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and narrates the action initiated and led by the local Indigenous people. Overall, these factors
point to the case study being a quality example of including a previously subjugated group in
mainstream history. However, what this case study fails to do is consistently present multiple
perspectives to students, so that they can consider the evidence themselves and form their
own conclusions. This is considered an important factor in inquiry learning, the approach
taken throughout this textbook. Instead of providing a detailed account of both the Gurindji
perspectives and the landholder’s and employer’s perspectives, the majority of the chapter is
taken up with only the Gurindji perspective. For example, the only time a landholder
perspective is provided can be seen in the statement at Source 7.96.
Source 7.96. Lord Vestey’s perspective extract from Case studies in Australian
History (Stewart, 1986, pp. 201-202).
Whilst it could be strongly and legitimately argued that this is done to redress the imbalance
of other and previous curriculum documents that exclude any Indigenous voices; by
providing such a one-sided account students are not able to form their own informed
judgments. In addition, by only providing one perspective (consistently throughout the
chapter, with only rare exceptions), it would be possible to surmise that this chapter is
coaching students to agree with the perspective of the author, by not creating opportunities
for debate, disagreement or alternative viewpoints. This is a factor that possibly discourages
students from learning and taking an empathetic view of histories of subjugated peoples.
7.23.5 On being Indigenous.
Given that the majority of Indigenous representations included in textbooks occur in the
primary school grades and then senior high school curriculum, it is clear that most students
will leave school with an elementary understanding of Indigenous histories and cultures. This
includes the comparatively small number of students who went on the study Modern History
in years 11 and 12 and the even smaller number of teachers who would have selected
Indigenous histories as the focus topic in the race relations unit. Whereas British heritages,
although not included to a great extent in the primary grades, and only a very vague
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