Covid Thoughts

Language understanding may be an issue but is being overstated. People in the eight LGA’s in Sydney and elsewhere around Australia have a very good idea about what is happening.

Deliberate defiance and outright disobedience are characteristics of citizen response to Covid entreaties by Government, Health Department staff and community leaders of the various ethnic groups.

Incitement of disobedience and the transmission of misinformation by persons misusing social media is malicious and damaging. Those responsible deserve severe punishment.

Repatriation issues are incomprehensible. Eighteen months ago, 32,000 wanted home. Since then more than 400,000 people have come back and the waiting list is 38,000.

Voluntary vaccination is a disaster. Unless excused by a medical certificate, vaccination should be compulsory. Those refusing point blank to be vaccinated should not have medical priority if infected by Covid.

The Federal Government should be responsible for all quarantining and MUST build dedicated facilities to house those undertaking quarantine. Notwithstanding Covid, these facilities should be constructed in all states and not in major population centres. There will be future worldwide epidermic and we need to pay for those. This preparation should be a Federal Government priority. Costs might be covered for construction by garnishing the Good and Services Tax payments made to each state and territory. A fund should be set up to construct and manage quarantine operations

in the same way as a futures fund.

A levy should be placed on all Australians going overseas either as tourists, or to take up occupational appointments. The levy should go into fund to be drawn upon in the event of future pandemics requiring repatriation of people to Australia. I would suggest an amount of at least $50 per person per trip (2021 values) to go into this fund, with the contribution being considered for personal taxation deduction.

The fund would be administered by the Federal Government with travel agencies/airlines being responsible for its collection.

Content on understanding key learning rudiments in maths and language has been downgraded.

Impressionistic and interpretive learning has come to the fore.

European history and literature is being moved to the backburner.

Everything indigenous is increasingly front and centre of learning.

It seems that less and less is being taught at schools because teachers are increasingly occupied with accountability and recording requirements. More and more key learning requirements are being pushed into students as homework requirements.

Blurred learning is justified by not failing students; competition between students is discouraged, and reports are long on words and short on meaning.

Data compilation including recording, drives teaching and learning strategies. Data is the king of the educational castle.

Schools and staff seem to have less and less influence in driving educational contexts. Educational direction and priorities are set from on high. Education at school level is reactive rather than proactive.

There is an advertisement of television to do with a brand of vehicle. Grandma comes visiting and parents after asking why she is there, stand and watch with incredulity as their parents speed off in the new car to enjoy a holiday without their disappointed children. No holiday for them. They are left in the care of their Grandmother.

The connotations of the advertisement reflect the let down feeling of children and the almost euphoric joy of their parents freed from the shackles of parental responsibility.

While the ‘getaway’ might have been a focus on the vehicle, in real life many parents shed their children during holidays, leaving them in the care of others. This does little for the way children ultimately come to respect and regard their parents. During their formative years, their experiences of visiting places around Australia and overseas are restricted because they are left at home while their parents gallivant.

Children deserve to grow up within their immediate family groups. Growing up in this way leads to growing together so that as parents age and children reach adulthood, a mature and close family relationship remains in place.

Escaping parents like those depicted in the advertisement may well become lonely parents when their children leave home and don’t look back upon a life they are glad to escape.

I hope today goes well for everyone, with celebrations outweighing challenges.

I hope you are caught doing something good and in turn are caught by others who appreciate your positive contributions. I hope you give and receive bouquets and that brickbats are not on show.

I hope molehills are quashed and do not turn into mountains. May the day be one of upstream management and May the intrinsic rewards of satisfaction and fulfillment be showered on you and yours.

There is often a reluctance on the part of professionals within organisations to participate in training the next generation of people coming through to positions within those organisations.

This can be particularly evident with teaching. If and when asked, many schools are reluctant to take teachers in training for classroom practice.

Universities are often on the lookout for schools willing to participate in training programs. That reluctance is sometimes due to the fact that generous allowance is paid to schools and or teachers in classrooms supervising trainee teachers are not as generous as what might of been the case. In other situations, schools and staff can sometimes use teacher training students in inappropriate roles.

It is critical that schools participate in preparing our next generation of teachers for classrooms. If training is inhibited because of the lack of placement opportunity, that does not augur well for either the profession and its reputation or for students who are going to be taught by those teachers to graduate in future years.

A corollary to this issue is that if students in training are made to feel unwelcome, unwanted, or a burden this hardly impacts positively for their appreciation of the profession they are preparing to enter. It could well be a reason for why people in training leave before training is completed!.

Remember too, that up tho 60% of teacher graduates quit in their first five years of teaching.

Principals, members of leadership teams, classroom teachers and school staff members must continue to support training teachers into perpetuity. They should after all remember that when they were training, support was offered to them during these formative years. Participation in teacher education programs for teachers in training is really all about payback. And guaranteeing the future of schooling for students, many not yet born

We had some exciting and meaningful times at Warburton, in what amounted to extension programs aimed at extending and enriching student experiences. One of the most memorable was an overnight camp we organised at a location out of Warburton. This involved taking food for a number of meals and planning with the community for children to spend the night away from their home camps. The interaction between students and their relaxed manner with each other was a highlight of the brief time we spent in that outdoors situation.

Years later I reflected on the fact that the limitations usually adhered to, in terms of relationships, had not manifest themselves in any way during that time. Neither were these relationship elements particularly obvious in classroom contexts.

(There are two other commonly held belief points which I felt, from personal interactions with students, little more than myths. The first was that individual children did not like praise for work well done, because they preferred to be be identified as members of groups rather than in a singular context. Children often worked in groups and collective appreciation was an element of recognition. However, I never found individual students reluctant to accept praise.

The other enjoinder offered was not to ask children to look you in the eye, because that was shameful for them. They preferred to look down or look away when talking, averting facial contract. I found that not to be the case, not only at Warburton but in association with Aboriginal children in other locations. Sometimes our predispositions to accepting particular and somewhat negative viewpoints, can minimise our effectiveness as educators in working to develop personality traits and characteristics in children.)

