Australian Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a group of non-Indigenous adults participating in a Reconciliation Learning Circle in Sydney, New South Wales. As participants sit and talk about an excursion to inspect Aboriginal carvings a narrator introduces some of those involved. The participants then take up the narrative and debate issues of reconciliation and how to define ‘Aboriginal’. Darren, one of the participants, then broadens the discussion by talking about ‘immigrants’ and ‘all the welfare groups’ and asking ‘why do they get more than me?’, provoking a walkout by one participant.

Educational value points

• A range of opinions about defining Aboriginal identity are seen in the clip. Reconciliation Learning Circles such as the one shown were introduced across Australia in 1991 by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and provided participants with the opportunity to share information and openly discuss issues affecting Indigenous people, with the aim of improving relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

• Although Darren suggests that Indigenous Australians receive more benefits than non-Indigenous Australians, the Australian Government document Commonwealth Expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1995–96) states that ‘By any socio-economic indicator Indigenous Australians are, as a group, far worse off than non-Indigenous Australians … as high as present expenditure is, it is following decades of neglect and legal discrimination’ (www.aph.gov.au).

• The definition of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person provided by one of the participants reflects the Australian Government’s official working definition, which states that ‘An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he (she) lives’. In 1983 the High Court accepted this definition.

• The observational style of filmmaking seen in the clip records people’s lives with minimal intervention from the filmmaker, a technique that invites viewers to interpret for themselves what they are watching. In this clip, the filmmaker also makes editorial decisions such as introducing Hugh and Darren, the two antagonists, and later cutting from Darren to show Hugh leaving the room seemingly in response to Darren’s provocative statements.

• The clip effectively portrays the crucial role that body language plays in communication. Darren uses body language to help get his message across, particularly when he crosses his arms, points his finger, leans forward in his chair and stabs at the desk with his fingers as he expresses his opinions. Hugh’s body language suggests that he disagrees with Darren when he walks out of the group without saying a word.

• Learning Circles, one of which is shown here, originated in Scandinavia in the early 1900s with the aim of creating an environment in which constructive democratic dialogue on a particular issue could take place. Rather than using trained teachers or experts the groups use a neutral facilitator, who may be a member of the group or someone provided by the organisation that has arranged the Learning Circle. Groups are generally limited to 15 participants.

• The clip is taken from Whiteys Like Us (1999), a documentary filmed in Sydney that follows 15 non-Indigenous Australians participating in an eight-week Aboriginal Reconciliation Learning Circle. Written and directed by Rachel Landers, the film was awarded the United Nations Media Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 1999 and was aired nationally on Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in the same year.