TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE A PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLICATION KAREN CHARMAN MARY DIXON JAYSON COOPER TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY :: PAGE 1 RECORDING A CURRICULUM :: PAGE 2 OVERVIEW OF TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM :: PAGE 4 AREA PROFILE :: PAGE 7 KNOWLEDGE WITHIN THE LAND :: PAGE 8 KNOWLEDGE OF PLACE :: PAGE 10 KNOWLEDGE OF COMMUNITY :: PAGE 16 KNOWLEDGE OF CHANGE :: PAGE 18 KNOWLEDGE OF POPULATION GROWTH :: PAGE 22 KNOWLEDGE OF CULTURE :: PAGE 26 KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATION :: PAGE 31 THE VICTORIAN CURRICULUM AND THE TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM :: PAGE 33 PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY The Public Pedagogies Institute (PPI) acknowledges the Ancestors Elders and Emerging Leaders of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge that the land on which we meet and communicate from is the place of age-old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal. The Kulin people’s living culture had, and has, a unique role in the life of these regions. PPI supports the aim of Reconciliation Australia to build better relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait 01 Islander peoples for the benefit of all Australians. As non-Aboriginal residents and visitors to this southern land we understand and respect the significance of recognising the traditional owners. THE KULIN NATION OF CENTRAL VICTORIA | PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM RECORDING A CURRICULUM What a community knows is often not recognised. However, community is what a business, formal education, community organisation as well as individuals contribute to and, indeed, create. The Public Pedagogies Institute understands that each community has specialized knowledge and when we need to access that knowledge we go to that community. However, there are few sites of official recording of knowledge – museums and historical societies do this with a particular focus. Our educational institutions do this through Curriculum Documents. These latter are organized in Australia by State and also by national organisations. Our schools and their locality are measured against these curricula. The results of which are then used to name and describe communities. We sought to find the knowledge that comes from the community. This document is a record of the knowledge that is circulating now in 2018 in Werribee, Victoria. We decided to use the term curriculum as ‘curriculum documents’, as used by educational institutions, reflect a full body of knowledge. The authors recognize that this is not complete - the task of accessing all the knowledge of every 02 individual and every place in Werribee is larger than our capabilities. The ‘Towards a Werribee Curriculum’ booklet contains a brief description of each area of knowledge illustrated by photographs from Werribee. ‘Towards a Werribee Curriculum’ will be of interest to those who wish to know Werribee and to local schools and community organisations. This booklet was created by a team of educational researchers from the Public Pedagogies Institute. RECORDING A CURRICULUM 03 | PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM OVERVIEW OF TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM Curriculum is mostly associated with the parameters of knowledge in education. This booklet is concerned with what a Werribee Curriculum might look like. What learnings would occur if you were to spend time in Werribee? How would these learnings be encountered? This booklet seeks to explore and provide some answers to these questions. However, it is not meant to be definitive. We recognise that as Werribee continues to grow and therefore as it changes new knowledges will come and new learnings will occur. Towards a Werribee Curriculum is a culmination of a series of interviews where we asked 04 people to explore their thoughts on what they considered significant knowledge that is held in Werribee. In understanding the significant knowledge held in Werribee we used three distinct approaches. The first was interviews undertaken in public spaces such as the Werribee Library; Wyndham Community and Education Centre; The Wyndham Aboriginal Community Centre and The Arts Incubator. The second approach was through a public event—the Werribee Pop Up School. This was held in Station Place in 2017. Community groups and individuals shared their knowledge through both performance and exhibition and passers-by were invited to share their knowledge in interviews. Finally, public documents from Werribee have been examined for the knowledge they represent. Direct quotes from interviewees are included in this curriculum. They are presented in italics to distinguish them from the words of the authors. The name of the speaker is not given as all participants were advised they would be anonymous. Through our interviews with the people of Werribee we identified seven knowledge areas. These areas are: Knowledge within the