TAI NSW Academic Enrichment Program

TAI’s 7th academic enrichment camp for NSW was held on Dharawal Country during the September school holidays. Thank you to Aunty Glenda Chalker for welcoming us onto Country and to Gibber Gunyah, Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council, for hosting us for 5 days. It was great to have 3 students join us from the Victorian cohort (Greg, Tahlia and Samantha), and 1 student from the Western Australian (David).

During the camp, TAI was welcomed to Minto Bush Camp by Uncle Ivan Wellington. We had the pleasure of spending the day with a number of passionate and energetic community members including Uncle Larry Hoskins, Uncle Darryl Wright and Aunty Alison Croall. We were taken through Dharawal National Park and shown bush tucker and bush medicine by park rangers. Following this, we were hosted at Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation where we shared stories with community over delicious food!

On this camp, students and staff explored the theme of ‘POTENTIAL’. TAI students often hear the word potential used to describe their academic ability and capacity to achieve. We reflected on this and decided that for us, potential

is something that each student owns and creates themselves; it is not something that is decided by others and imposed on individuals. We looked at how each person, place and object holds infinite potential with endless possibilities.

We hope you enjoy some of the highlights from our NSW Spring Camp

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Students were split into 4 research groups, History, Economics, Legal and Science, where they investigated how the concept of potential has been and can be constructed - all the time, refining their own ideas about potential. After only a day of intensive research, preparation and practice, students presented a lecture at the University of Western Sydney’s Campbelltown Campus.

Staff and community members were blown away when students presented their lectures at UWS, incorporating first and second year university knowledge and concepts. This prompted TAI staff to rethink the venue and learning for the December camp. We are pleased to announce that TAI NSW students are ready to be taken on a big journey across Western NSW - a ‘roving’ camp through Dubbo, Bourke, Brewarrina and Lightning Ridge.

STUDENT QUOTE – Dakota Feirer

TAI is an initiative that respectively created an environment where I could experience alternate ways and processes of learning, ways that are not available in the western public education system. They allowed me an opportunity to overcome colonial restraints and explore my aboriginality, through my identity, with my relationships and my learning.

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Taking direction from place (the camp was based in Picton), the history group focused on the life of Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815). Before establishing what the specific research inquiry would be, the group worked through his life story, pulling apart the meaning of the word potential, and considering how the concept of potential relates to imperialism and history. The group decided to re-present the life of Sir Thomas Picton through the varied perspectives of key people in his life story. Using the relational methodology of RESPECT, CONNECT, REFLECT, DIRECT, the group was able to produce a complex account of the key events in Picton’s life, which made clear the connection between potential and power in a colonial context. This was presented as a lecture at the University of Western Sydney.

History – Perspectives of Sir Thomas Picton

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Economics – Predicting the Future with EconomicsThe students in the economics research group examined the notion of a ‘theory’. Their findings formed the basis of further research on different economic theories. Through their research, students explored the economic theories surrounding supply and demand, the banking system, exponential growth, and wealth distribution. By drawing upon these different theories

the students were able to accurately predict their own futures and position in the world regarding population growth, housing, and social mobility. They then presented these predictions to their fellow students, community members, and guests in a lecture at the University of Western Sydney.

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Legal - Sovereignty and Activism Students were provided with the context of the Australian colonial legal and political system through exploring the ideas of James Locke, Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jacque Rousseau, which were prominent during colonisation. They then began their own research process, focusing in particular on how the concepts of sovereignty and potential are found in the case studies of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Mabo decision and the Murrawarri Republic. The students undertook online research and interviews with key people (including TAI’s NSW Elder, Aunty Doris Shillingsworth) to put together a lecture, which they presented at the University of Western Sydney.

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Science – The Zombification of Humanity

The science group began planning their lecture by exploring their interests in Biology. Of particular interest were international reports and scientific case studies which examined the effects that philosophical and radiation conditioning can have on the human brain and social behaviours. This led students to investigate ‘Zombie Lore’ and its potential to trick societies into thinking that an apocalypse may be coming, rather than considering that we may already be living in one. The students presented their findings in a captivating lecture which finished with a panel discussing the potential of apocalypses to hinder, develop and propagate healthy societies.

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for Children & Students

The Aspiration Initiative is jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Education

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