Swimming and water experience opportunities were limited by the dry nature of the country in which we were living. There was a windmill about 2 kilometres to the east of Warburton which pumped everlastingly into a 15,000 litre tank. On occasion, I would take a class of students on a walk to the mill. They would climb up into the talk and have a great time in this makeshift swimming pool. The more daring among the group would climb to the top of the frame supporting the mill, then jump off, ‘bom shelling’ into the tank. There were no accidents or injuries for children seemed to have an uncanny sense about safety and self preservation. (Imagine the trouble one would be in these days, if such an activity was undertaken.)

A most memorable swimming excursion was to a waterhole we hard of, located a good number of kilometres to the south-west of Warburton. Rainfall had created the waterhole. We had a mini-make, new at the beginning of 1974, which we had shipped up to Warburton on the TNT transport. I loaded 19 (yes, nineteen) young people on the Moke and at a very slow speed, we set out for the waterhole. On occasion, road conditions made transport impossible so students would help the Moke through the short intervals of difficult terrain. We made it there and back with children having a great time in the water. (Once more, you would not be game to undertake such an outing these days for fear of offending OH and S regulations.)

TRANSIENT AND LATE STUDENTS

Beware the student who is often late. Your school may have policies dealing with late arrivals. Notification to the front office, if required, need to be followed. Careful marking of the roll also helps to identify children who have a habit of being late to school.

Children who are frequently late do little for their educational opportunities and can detract from the learning entitlement of others. This is because teachers have to go over what has been covered in order to bring latecomers up to date. Teachers may elect to catch children up in their own time. However, this takes away from their refreshment breaks and down time.

One method that might be employed is assigning worksheets to children who are late, with the requirement that missed activities be done as a part of homework tasks. This has the added benefit of making parents or carers aware of the problem. Children could also be required to undertake catch up activities in the school library during recess or lunch time.

Lateness means lost learning. The habit of tardiness needs to be overcome with regularity being the norm.

Not accepting lateness and positively recognising those who are regular and punctual attenders can be a wise move. There are various ways of managing this including certification for those students who have perfect attendance and punctuality records. These students might be recognised at class or whole school level. One of the very best ways of helping to overcome poor attendance is recognising those who are regular always punctual and on time.

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DON’T FORCE UNDERSTANDING

We need to be very careful that the development of young children is not detrimental. Little children need time to absorb and to understand the world into which they are growing. In these modern times, that world is increasingly complex and difficult to understand. There is a tendency on the part of many to advocate the ‘forcing’ of learning and understanding on children before they are mature enough to grasp concepts.

Early Childhood supplements in the NT News and the Suns a few years ago, point to the wisdom of gradually presenting learning opportunities to children. Articles in these supplements laid stress on the importance of play and providing relaxed, enjoyable places of learning for young children. The building within them of a desire to learn and having confidence in their learning, will not come if unduly hastened. ‘Force feeding’ knowledge into children goes against both common sense and espoused recommendations.

A significant point made in the Suns EC supplement was that ‘Play makes a lasting impact’. That article went on to confirm that “skills developed through quality early childhood education last a lifetime.” The critical importance of quality parenting, well prepared educators and empathetic schools count for a lot, in terms of young children growing up.

Against this backdrop of thoughtful reflection about development, come Australian Government directives that amount to premature expectation and force feeding of knowledge beyond the ability of young children to comprehend.

There are two recent examples of this imposition. The first was Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s decision that all preschool children in Australia should be introduced to the Japanese Language. How can little children possibly comprehend ‘Japan’ and the ‘why’ of this language, when they are still in the initial stages of literacy development in our mother tongue. A directive like this is confusing for them and distorts their key educational needs.

When Prime Minister. Malcolm Turnbull decided that ” three year olds in childcare and students from preschool … upwards will be taught about suicide awareness and mental health … .” ( “Aussie youngsters get mental health boost’, NT News, 8.6.17) Specific suicide discussion could happen with children as young as 8 years of age. Introducing children to complexities beyond their comprehensive ability poses distinct risks. It is far better to provide for the emergence of happiness and satisfaction through carefully structured learning experiences, than attempting to educate through hastily conceived programs.

In education in both schools a d support services areas, it is often said there are two groups – the ‘talkers’ and the ‘workers’. It is sometimes said that talkers find work for the workers to do.

We need people who talk the talk to also be prepared to walk the walk. That does not always happen.

A person I knew well once told me that workers were invaluable and added value to the school. The same person suggested that those who were only prepared to talk and not to work, should be loaded onto a transport carrier, taken for a long, long drive on a back road, removed from the truck and made to walk home.

Workers earn the respect of colleagues and in schools, the respect of students. The same level of respect is held for talkers who do not worn to translate their advice into action outcomes.

At the end of the working week with the sun going down on Friday, a good time is offered to reflect on what has been and what has been accomplished (together with challenges remaining) during the working week just ended.

Reflection at week’s end is important. With the sun going down on Friday, a good time is offered to reflect on what has been and what has been accomplished (together with challenges remaining) during the working week just ended.Reflection is important. It should take account of the things done well along with tasks yet to be accomplished.

In order to afford the best opportunities possible to our student cohort, we planned and programmed in a way that developed logical and sequenced learning. Engagement by students in learning was also a priority, with this adding a dimension to what might other wise have been a chalk and talk approach.

We followed the WA Education Department curriculum requirements but took into account the need to adjust content in a way that recognised the learning of children to date. There were learning shortfalls that result from sporadic school attendance and we worked to make up for gaps in learning by revisiting subject areas where students needed remediation.

In order to familiarise senior students with community contexts, we developed a wall and ceiling dictionary organised in an A-Z manner. This was an exercise with a time daily commitment. Students drew a picture of the object, person or subject on a large sheet of cartridge paper. The name or title of the picture was then added, with that dictionary/ identity sheet being added to the dictionary. All wall space was eventually covered. When writing, students wanting spelling assistance relating to items covered by the dictionary, were able to check the walls and ceiling until they found what they were seeking. This added to both student independence and confidence when they were writing.

