful. Reminds me of Mining Agreements "you
> will use Aboriginal Contractors whenever possible".
> Must read Catch 22 again.
> Wendy reckons that the only way left out of the present situation is
> the establishment of Independent Schools. Of course at present there
> is at least one school that whilst a Government School is a de-facto
> Independent School. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
> On Oct 24, 2:39 pm, tcreeknt63 <greenre...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Oh dear. As you say, the fact that some VERY senior VERY traditional
> > men VERY strongly expressed a VERY strong desire that their children
> > learn English is NOT an argument against bilingual education (TWO
> > languages).
> > Apart from that,
> > (1) the men who reportedly expressed this opinion are from another
> > community. How does this answer the Yuendumu elders' desire for their
> > children to learn through both languages at school? It's another NON-
> > ANSWER.
> > (2) Wadeye has a CATHOLIC school. That school is not bound by DET
> > policy, as IT IS NOT A GOVERNMENT SCHOOL. So it's an issue for the
> > Catholic Education Office, not for DET or the government.
> > All of this suggests that sadly, the Coordinator General is either not
> > across the issue, and responds with something slightly relevant, or he
> > has the same monolingual mindset as the Minister and his minders and
> > the Chief Executive and his, and thinks that obviously, the best way
> > to learn English is just to hear it all the time, and anyway
> > Indigenous languages have no value and are just a nuisance, so why
> > should we give money and time to them? Perhaps he also was chosen for
> > these opinions. :-(
> > On Oct 23, 8:57 am, "Yuendumu Mining Co"
> > <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com> wrote:
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Yuendumu Mining Co" <yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com>
> > > To: "Yuendumu Mining Co. Accounts" <ymc.accou...@bigpond.com>
> > > Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 9:08 AM
> > > Subject: Musical Dispatch from the Front
> > > Guten Morgen, du alle (guten Abend euch allen auf der anderen Seite der
> > > Welt),
> > > We've just had a visit from the Coordinator General and his party.
> > > Duringhis 3 hour "meet and greet" visit he caught up with 12
> > > organisations.Someone dubbed this "Intervention speed-dating"
> > > http://www.wikio.com/video/1602564
> > > Lest I be accused of gratuitous taking the piss (me? nooo!!!), I
> > > shouldmention that the Coordinator General made the point that he is fully
> > > aware of the inadequacy of the time frame of his visit.
> > > How did I use Yuendumu Mining's 15 minutes? Not very well I must admit. I
> > > got into a rambling passionate tirade instead of a calm rational discussion.
> > > The Commonwealth Coordinator General (soon to be known as the 'CCG') is
> > > Brian Gleeson who came to the Rudd Government via the United Nations.
> > > Whilst
> > > I believe him to genuinely want to make a difference (in as far as the
> > > Government's latest Indigenous mantra "Closing the Gap") and wish him well
> > > in his endeavours; I don't hold out too much hope, that he and all others
> > > of
> > > goodwill, will be able to succesfully navigate the "Commonwealth and
> > > Northern Territory Indigenous policies and bureaucracy" (the 'CaNTIPaB')
> > > labyrinth.
> > > You'd all be aware that Australia signed up to the United Nations
> > > Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
> > > Well here is part of Article 14:
> > > "1. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their
> > > educational systems and institutions providing education in their own
> > > languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching
> > > and
> > > learning."
> > > The NT Government's "4-hours English-only" policy ('4HEOP') is a blatant
> > > contravention of this. Yet the Rudd Government has chosen to ignore it (and
> > > please don't come the raw prawn with me Kevin, none of this: "that is an NT
> > > mattter", no such holding back when it comes to the continuation of the
> > > Intervention!).
> > > So during my diatribe I mentioned the 4HEOP and the NTCG brought up the
> > > fact
> > > that at Wadeye a group of very senior very traditional men had very
> > > strongly
> > > expressed their very strong desire that their children should learn
> > > English.
> > > Whenever I meet this brick wall I tend to lose it.
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vXEJrU9i0&feature=related > > > (I tend to forget my favourite line of this song: "...your wise men don't
> > > know what it's like to be as thick as a brick..."- and I tend not to bite
> > > my
> > > tongue or carefully think out my response).
> > > So let me repeat:
> > > I HAVE YET TO MEET A WARLPIRI PERSON THAT DOES NOT WANT HIS CHILDREN TO
> > > LEARN ENGLISH.
> > > English happens to be the most influential language in the world today. Not
> > > bad for a language that has only evolved in the last half a millenium (and
> > > linguists, please don't take issue with this generalisation). I consider
> > > myself lucky to have learned English as a third language and would be the
> > > last to want to deny Aboriginal children mastery of it.
> > > Think about it you 4HEOP supporters: the desirability of learning English
> > > is
> > > not, I repeat IS NOT, an argument against bilingual or two-way education.
> > > "Above all, let us permit native children to keep their own
> > > languages, -those beautiful and expressive tongues, rich in true Australian
> > > imagery, charged with poetry and with love for all that is great, ancient
> > > and eternal in the continent. There is no need to fear that their own
> > > languages will interfere with the learning of English as the common medium
> > > of expression for all Australians. In most areas of Australia the natives
> > > have been bilingual, probably from time immemorial. Today white Australians
> > > are among the few remaining civilized people who still think
> > > that knowledge of one language is the normal limit of linguistic
> > > achievement."
> > > - T.G.H Strelow,1958.
Whoever suggested that Art 14 hasn't been breached needs to read sub-
point 3 of the article, "...3. States shall, in conjunction with
indigenous peoples, take effective measures, in order for indigenous
individuals, particularly children, including those living outside
their communities, to have access, when possible, to an education in
their own culture and provided in their own language."
Seems breached to me.
On Oct 24, 7:30 pm, "yuendumuminin...@bigpond.com"
> It has been pointed out to me that strictly speaking Article 14 of the
> UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has not been
> breached. "...have the right to establish and control.....". This of
> course to a society that hasn't the economic and political power to
> "establish" isn't very helpful. Reminds me of Mining Agreements "you
> will use Aboriginal Contractors whenever possible".
> Must read Catch 22 again....
|
