Welcome
The formation of Gawura in 2007 occurred in response to the overwhelming evidence of underachievement and social disadvantage among people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. As a day school in the centre of the city of Sydney, St Andrew's Cathedral School regarded its best contribution to this challenge to be offered to urban Indigenous people who live in the inner city suburbs of Redfern/Waterloo and nearby, where there is a considerable concentration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The model demonstrates a sound application of national strategies that echo throughout Australian education systems.
The approach of Gawura education was to focus on literacy and numeracy attainment such that the children achieved at a level at least commensurate with non-Indigenous children at the School. The pre-eminence of Indigenous cultures and the celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identities in a nurturing environment provided the essential backdrop against which this academic achievement was to take place. Strong processes of consultation with Gawura families from the outset were intended to preserve a sense of Indigenous community engagement with the education being provided. Students were also afforded access to the resources and the institutional narrative of St Andrew's Cathedral School, which was founded in 1885.
The difficult origins of Gawura in 2005 and 2006 reflect the complex nature of public policy with respect to the provision of education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The further complexities of inner city Sydney with its long history of unsettled land issues and disadvantage, especially in Redfern, had a profound impact on the formation of Gawura and on the decision to offer a “school within a school” in the city. Unwittingly, this strategy has been critical to the successful blending of an avowedly assertive approach to Indigenous cultural education whilst retaining access to the wider community of the “host” school.
The remarkable, even spectacular evidence of progress made by the children of Gawura suggests that one or more of these elements contribute to positive educational outcomes for urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The steady and systematic approach to literacy and numeracy acquisition strategies coupled with high levels of parent and community involvement provide a strong partnership that meets many of the National Goals for Indigenous Education referred to earlier in this paper.
The positive regard of the St Andrew's Cathedral School community has been an important feature and, in a sense, provides a microcosm for a genuine and profound experience of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is the strong view of this writer that such a model as Gawura is worthy of close consideration with a view to replicating some of its key features in other settings for Indigenous learners both here in Australia and internationally. The passionate financial commitment of so many people that are largely unconnected with the School has been integral to the formation of Gawura and will remain so in the future.
The education of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a matter of social justice in our land.
“How can we as a school and as a community stand with hands in pocket and wait for governments to act when the original people of our land continue to be the most disadvantaged people in our country?”
(Phillip Heath, on the occasion of the formal opening of Gawura, St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, November 2007).
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