Creative and imaginative writing was a focus. I found that older students, both females and male, came to derive quite a lot of enjoyment from producing written text. On occasion, children were given pictures and photographs to incorporate as illustrations into stories. Correct spelling of words was encouraged.

There was a focus on handwriting including the ‘three p’s’ of pencil/pen hold, paper position and posture.

Maths, as far as possible, was situational with examples supporting operations drawn from local experience and the environment of Warburton and its surrounds.

Children were encouraged to read orally and also to develop skills of understanding and comprehension from the written word.

I kept records of student progress in key learning areas (long, long before the concept of KLA’s was formalised) and we had a good understanding of how well children were doing. While the interest in school by adults was somewhat remote, we offered anecdotal comment and feedback, but in the social context of informal discussion.

Practical and focussed learning opportunities were offered For instance, the use of and understanding of money was aided by the setting up of a pretend shop with goods for sale. Goods (empty cans, packets and so on) were provided and money was used. An understanding of adding, subtraction and money management ways an outcome of this program.

There was a focus on both art and drama to reinforce other learning areas, particularly literature.

Doing the best we could for the betterment of students was uppermost in our minds. As will be revealed later, this motivation was not one that met with the approval of educational authorities.

Always appreciate the efforts of others who contribute to educational enterprise within school organisations.

Remember to say “thank you“ and mean it. Never be flippant about giving praise and never be scarce in appreciating what others do.

There’s always a tendency to hand out brickbats but often bouquets are in short supply.

People appreciate being appreciated and help if that is the case to build the tone harmony and atmosphere within schools which after all the people based organisations.

In this day and age, we need to be ready for all eventualities. We never know what tomorrow is going to bring forward when we go to bed of a night. We need to prepare our minds and to self educate in order to be ready for work tomorrow might bring.

I think for parents, conversations with the children about being prepared can also be useful. In this day and age and in the Covid era we are never sure what we are going to find or experience around the next corner of tomorrow.We want our lives to be filled with meaning and substance. Lack of preparation in terms of getting ourselves ready for what we confront day by day, can leave us in a situation of where life is a vacuum.

All the best each and every day.

Truancy and non-attendance at school was a key issue. This notwithstanding the support programs in place, which included meals in the community children’s dining room. The issue of school attendance was one particularly challenging during the cold winter months. With overnight temperatures often around the freezing point mark and not getting above the high teens or very low 20s during the day, one could understand the reluctance of children to move from camp areas to the settlement for the start of the school day. Winter winds were often bitterly cold, sweeping across the flats toward the camps and settlement.

Warburton Ranges (WA) in 1974-75 (22)

We often experienced the phenomena of black frost, a sheen of dark hue colour on the land in the early morning. There was no moisture but the ground was bitterly cold. The mirage lifted off after the run rose in the sky, but its disappearance was often slow.

Although we had a clothing program which supported the children, footwear was not a part of what was offered. Children and adults at Warburton were, and the majority, always barefooted.

During winter months, children and adults hardened feet would often crack open because of the cold. Medication to heal cracked feet took a long time to work. I absolutely admired the way people, notwitstanding fractured skin, managed to move around quite adroitly and nimbly. That must have taken courage and fortitude.

One of our Aboriginal support staff members Bernard Near Berry (who later became a senior called at Warburton) worked hard to convince students about the value of school and education.

On occasion, I would go out in our Mini Moke into some of the camping areas, to talk with students and parents about school attendance. This contact helped but the issue of truancy was always one offering challenge. I could relate a number of incidents of somewhat seven humorous nature that occurred during times spent encouraging students toward school attendance; however, this chapter is not the appropriate forum for recounting these incidents.

We worked hard to make the school relevant to meeting the educational and developmental needs of children. Basic learning needs (literacy and numeracy) were the focus of learning. “Learning by doing” and “hands on” experiences were developed in order to help make learning live. Some of these strategies are outlined in the following segment.

In the overall context , I felt that we did a very good job in terms of developing the programs we offered our student cohort, so they met curriculum requirements and the needs of students.

The Balinese expats had plenty of time in past months to plan and return to Australia. The dilemma they confront could have been avoided had they heeded the earlier warnings about the inroads and impacts of this virus, and come back while the virus was still in its spreading stages.

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I will vote in the upcoming local government elections for the mayoral candidate and aldermanic hopefuls in my ward who commit to maintaining and revitalising our older suburbs. This Council has been all about the CBD, by and large neglecting our suburbs for the past four years.

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The security staff who work to provide safety to the public by guarding against aberrant and anti-social behaviour, deserve commendation. They work with limited powers. Those at Casuarina, Karama and Leanyer shopping centres do a great job and show empathy in their dealings with people. Thank you.

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The Afghan interpreters who served Australian troops deployed to Afghanistan so loyally, so long and in life threatening situations MUST be uplifted and relocated with their families in Australia. The tardiness and pussy footing going on around this issue must cease. The lives of these people, who were faithful Australian servants, is in the hands of our Federal Government.

Additional clothing stocks available meant that we were able to upgrade our care program for students. The showering program outlined earlier was limited by the fact that children had to put dirty clothes back on after showering. In that context, children’s were always in clothes needing a wash.

With second hand clothing now available, we were able to modify the program. Children showered each morning and put their used clothes back on. When they arrived at school, they changed from these clothes to a second set of clean clothes which were in their desks. This was done with the appropriate circumspection. Having changed, the children were then organised to wash their dirty clothes with soap or detergent, before rinsing them out. Clothes were then placed in appropriate drying places within the environment of the school yard.

No matter what the season, Warburton’s moisture free atmosphere meant that the clothes quickly dried. Children would then collect and fold clothes, leaving them in their desks for changing the next morning. In terms of weekend’s, Friday’s washed clothes were there for Monday morning.

There were some disruptions to this program, these occasioned by circumstances but it was generally maintained. I like to think it made a difference to the wellbeing of our students. Importantly, it showed them and their families that we cared.

We were able to support students in other ways that promoted as sense of self worth and personal pride. Senior girls were offered personal grooming opportunities through hair care. They would washing their own heads or those of peers, then taking pride in combing and other aspects of hair care. The basic equipment we had for these programs meant that students has to make do in rudimentary circumstances. There were far more plusses than minuses for these extension opportunities offered, particularly to our older children.

