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Source 7.19. Yiwara “special obligations” extract from Living History (Gurry, 1987,
p. 123).
During this part of the unit, Indigenous knowledges, cultures and systems are explained to
students legitimised for inclusion based solely on them being of historical interest to students
as a standalone topic. The information is not mediated through an understanding of non-
Indigenous knowledges, cultures or systems—presenting as a rare example whereby
Indigenous topics are privileged above others. Where non-Indigenous systems are presented
to students (such as a family structure diagram on page 122 of Living History), it is done not
to mediate Indigenous knowledges, but rather used as an entry point for students to develop
their understanding and appreciation of the complexity of Indigenous knowledges. The
perspective of this section is clearly one that values Indigenous cultures.
Also covering the topic of kinship is Crossroads: Imperialism and race relations (Cowie,
1982), where binaries of the differences between non-Indigenous and Indigenous valuing of
material possessions are identified. Section 3: “Aboriginal—White relations” explains this
perspective through the discourse of kinship, although this term is not used often, with
“reciprocity” (Cowie, 1982, p. 299) and “responsibility” (Cowie, 1982, p. 298) the preferred
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