* Reconciliation Week 2018 challenges all Australians to delve deeper and to learn more about Indigenous culture and history.

* Universities should examine Australia’s hidden history as leading cultural institutions but should do so with care.

* CSU is implementing the Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020 which states universities need to ensure all students encounter and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural content as integral parts of their course of study by 2020.

Summary:

In an opinion piece by Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics Doctor Tace Vigilante, Ms Annette Gainsford and Doctor Barbara Hill delve into Reconciliation Week 2018 to look closer at Indigenous culture and history and to learn from it.

Recognising the importance of CSU’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) they point out it is important for the university to work toward reconciliation.

“University is built on the grounds of a traditional sovereign university albeit a Wiradyuri, Ngunnawal, Gundungurra, Ngiyeempaa and Biripai (or Biripi) one. Each of these places have stories and these stories are powerful. How we as a University listen can show deeper reciprocity.”

When implemented CSU’s RAP will build on the University’s established relationships with Elders and community.

By incorporating RAP into Graduate Learning Outcomes it is possible through its actions the university can heal the wrongs of the past and set out a path for learning and discovering new ways forward together.

Read more here.