While these activities were supplementary to core education, they needed to be met in order to provide children with the feeling of wellbeing that is so important if learning is to be meaningful. We were keen to do the best we could, as a school staff, by the students entrusted to us for educational care and development.

Helping with personal hygiene and cleanliness was not aided by the fact that members of the Warburton Community, adults and children alike, were not overly endowed with clothing. Scarcity of clothing was not helped, for children at least, by the fact that if jumpers and outer garments were removed when it was hot, they were generally dropped on the ground and left behind. While others in time might pick up and utilise discarded garments, they tended to be left where they fell.

While clothing, in terms of warmth offered, was not an issue in the hot summer months with their generally warm nights, winter offered a different scenario. Very cool days and cold nights were added to by the cold wind that whipped into Warburton from the dry hinterland.

With the issue of need in mind, and taking into account the fact that little clothing was carried for purchase in the store, I wrote a couple of letters to newspapers, appealing for clothing donations. We asked that people consider donating clothes for both adults and children. The situation of need was carefully explained. Clothing donations were to be sent to us via the Thomas Nationwide Transport (TNT) depot in Kalgoorlie. TNT’s period contractor who serviced the Warburton run, Dennis Meaker, had generously volunteered to transport clothing to us freight free from Kalgoorlie. Depending on circumstances, Dennis made the Warburton run either each week or each fortnight.

We received substantial donations of clothing. As boxes of clothing arrived, we sorted them into four groups for temporary storage purposes. The divisions were womens, mens, girls and boys.

On Saturday mornings each fortnight or three weeks (depending on supply), we organised clothing into four areas in the three classrooms in the main school building. Girls and women’s clothes went into one area, with boys and men’s in the other classrooms. We organised entry and exit at each end of the passage. As people left with their choice of clothing, we asked for a donation of 20 cents for each item. This money was generally forthcoming but if payment was not possible, the clothing was freely given.

Money collected went into school funds and was used to purchase goods for student use. The amount of money allocated by the Education Department for school requisites was paltry (only a few hundred dollars for the school each year), so this money was a useful supplement.

The extra clothing that became available through this program, meant that we were able to upgrade our hygiene programs for students.

People in the NT (the majority at least) act as if Covid is history. Howard Springs quarantining efficiency has made us complacent. Tourists are pouring up here like never before and the mixing and mingling defies all social distancing rules. Maybe 5% observe physical distancing and hand hygiene wiith less than that using the NT QR code.

They are now doing sewage testing. For a good while, electronic number plate recognition on border entry points was the only survelliance of traffic. More recently, borders are again being governed by human presence.

With the Northern Territory recently being confronted with a outbreak which manifested self at The Granites Mine, there was a temporary change in attitude. The five day partial lockdown woke some people up, but the awakening seems to have been temporary. I am not holding my breath about any permanent change, but hope to be proved wrong. While the QR codes are now everywhere and their use mandatory, I suspect that things are slackening by the day. We forget too quickly.

CEO’s, Directors and top level leaders and managers in private and public organisations faithfully tow the party line. Many of them are faithful adherents to the party line for decades and decades. They discourage dissent from persons lower down the organisation by putting clamps on their ability to speak up on issues.

Come the day of their retirement and many speak up, often critical of the directions being followed by their organisations over years of operation.

One can but wonder!

And also wonder why those who declare that if they reach the top they will change things but when they get there, work to ensure the organisation becomes more impervious and harder to penetrate than before.

Maybe that has to do with lack of confidence and insecurity.

Countering Covid

Covid 19 and it’s variants are making a joke of the Australian Government. The virus is running around us all. The only thing predictable is that the virus will continue to wreak havoc.

My thoughts on strangling the virus.

Close airports to all passenger traffic.

All passenger flights both international and domestic travellers suspended.

All planes carrying freight and goods to be deep cleaned at the end of each trip.

All trucks carrying foodstuffs and other essentials to be deep cleaned at the end of each trip.

All airline crews and truck drivers to be Covid tested every 24 hours. All to be vaccinated.

No inanimate goods to be transported across state or territory boundaries until the end of 2021.

No cruise liners to offer tours until at least July 2023.

No one to travel across state and territory borders for family, work or domestic purposes.

No Australian inbound or outbound traffic allowed. No border force permits allowing travel to be issued.

All repatriation flights to be suspended for the next three months.

Hotel quarantine to cease in future with quarantine confined to appropriately constructed facilities. These must be at reasonable distance from capital cities.

All people working in ages care and all delivering services of goods to be vaccinated.

Vaccination to be compulsory for all people aged 16 years and over unless excused by a medical certificate issued by a qualified medical practitioner.

All children aged 8 years and over to be vaccinated. This could be a program rolled out through schools.

THE LAST DAY

CEO’s, Directors and top level leaders and managers in private and public organisations faithfully tow the party line. Many of them are faithful adherents to the party line for decades and decades. They discourage dissent from persons lower down the organisation by putting clamps on their ability to speak up on issues.

Come the day of their retirement and many speak up, often critical of the directions being followed by their organisations over years of operation.

One can but wonder!

While educators, we were very concerned about the general health and welfare of the children at Warburton. To that end, we engaged with the children in a number of ways to try and enhance issues of general well-being. From the beginning of the 1974 school year, we decided to encourage children, as they came from their camps each morning to shower in the community ablutions blocks. In 1974, the galvanised female and male blocks were separated by partitioning and were quite private. The showers, a community facility, were rarely used, largely because the only showering option was cold water.

The ablutions block had donkey boilers attached but these had to be serviced.

Donkey boilers were 44 gallon (120 litre) drums hooked up with water inlets and outlets as befitting traditional wood burning bath heaters. In order to facilitate the showering program, I used to go down each morning and light fires under the boilers. Wood was supplied by the community and I did the rest.

We supervised the showering programs, supplying detergent for each child. Towels were communal and supplied clean each morning by the Health Department staff. After use, they were collected, washed, dried and readied for use the next day.

This service was provided for most of the 1974 school year from Monday’s to Friday’s.

