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al., 1969, p. 166), where Indigenous Australians are shown as being part of contemporary
society; and also of being named, for example Tudawali and Namatjira. However, apart from
these couple of exceptions, Indigenous Australians are by and large only mentioned as a
group or if mentioned as individuals as part of a wider narrative or topic area on Indigenous
Australians. Rather than included as part of the mainstream content, Indigenous
representations are included as something ‘special’, ‘exotic’ and ‘other’; meaning as a
consequence Indigenous Australians are seen outside of the ‘normal’ and ‘everyday’, away
from mainstream society. Overall, Indigenous representations remained static throughout this
era with, for example, the Social Studies for Queensland schools series not undergoing any
changes from the early-mid 1950s until the early 1970s. Despite all that had changed in
society over that time period in relation to Indigenous representations, the core curriculum
texts did not change.
6.11.7 Disjuncture and parallels between History curriculum and public
discourses.
As demonstrated in the analysis of textbooks, there is significant evidence of disjuncture
between school curriculum and general public discourses. Generally, school textbooks are
devoid of information relating to contemporary events initiated by Indigenous Australians,
such as, for example: the Wave Hill Station Strike of 1966; the 1967 referendum; Freedom
bus ride of 1965; general civil action for land rights to be recognised, for example, the
Yirrkala people’s petition of 1963; and towards the end of the era the establishment of the
Tent Embassy in 1972. Whereas, in public discourses, these issues and events were given
increasingly significant press space and heightened attention by the mainstream community,
they are largely missing in History and Social Studies textbooks. At the same time, there is
sufficient data analysed from the selected textbooks that demonstrate a commitment by
educators (all the textbook authors were either teachers or employed by the Department of
Education), to present alternative or resistant readings to those which otherwise present
themselves in the syllabus. This was achieved to a greater degree than in the WWI era, where
there are no examples of textbooks that challenge dominant discourses or offer any
alternative perspectives.
Throughout this era there were many different perspectives concerning Indigenous
representations (as there remains today), which were influenced by the media, have informed
debates. The perspectives that the media take is very much dependent on the issues being
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