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secondary school level this textbook was written for. Specifically written to complement the
1964 History and Civics Syllabus, the fact that the textbook covers a number of complex
topics, such as the Industrial Revolution and Australia’s place within the increasingly
globalised world of the time, it could be assumed that a textbook (and just as importantly, the
syllabus this textbook was written from) specifically about Australian history would
incorporate more information about Indigenous issues and topics.
As detailed in the education context earlier in this chapter, Indigenous representations are
included with far greater frequency in primary school textbooks than they do in secondary
school textbooks. This perhaps points to the lack of importance placed on Indigenous issues
as a topic for study. Students are able to leave school only with a relative elementary
knowledge and understanding of Indigenous peoples, cultures and topics. This gap in content
of Indigenous representations presents an interesting power discourse regarding the omission
of events or issues present in Australian society particularly in an historical context. During
this time of Australia’s history, Indigenous affairs especially in relation to land rights and
social justice were gaining political momentum and increasingly entering the public
consciousness especially through media reporting. However, this increase in profile is not
evident in many textbooks for high school students.
6.11.2 On the peripheral of history.
Even though there are significant tracts of content regarding Indigenous Australians in some
textbooks such as Social studies for Queensland schools grade 4 (Department of Education,
1954/1963/1966), Social Studies for Queensland schools grade 5 (Department of Education,
1959/1962/1966), and Landmarks: A history of Australia to the present day (Blackmore et al.,
1969), overall across all the textbooks from this era, Indigenous Australians are represented
as peripheral to mainstream history, as an add-on or foot note to the ‘real’ history taking
place. This is typified by the narratives on early explorers, which comprise a significant part
of the textbook content across school year levels. With the occasional exception of stories
such as those about Jacky Jacky, Indigenous people are represented as only very minor
players, contributing nothing of significant value, but rather often as a hindrance to
exploration. What is noticeable about the absence of detail in the Social Studies and History
curriculum, is that when information is left out to the detriment of the already subjugated
group; for example in the narrative of Eyre and his companion, Wylie (Department of
Education, 1959/1962/1966, p. 74-75); is that important conclusions that students could reach
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