We oversaw some other aspects of health care for children. From time to time we organised haircuts for students in order to assist with health care. We also organised for children suffering from weeping ears and scabies to go to the health clinic for treatment. Weeping ears were often accentuated and made worse because flies were attracted by the condition. Dead flies were often removed from children’s ears at the health centre. On one occasion, nine flies were removed from one ear and eleven from the other ear of an afflicted child.

These conditions were worse after weekends and holidays because during the school week, staff kept a regular and supportive check on students.

The Education Department supplied vitamin and mineral enriched biscuits for students. They were a small supplement we added to their diet, distributing them at school. Cartons of canned Carnation milk were sent, to be made up and distributed at school.

A midday meal and afternoon tea were supplied to children by the community this being part of the government funded support program – as had been the case when we first went to Warburton in 1970.

Afternoon tea was a sandwich and a piece of fruit. On many occasions, this food was passed over by children to others within the community who are not provided for by the program.

While educators, we were very concerned about the general health and welfare of the children at Warburton. To that end, we engaged with the children in a number of ways to try and enhance issues of general well-being. From the beginning of the 1974 school year, we decided to encourage children, as they came from their camps each morning to shower in the community ablutions blocks. In 1974, the galvanised female and male blocks were separated by partitioning and were quite private. The showers, a community facility, were rarely used, largely because the only showering option was cold water.

The ablutions block had donkey boilers attached but these had to be serviced.

Donkey boilers were 44 gallon (120 litre) drums hooked up with water inlets and outlets as befitting traditional wood burning bath heaters. In order to facilitate the showering program, I used to go down each morning and light fires under the boilers. Wood was supplied by the community and I did the rest.

We supervised the showering programs, supplying detergent for each child. Towels were communal and supplied clean each morning by the Health Department staff. After use, they were collected, washed, dried and readied for use the next day.

This service was provided for most of the 1974 school year from Monday’s to Friday’s.

We oversaw some other aspects of health care for children. From time to time we organised haircuts for students in order to assist with health care. We also organised for children suffering from weeping ears and scabies to go to the health clinic for treatment. Weeping ears were often accentuated and made worse because flies were attracted by the condition. Dead flies were often removed from children’s ears at the health centre. On one occasion, nine flies were removed from one ear and eleven from the other ear of an afflicted child.

These conditions were worse after weekends and holidays because during the school week, staff kept a regular and supportive check on students.

The Education Department supplied vitamin and mineral enriched biscuits for students. They were a small supplement we added to their diet, distributing them at school. Cartons of canned Carnation milk were sent, to be made up and distributed at school.

A midday meal and afternoon tea were supplied to children by the community this being part of the government funded support program – as had been the case when we first went to Warburton in 1970.

Afternoon tea was a sandwich and a piece of fruit. On many occasions, this food was passed over by children to others within the community who are not provided for by the program.

On our return to Warburton, one of the saddest changes confronted was the way in which petrol sniffing had become ingrained among the younger set. Petrol sniffing had become a scourge, one making increasing impacts among boys and young men. At that time, unleaded petrol and the revelation of opal fuel was well into the future with leaded petrol being the most used of fuels for vehicles. Boys had quite ingenious ways of relieving vehicles of petrol, siphoning petrol into cans for sniffing.

One of our support staff members and a very strong supporter of our school, Bernard Newberry, worked unceasingly with young people to help them realise the dangers of sniffing. This included everything from earnest conversation (in which I also participated) to chasing young people who had cans of petrol, in order to tip the evil liquid onto the ground.

The effects of prolonged addiction to petrol sniffing were apparent when we returned to Warburton in 1974. In 1970, I had a young man in my middle primary class who was, in my opinion, quite intellectually enriched. He was experimenting with petrol sniffing during that year. I had hoped he might desist but sadly that had not been the case. Rather, he became hopelessly addicted to the extent of reducing himself in the intervening three years to a person who had become an empty, vacuous shell.

Our Welfare Officer Ron Jarvis was deeply concerned about sniffing and we organised an outdoor lesson on the subject which he was going to conduct.
Using polystyrene, he made a model of the body’s key internal organs, including the liver, lungs, heart, digestive organs and brain. These he connected with wire and hung them into a frame. He explained to children that petrol had a way of destroying people from the inside. He touched the base of a lung with the equivalent of a teaspoonful of petrol. Immediately, the polystyrene lung began to collapse and ‘melt’ dripping onto the ground.

The impact of the petrol spread, melting ‘organs’ with increasing speed, with the brain the last to disappear. This was a graphic lesson with Mr Jarvis offering appropriate comment as internal organs dissipated.

The lesson had some impact, but for the whole of our remaining time at Warburton, we were confronted with the challenge of petrol sniffing. That challenge was one we never gave up trying to surmount. At that stage, we didn’t know that in years to come, volatile substance abuse would continue, with the addition of hard, addictive drugs; substances with the potential to engulf more and more people.

There were significant changes to the way Warburton operated in 1974 compared to 1971. An incorporated office had been established to run the administrative business of the community. This included an office, together with banking facilities which had (1970) been managed through the mission store. The store was under community control with Warburton being managed by a large consultancy group, WD Scott and Associates headquartered in Perth. A community adviser appointed by Scotts was the person on the ground who was technically responsible for the day to day management of the community.

Mail connections with the outside world were still irregular. There was no regular mail service, especially for outbound mail as there was no regular air service from Kalgoorlie to Warburton. VJY (still controlled by Health Department) was still the only way of communicating- by transceiver/receiver, with all communications being public to those tuned in at particular times. Charter planes bringing government personnel into the community were not infrequent, but they they did not have a fixed schedule. It may have been for this reason that the preferred method of contact from WD Scott’s head office in Perth with the community adviser was by cassette tape.

The Community Welfare Department was represented by an officer who did not have affiliation with the mission. He was responsibility for overnighting Warburton, the Ngaanyatjarra area and a quite large section of the Pitjantjatjara Lands reaching north east to Giles and east toward the Blackstone and Peterman Ranges. The community also had liaison with Docker River just over the border in the Northern Territory.

