Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Programme

Ms WEBB (Nelson) – Mr President, I am delighted as my first special interest matter speech in this place to talk about the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and the University of Tasmania.

I begin by paying my respects to palawa people of lutruwita/Tasmania, in particular the muwinina people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land we are on today.  I pay my respects to the Elders, past, present and emerging, and pay my respects to members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community here today.

I acknowledge that the continued connection of the palawa people to this land for over 40 000 years has furnished a rich and enduring culture that lives in that connection.  I acknowledge that after invasion by Europeans, this land was never ceded by the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

In late July this year, I was honoured to attend the welcome ceremony for the 2019 Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program at the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay Campus.

I was deeply moved by this ceremony and impressed by the value and potential impact of the program, so today I would like to speak about the Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program developed by Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter, and hosted by the Riawunna Centre for Aboriginal Education at UTAS.

The program was established in 2015 to provide a culturally informed international exchange opportunity for indigenous students from Australia and North America.  The aims of the exchange are to –

• challenge and inspire UTAS’s Indigenous students through international exchange opportunities

• facilitate links into international indigenous scholarly communities and networks

• expose students to the wider global field of indigenous studies, and

• provide opportunities for high-level, educationally linked cultural exchange.

To date there have been five exchanges involving 31 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander UTAS students and 10 Indigenous staff members.  All students who have participated have either graduated or completed their degrees, and six of these students have gone on to undertake postgraduate studies at UTAS.

The Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program is the brainchild of Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter, the University of Tasmania’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Aboriginal Research and Leadership, and also of Professor Chad Hamill at the Office of Native American Initiative at the Northern Arizona University. 

I take a moment now to recognise the work of Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter.  She is one of the few quantitative Indigenous researchers in Australia.  Professor Walter is passionate about improving the position of Aboriginal people in Australian society and changing the dynamics of race relations.  Her work aims to close the gap for Indigenous Australians by addressing structural issues through research and by supporting Indigenous leadership and decision-making.

In 2009 Professor Walter was elected inaugural secretary of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, a leading global indigenous academy that fosters and supports international collaboration with leading indigenous scholars from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. 

The similarities of the problems facing First Nations peoples from these countries and the benefit of working collaboratively to address these were key learnings from her involvement with that association.  The Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program was developed by Professor Walter and Professor Hamill to increase cultural connections and collaborative opportunities among First Nations peoples.

In February this year, eight students and two staff from UTAS, with a small group from the University of Sydney, visited First Nations peoples and universities in Arizona, USA and British Columbia, Canada.  In turn, in July this year, students from the USA and Canada were hosted by the palawa people and UTAS, along with the Eora Nation and the University of Sydney, and the Maori people and the University of Waikato in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The welcome ceremony I attended in July was for the delegation of students from North America taking part in the international exchange.  It was inspiring and a moving ceremony that I felt privileged to observe.  The part I found especially impactful was hearing from each of the participants – visitors and locals – about why they were participating and what the experience meant to them personally and in their academic lives.  The stories they shared had many common threads.  They spoke of challenges:  dispossession of land and culture; discrimination and racial abuse; systemic barriers to health and wellbeing; and limitations on opportunities to achieve academic success.  Importantly, they also spoke of triumphs and joys; reconnection with family, land and culture; the importance of elders and sharing living culture; reclamation of language, its importance to identity and the joy and pride of speaking in language; and their awareness of the role they play as leaders and builders of opportunity for their communities.

During their time in Tasmania, this group of North American First Nation students and academics participated in a field-based program centering on heritage management and educational efforts.  Students visited Aboriginal Indigenous Australian communities, museums, cultural centres, local agencies, schools and universities.  Their experiences in Tasmania quite beautifully included a lunch with the Aboriginal Elders Council in Launceston that was attended by over 100 members of the community, which I think shows the support for and interest and engagement in the program by the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

These ‘on country’ cultural tours of important Aboriginal and Indigenous heritage places and connections with Aboriginal Elders, communities and students provide a unique opportunity to foster lifelong connections that will have an impact well beyond the trip.  Students reported feeling energised, inspired and empowered through the experience.  Cultural differences and similarities were explored through stories, histories and even traditional foods – indeed, who can forget their first taste of mutton bird?

The Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program is important.  The shared pride in the rich and enduring culture of First Nations peoples experienced by these students – our future leaders – will play a role in bringing an end to the structural inequality experienced by the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and Indigenous people in this country. 

I congratulate the University of Tasmania for its support of the program.  As a non-Aboriginal Tasmanian, I wish to thank Professor Walter, her colleagues and students for the opportunity to learn more about the Indigenous Cultural and Educational Exchange Program and for the opportunity to be part of sharing and taking pride in the culture of the palawa people in lutruwita/Tasmania.