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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in

action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education 

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Chapter 3Incorporating Indigenous Wisdom: The Elders Council Report

Grahame Collier, Michael Hill, Charles Hopkins, Pierre Horwitz,

Dorothy Sisk, Len Wallam, Melba Wallam, Jo Vallentine (Chair) andSandra Wooltorton (Reporter)

Elders Council: National Conference of the Australian Associationfor Environmental Education (Bunbury)

Introduction

Elders tell stories, listen respectfully and take appropriate time. Adopting thesemaxims, this Elders Council set itself the tasks of listening to elders’ stories andreflecting on elders’ wisdom with an emphasis on local Indigenous perspectives. TheElders Council did not summarise the conference. Rather, this council identified a

couple of issues beneath the surface of the conference that emerged from thecouncil, and discussed them in some depth.

This particular council did not represent all elders, or even all elders at theconference. Rather, it included a small group of Noongar elders to represent thelocal; the Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE) president torepresent the association; a scientist renowned for caring for biodiversity; and twointernational members to bring the perspective of wide and lengthy experience of environmental education. The facilitator was a life-long teacher and activist; and therecorder was from the conference organising committee.

This council began with a respect for local Noongar wisdom. Accordingly, the issue of how it can be preserved for future generations emerged. Just as it has beeninappropriate for one set of stories to be imposed upon another in the past, the ideais not to impose any knowledge upon any others.

This council focused on the interaction between traditional ecological wisdom andmainstream education. This council believes that we are not giving youth and adultlearners as wide a range of perspectives as exists within human knowledge.

Principles

1. Unless we have relationship with the land, with country, with boodja, it is very hard to love it and protect it. We used the word ‘boodja’ because it is a Noongar word and this is Noongar country.The word ‘boodja’ reflects a greater sense of connection between person and placethan similar words in English. Unfortunately, at present our society is cutting off thebuilding of those relationships between Noongar children and boodja and between allchildren and their boodja. It is seen by this council to be very important in our practiceto facilitate the building of relationship with boodja by simply being in the land, or onthe land. There are many ways of being in relationship with the land, for example:

• through walking, recreation, bush tucker learning• through artistic beauty – paintings, photography,•

through hunting, fishing and gaining food,• through activism.

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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in

action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education 

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We need to provide ways of building relationship with country, and we can not do thatvery well through digital or other forms of electronic media. It is not just puttinglearners out on their own; it is that they need to be out there with an elder or guidewho has a deep knowledge of place. Learners need to have a chance to develop alove of the land itself.

2. Language is about relationship. If you know the language of the land, in the caseof the South-West, Noongar language, you may be better able to understand the place. But that is not to say that everyone must learn it, it is only to say that people need tohave a chance to learn it should they want to. Our recommendations in relation tothis emergent issue are:

• That all teachers receive education in Indigenous education and Indigenousstudies.

• Schools that are truly sustainable schools will have a local Indigenouslanguage and culture centre to re-establish the relationship with the land and

help maintain Indigenous wisdom.• That universities and other higher education centres have local Indigenous

language, culture and research centres;

Importantly, council emphasises that schools and teachers need to understand howto keep children in school, and how to make it so that children find school irresistible.

Elders Councils

In relation to Slders Councils, it is recommended that AAEE take on this process, sothat the elders can focus on issues that are important to AAEE’s contribution to a

sustainable future for Australia. Further, that the deliberations result in an airing of important concerns that need to be addressed.

We recommend that an Elders Council be incorporated into future conferences andinto AAEE activities at all levels from the national to the regional chapter level.

We recommend that the issue to be addressed by the council should not be forcedbut should reflect an important issue underlying the conference that the council feelscomfortable addressing.