From a school viewpoint, we had our own generator which powered our school and the residences. This was particularly handy on the home front, because the price of gas was still astronomical, a cylinder of gas costing the better part of a week’s wage. We had no air conditioning and no heating capacity for the dry, cold winter months. The community was also serviced by a bigger generator which ran far more uninterruptedly than had been the case four years earlier. It had been relocated to a point just beyond the immediate community.

Three out four new and quite elaborate (by outback standards) homes had been built on the southern aspect of the community. These were for some of the staff employed under the application of revamped management. The locals lived as they had in 1970. Nothing had changed in that regard.

In this day and age we are very quick to criticise, to point out mistakes, to suggest things that could be done better. We are not always appreciated have things that are done well. We are quick on the brickbats but reluctant when it comes to the Boquet’s. We need to remember to be appreciative, to thank people for the jobs that they do and to mean that genuinely. The best way of building atmosphere and harmony within an organisation is to recognise and appreciate the efforts others make.

There’s a lot of conflab and a lot of talk, discussion, a sharing of ideas about what Education is or what it should be. Quite often all that discussion and commentary is little more than hot air. And people brag to each other about what they do, but exaggerate to the extreme. They can do this with impunity because nobody is going to check to ascertain.

Too often, it’s a case of all talk and no action. Too often those to do all the talking are delivering far less than those who keep their council and get on with the job.

EDUCATIONAL POINTS TO PONDER

The ICAC report and recommendations on the Milingimbi School funding situation and monetary use, raise two very important points. Firstly, school principals and finance managers have to be scrupulously circumspect in the way priorities are established for the use of funds. Secondly, the Department of Education audit processes must involve an examination of school accounts and not be about rubber stamping without checking. A situation like Milingimbi reflects badly on the budgetary management of all schools and that is not fair.

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The decision by the Charles Darwin University Board to reinstate the Diploma of Nursing is very good news. Hopefully the revamped program will have a strong focus on practical skills including bedside manner and relationships with patients. Too often, modern training has a clinical focus but not one that includes the way nurses interact with those being treated.

Traditionally speaking the hierarchical model of leadership is possibly the oldest and certainly the most enduring. Organisations practice “Top Down “ management. Leadership is exactly the same with the pyramid being the way things are done.

Allow me to recommend (and this is based on practice) the concentric model of leadership. It’s an Asian model, it works well in Australian situations and it is the best.The very best!

Without practising concentric management and making it a living form of operation in my schools, my leadership would have been far less effective than was the case.

Want to know more about concentric Management? I’ll share it in due course.

When we left Warburton after our year in 1970, I assumed that was the end of association with the community. Within reason, the WA Department of Education tried to accomodate those teaching for a year at Warburton with a school of their choice. I was keen to take on the challenges of a one teacher school, in part because of their uniqueness and because my training has encompassed preparation for teaching in these situations.

So it was that the years 1971 to 1973 inclusive were spent at Gillingarra, a one teacher school some 40 kilometres south of Moora. It was during these years we had our children. It is not my intention to write of educational experiences in a way that goes beyond and into our private lives as a family, but to confine writing to matters that relate primarily to education and associated living experiences.

Gillingarra, a one teacher school, had an average of between 19 and 22 students during my three years. I may well write about this school and my experiences during these three years at some future time.

Toward the end of our three years at Gillingarra, I began to think about my professional future and where it might be appropriate to look at beyond our three years (enjoyable teaching years) in this small community. For some reason, the idea of a return to Warburton had some appeal. When it came time to apply for a transfer (with an eye on transferring to a promotional position) I applied for the position of Headmaster at Warburton Ranges. My wife would be a teacher at the school and we would have our children with us, should I be successful.

I was appointed to the position and we began thinking about our return with effect from the beginning of the 1974 school year. Toward the end of 1973, I had the opportunity to visit Warburton for a day, travelling on a charter flight that was going up and back on the same day. That would mean a very early start and a very late return on the chosen day.

So it was that on December 18 1973, I returned for a flying visit to Warburton. This was during the last week of the school year at Warburton and I had been given dispensation by the Department to make the trip. That was the prelude to our 1974 return and our second appointment to the community.

1970 was somewhat of a steep learning experience for me, in my first year as a teacher. I learned a lot and hopefully gave back as a classroom teacher and community member. During the year, (which is very fully dealt with in the first diary I ever kept), the seeds for wanting to continue in education, and to continue with education in an indigenous context, must have been sown. The majority of my years through the 1970’s and 1980’s were spent in the field of Aboriginal (these days ‘Indigenous’) education.

As a ‘newby’ teacher (albeit a mature aged one who had left a family farm to train as a teacher) I learned a great deal during our twelve months at Warburton. In educational terms and for many reasons, I learned a lot about what to do by learning a lot ab out what not to do. These lessons derived from personal experience, which helped me separate good teaching practices from ones which were less effective.

The lessons learned were also based on observation of what others did and how they dealt with particular circumstances. I would also add that my training as a teacher (a two year course in those days) was of great help when it came to translating and applying that training in practical teaching situations.

Regarding and treating Aboriginal adults and children as equals in terms of regard and conversation helped. While the Warburton of 1970 was unique and different, the people were people and we were all on the same plane together. I tried to keep it that way in conversation.

When some people went into communities to live and work, it seemed to me they tried to ingratiate themselves with the local people in order to learn about Aboriginal culture and ceremonies. Undue inquisitiveness I believed to be unwise. A respectful interest was a far better option and waiting to earn the confidence of people so they shared was a superior approach to developing cross cultural relationships.

It was also important to represent one’s social and cultural mores appropriately. Working in a remote community did not mean abrogating one’s own background in order to embrace that of others. It was quite possible to be symbiotic, in terms of both groups living and associating together in the same area. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people had a great deal they could share, including both learning and teaching, in a context of proximity and association.

Warburton in 1970 was a different and unique experience, one that helped when it came to preparing me for teaching beyond my first year.

Are you can educate children, but you can’t educate masks. You put them on and they don’t stay still. They either right up until the half covering your eyes, or ride down so your nose is exposed.

