Bulletin

Issue: April 2006

News

New subject on Indigenous issues

La Trobe students can now learn more about Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, their culture, history and society.

A new subject, Introduction to Indigenous Australia, is being presented as a first-year elective in the Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology degree. It is also available in other disciplines.

It is the first time that La Trobe has offered a first-year subject dedicated to Aboriginal issues and is the first subject at La Trobe taught by an Indigenous lecturer.

Ms Julie Andrews, appointed to La Trobe in February 2005, is the University’s first Indigenous academic staff member. A member of the Yorta Yorta people, she is from Mooroopna. Her mother was born on the Cummertunja Mission near the Barmah Forest on the Murray River near the Victoria-New South Wales border.

Supervised by senior lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology, Dr John Morton, Ms Andrews completed an honours thesis in anthropology on Aboriginal Hip Hop or rap music in 2004 and intends to continue her postgraduate study to PhD level.

Ms Andrews said the new subject, which she designed, covers Indigenous issues including Indigenous writers, art, performance, law, archaeology, oral history, music and kinship and family.

Prominent Indigenous guest lecturers include Koorie Heritage Trust member, Mr Jim Berg, and actor Mr Tony Briggs. Several elders who advise magistrates on sentencing in the Koorie Magistrates Court will also lecture.

‘This course provides an opportunity for Indigenous community leaders and elders to enter the lecture room and tell their stories in a formal way and to meet students,’ Ms Andrews said.

‘It also gives students an opportunity to meet members of the Aboriginal community, an opportunity they may never have had without this course.’

Ms Andrews said that knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues was of critical importance to Australia in its approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relations.