- Title
- 'Bilingual time' at Willowra: the beginnings of a community-initiated program, 1976-1977
- Creator
- Vaarzon-Morel, Petronella; Wafer, Jim
- Relation
- History of Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory: People, Programs and Policies p. 35-48
- Relation
- Language Policy 12
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2078-0_4
- Publisher
- Springer
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- For a short period in the mid 1970s a conjunction of exceptional circumstances allowed the community of Wirliyajarrayi (at that time known as 'Willowra'), in Australia's Northern Territory ('NT'), to assume control of its own affairs to a degree that was rare, if not unique, in Aboriginal communities of that era. The level of local autonomy in decision-making was demonstrated through initiatives such as a direct request for the introduction of bilingual education. Early in 1977 a small group of senior Aboriginal men from Willowra walked across the landing stiip at nearby Anningie Station to meet the Commonwealth Minister for Education, who was on his way to open a school at Ti Tree. The men had been tipped off that his plane would land at Anningie, so they requested a meeting to press the case for a bilingual program at Willowra. They had made the case in writing the previous year, when they sent a letter, dated 28th April 1976, to the Northern Territory Division of the Commonwealth Department of Education. It began thus: 'We, the undersigned members of the Willowra Aboriginal community, request the Education Department to make a study into the feasibility of a bilingual program at Willowra school.' It was signed by Long Mick, Jimmy Jungarai, Johnny Martin and George Jukadai for the Willowra Council, and by community spokesman Stumpy Martin (Northern Territory Archives, Education Department, 74/19, folio 3; also quoted in McGill 1993: 121). The bilingual program at Willowra was given approval and began operating officially during the first term of 1977. But to understand the exceptional nature of the community's request, and of the circumstances that made it possible, some background will help. Our narrative begins with an account of Willowra, the place, and of the community that began to develop there, on traditional land, around the middle of the last century. It continues with an overview of the policy landscape of the mid 1970s, when we were teachers at Willowra School (1976-1977), and of the lines of tension that affected bilingual education. We focus in particular on the conflict between an educational philosophy that is school-based and community-oriented, and one that is centralised and oriented towards academic achievement. Our record of the inception of the bilingual program is then set within this context. We conclude with some observations about the advantages of educational programs that 'support and are organised by their targets for their own needs ' (Bialostock and Whitman 2006, p. 381).
- Subject
- educational programs; community programs; linguistics; education; bilingual education; Northern Territory
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1387124
- Identifier
- uon:32532
- Identifier
- ISBN:9789811020766
- Language
- eng
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