One is constantly adjusting their masks but they won’t stay still. They’re also awfully hot to wear only get quite a buildup of humidity between your face and the. I will be glad when they need to wear their masks is no more.

Negative influences of European/Caucasian culture had a habit of impacting on Indigenous communities and Warburton Mission was not immune to these temptations. One of the most deleterious and humanity weakening habits to creep into remote missions and communities was that of petrol sniffing.

Sadly, the scourge of sniffing is decades old and the outcomes are still the same as was the case in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Research undertaken by the Menzies School of Health in Darwin illustrates some aspects of this chronically psychologically addictive habit.

“Petrol sniffing has been a major source of illness, death and social dysfunction in Indigenous communities over the past few decades. Sniffers start to experience feelings of euphoria, relaxation, numbness and weightlessness, but often end up with serious and irreversible brain and organ damage. The part of the brain that controls movement and balance is damaged and, eventually, users cannot walk or talk properly. Many sniffers end up in a wheelchair with severe, long term brain damage.

Sniffing also leads to behavioural and social problems and sniffers often get into trouble with the law for vandalism, violence, robbery and sexual assault. They find it difficult to stay at school and hold down jobs.

Poverty, boredom, unemployment, feelings of hopelessness and despair have contributed to the problem, aided by the low cost and ready availability of petrol. However, with the introduction of the federal Petrol Sniffing Prevention Program, including the roll out of Opal Fuel, and the NT Volatile Solvent Abuse Prevention Legislation, significant reductions in petrol sniffing in remote communities have been observed.” Source: Menzies School of Health Online Site 2021

While written decades beyond our time at Warburton, the Menzies text explains key elements of this chronic affliction.

In 1970, petrol sniffing was new to Warburton. It’s ‘novelty’ impact on the behaviour of children who tried sniffing, causing them to laugh, stagger and act drunk, caused parents and adults to laugh at displayed behaviour. Concerned community members tried to dissuade the core of users from stealing and sniffing petrol fumes from the small tins into which it was siphoned, but with limited success.

When we left Warburton the end of 1970, the problem was not community wide, with the user group being relatively small. But the habit and the number of users was to grow, as we discovered when returning to Warburton in 1974.

)

Some of the children we taught were young people with a great deal of potential. Sadly (as will be shown in a later segment) the expectations held for Indigenous children in WA (and elsewhere) were, in the 1970’s (and following years), well below par. At that time, awareness of the world outside Warburton was strictly limited because these were the days prior to modern communication technologies available in 2021. Outback transceivers an d receivers through VJY two-way radio was the only communication available with the outside world. And in 1970, there was only one such unit at Warburton, controlled by the mission managed hospital.

In those days, the school year was divided into three terms, with two weeks holiday at the end of term one (May) and term two (September). There were eight weeks of holiday at the end of each school year.

During the 1970 May school holidays, we drove out from Warburton to Perth, then up to Moora (our home town in WA about 150 kilometres north of Perth) before returning to Warburton via Kalgoorlie, Leonora and Laverton. This was quite a lengthy round trip in our Holden EH Utility. In those days there were no seat belts and no limit of three people to the bench seat of a utility or any other vehicle.

In order to offer them an appreciation of the wider world and to broaden their horizons, we took two students out with us for the holiday period. Pamela Brown was a daughter of a senior Pitjantjatjara Elder who had four wives and quite a number of children. Helen Ward was a keen young student and like Pamela always did her very best at school. We thought these girls would benefit from an opportunity to experience life beyond Warburton.

It was very hard to judge just how the wider world impacted on the two girls but I would vouchsafe their learning was significant and that they had a lot to relay back to family and those at Warburton on their return. In the years to come Helen Ward became a respected educator filling a significant role in schools that were set up within the Ngaanyatjarra cohort of schools. These girls were exemplary in terms of their conduct and behaviour (including their ability to acclimatise and adjust to the various situations confronted) during our time away from Warburton during that holiday period.

Established as a mission in 1932, Warburton Ranges, at that time Warburton Mission, was under the management of the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) with mission operational headquarters in Melbourne. The UAM represented a number of earnest Christian religions including Baptists, Pentecostals and other dedicated Protestant groups.

I am drawing on a couple of online sources to elaborate a little further.

“The United Aborigines Mission ran residential institutions for the care, education and conversion to Christianity of Aboriginal children, mostly on Mission stations and in children’s Homes. The institutional care provided by the UAM was closely tied to Government funding and policy in the area of Indigenous affairs.

The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines’ Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines’ Mission of Australia was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionaries and stations, and covering West Australia, New South Wales and South Australia in the 1900s. It was first established in New South Wales in 1895.^“

“The UAM ran residential institutions for the care, education and conversion to Christianity of Aboriginal children, mostly on mission stations or in children’s homes. It was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families”

“The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) was established in Western Australia in 1929 as a successor to the Australian Aborigines’ Mission (AAM). The UAM ran a number of missions and hostels around Western Australia. In October 2019, Sharrock Pitman Legal Pty Ltd, a legal firm based in Melbourne, advised the Find & Connect web resource that the United Aborigines Mission and UAM Ministries were in the process of being wound up. As of February 2020, UAM Ministries remained a registered charity, last reporting to the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission in September 2019.” Sources from online Wikipedia

(While completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Intercultural Studies through Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education in 1976, I researched some background on Warburton Ranges and wrote a dissertation titled.

“The evolution of cross-cultural relationships that developed in the Warburton Ranges Area in the period 1873 to 1935, taking into account factors that contributed to the comparability or fragmentation of relationships, to determine whether the Aboriginal Cultural Identity was strengthened or weakened because of contact with Europeans in Socio-Economic and Spiritual context.”

I would be happy to share this dissertation with anyone who might be interested. My email address is henry.gray7@icloud.com

Feel free to make contact should you so wish.)

During the time we were at Warburton in 1970, the mission was still a mission. That status was designated on signage identifying the settlement to those coming into the town by road from the west. Our first period at Warburton coincided with the last years of mission control, prior to the government taking over responsibilities from mission groups.

Let us never forget as our first Director of Education in the Northern Territory told us in 1979 that “schools are for children”.