Land; Knowledge of Place; Knowledge of Community Knowledge of Change; Knowledge of Population Growth; Knowledge of Culture and Knowledge of Education. One aspect of this curriculum that continued to surface is the strong identification with this suburb by the people who live and work in Werribee. Community and place are so strongly intertwined that although other knowledges emerged a sense of community within place was by far the strongest. OVERVIEW OF TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM 05 | PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM 06 AREA PROFILE AREA PROFILE Werribee has a population of approximately 48,000 people and is located 32 km south-west of Melbourne’s Central Business District within the City of Wyndham local government area. It is situated on the Werribee River and covers an area of 23.8 square kilometres (9.2sq. miles). It is part of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area. The Werribee River flows for approximately 110 kilometres. A linear park follows the river along much of its course. Farming areas can still be seen on the road or train journey from Melbourne. The town of Werribee has a central shopping strip. The housing in Werribee has a distinctly different profile to that of Melbourne. 80% of private dwellings in Werribee are separate houses compared with 66% of those in Melbourne. 10% of Melbourne private properties are high density whereas in Werribee there is only .2% of private dwellings which are high density. Werribee’s population is growing at a fast rate. In Werribee 62.6% of people were born in Australia. The 07 most common countries of birth were India 4.5%, England 2.8%, New Zealand 2.6%, Myanmar 2.3% and Italy 1.8%. Although Werribee has a strong rural background in the 2016 Census only 1.1% of the population identified as employed in agriculture fishing or forestry. The major areas of employment in 2016 were retail (11%), transport, postal and warehousing (10.4%), health care and social assistance (10.3%) and construction (8.8%)^. ^The data in this section was sourced from http://www.abs.gov.au/census accessed February 2019 | PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM 08 KNOWLEDGE WITHIN THE LAND Werribee has a deep and Yalukit William lived on spoke of recognising the connection within the the eastern side of the river first people as the traditional land. The word Werribee is around the bay as far as St owners of the land and indigenous for backbone Kilda. believed others in Werribee or spine. The Aboriginals also recognised this. In who lived in this area were Indigenous knowledge forms speaking about knowledge made up of three groups: a large part of the Werribee of the indigenous past there Marpeang bulluk who lived Curriculum and is held by is also a recognition of the on the western margin of indigenous people. This growth of the indigenous the river through Wyndham, knowledge of indigeneity is population. Kuung jang balluk lived on also strongly present for non- the eastern side of the river indigenous people. People KNOWLEDGE WITHIN THE LAND There is a large stolen generation There is a sense of excitement expressed by community here and I feel safe in people as to what the growth in this population identity might mean. Indigenous and non-indigenous people have knowledge of the Wyndham City Reconciliation Plan and the knowledge of the Wyndham Aboriginal Community Centre (WACC) There is such a fantastic history of as a tangible outcome of this Reconciliation Plan. Aboriginal people along the river The sense of the Community Centre is as a safe and the different tribes that were on space and a space to for cultural practices. either side of the river. It is still quite contested land depending on where Information about the Reconciliation plan can be you are. I love it that we have the found here fastest growing indigenous population. Because of the increasing population https://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/sites/default/ knowledge of the past is growing I files/2018-01/Reconciliation%20Action%20 think there is a real willingness to know Plan_0.pdf and embrace indigenous culture here and to say they were the first people And information about the WACC can be found here and to acknowledge what’s here happened. I think that is happening a 09 lot. https://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/services/ community-support/waccc-wyndham-aboriginal- community-centre-committee | PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES INSTITUTE | TOWARDS A WERRIBEE CURRICULUM 10 KNOWLEDGE OF PLACE The Werribee River is a significant place. The River itself The River is more important than the beach, begins as a small creek in the Wombat State Forest and we swam in the river. travels approximately 110 kilometres to Port Phillip Bay. Swimming holes. There is active involvement in the river through the Werribee River Association. Established in 1981, this Aboriginal people along the river. organisation seeks to protect the natural environment of the whole of the Werribee River.