These were wise words and embraced the key statement what school should be about. They were spoken by our first Director of NT Education Dr Jim Eedle.

“Structure should always serve function“ he said. Organisation should be important in supporting the efforts of schools. It should not take over and supplant the prime purpose of education.

Has Northern Territory Education lived up to that premise and is the premise still indicative of prime function when it comes to education?

There was a building constructed of rock walls with a galvanised roof that stood as a church in Warburton. We never witnessed it being fully utilised as a place of worship, but in earlier years indications are that church attendance was very regular. Indeed, in the early mission days, the story was that unless people attended worship, they might not be given the supplies they needed.

My understanding of worship in 1970, was that spiritual matters were faithfully attended by a small group of dedicated Indigenous people, most of them women. Some within this group worked closely with the two mission linguists who were working on translating the Bible into Ngaanyatjarra. This was an extensive and detailed task, made more so because of the complexities of translation.

I recall on one occasion that the linguists tried for months to equate the dimensions of Noah’s Ark into some understandable form for the sale of recognition. None of the hills were suitable to allowing the accuracy of measurement. There was an open depression in the nearby country named ‘Biel’. The difficulty was one of conceptual challenge. How could a three dimensional object (Noah’s Ark) be equated to an elongated hole in the ground (Biel). In concept terms, slipping the ark into a hole did not really work.

At Easter time in 1970, a band of Salvation Army musicians came to Warburton to share their music. An evangelist, the Reverend Jack Goodluck came with them. The Reverend set up a HUGE painted screen in the middle of the large cleared area in the settlement centre. The screen depicted a man with a load of sin on his back. He stood at a crossroads situated not all that far from the top right corner of the painting. Right up in that corner at the end of a short ‘road’ was Heaven.

The great majority of the painting was devoted to the highway south to hell and damnation. The painted scenes of hell, fire, brimstone and oblivion were quite horrific. Goodluck preached to the large painted screen. Young people particularly, were terrified by what was going to happen if they did not get good. On the following school day (Tuesday after Easter), many children came to school declaring they were not sinners but rather amongst the saved. They had each been given pledge cards attesting to their determination to make it to Heaven, cards which they had signed as affirmation of their future direction in life.

There are ways and ways of encouraging change in people. This method had a fairly short life when it came to long lasting influence

Established as a mission in 1932, Warburton Ranges, at that time Warburton Mission, was under the management of the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) with mission operational headquarters in Melbourne. The UAM represented a number of earnest Christian religions including Baptists, Pentecostals and other dedicated Protestant groups.

I am drawing on a couple of online sources to elaborate a little further.

“The United Aborigines Mission ran residential institutions for the care, education and conversion to Christianity of Aboriginal children, mostly on Mission stations and in children’s Homes. The institutional care provided by the UAM was closely tied to Government funding and policy in the area of Indigenous affairs.

The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines’ Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines’ Mission of Australia was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionaries and stations, and covering West Australia, New South Wales and South Australia in the 1900s. It was first established in New South Wales in 1895.^“

“The UAM ran residential institutions for the care, education and conversion to Christianity of Aboriginal children, mostly on mission stations or in children’s homes. It was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families”

“The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) was established in Western Australia in 1929 as a successor to the Australian Aborigines’ Mission (AAM). The UAM ran a number of missions and hostels around Western Australia. In October 2019, Sharrock Pitman Legal Pty Ltd, a legal firm based in Melbourne, advised the Find & Connect web resource that the United Aborigines Mission and UAM Ministries were in the process of being wound up. As of February 2020, UAM Ministries remained a registered charity, last reporting to the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission in September 2019.” Sources from online Wikipedia

(While completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Intercultural Studies through Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education in 1976, I researched some background on Warburton Ranges and wrote a dissertation titled.

“The evolution of cross-cultural relationships that developed in the Warburton Ranges Area in the period 1873 to 1935, taking into account factors that contributed to the comparability or fragmentation of relationships, to determine whether the Aboriginal Cultural Identity was strengthened or weakened because of contact with Europeans in Socio-Economic and Spiritual context.”

I would be happy to share this dissertation with anyone who might be interested. My email address is henry.gray7@icloud.com

Feel free to make contact should you so wish.)

During the time we were at Warburton in 1970, the mission was still a mission. That status was designated on signage identifying the settlement to those coming into the town by road from the west. Our first period at Warburton coincided with the last years of mission control, prior to the government taking over responsibilities from mission groups.

Playing in the outdoors was something members of older generations took for granted when they were children. In more recent years there has been a foreclosure on what was once unregulated freedom. Safety and security issues have raised concerns about the wisdom of young people being allowed ‘old fashioned’ freedoms of play.

The upshot, is that many young people prefer to sit and play games on screens, rather than being in the outdoors letting off steam in a running, playing manner. There are hundreds of pieces of research that have been done, all pointing toward the fact that a lack of physical action and activity is depriving children of an energy outlet in play.

It is true that many children are now playing less than used to be the case. There are of course, a growing number of play centres in cities that attract young people, but they are often at distance from where people live. It also costs a lot to patronise these centres, meaning they are beyond the means of many families.

From time to time, walking or bike riding to school are promoted as one off family days. Children walk or ride with parents or others to school. Normally the majority are dropped off and picked up by parents and carers. Even on these special walk and ride days, most children (and many bikes) are collected after school.

School and public playgrounds used to be fun places for children. However, they have been impacted by occupational health and safety (OH&S) requirements that have taken many of the fun elements out of playgrounds. Roller slides used to be powerful drawcards for children but after an accident or two, OH&S decreed that rollers had to go and be replaced by a flat plastic or metal sheet down which children slid. Fun evaporated. ‘Stranger Danger’ awareness and the possibility of needle stick injuries have also discouraged parents from allowing children access to public playgrounds without supervision.

More and more families are living in high rise apartments. Limited playing space naturally encourages sedentary activity.

For whatever reason, physical activity and letting off steam in play situations seems to be diminishing. This is an unfortunate trend and not one helpful to the development of young people. It makes play opportunities at school all the more important.