General Discussions

[DJC]

I don't recall saying that nor ever implying it GTC.  I did learn about Aboriginal culture heavily in 1971 and '72 and got a 98 / A score in Matriculation later that year.  And a free scholarship to University on the back of the other three "A" scores I managed in other subjects.

But I strongly object to the fantasies of Bruce Pascoe being paraded as fact.

And I was at pains to stress a well rounded education, something that is sadly lacking in today's classrooms.  God knows the number of CVs I've dismissed after a single reading because of grammar and spelling, simple math by mind, not machine ... the very basics of communication.

We have a third grade education system yet all the amenities and comforts never present when I went through high school.  We just had an abundance of quality in the teaching ranks

I have checked every primary source Pascoe cites and he has used them faithfully.

While I think that the desire to classify pre-contact Aboriginal economy as agricultural rather than hunter-gatherer is an over reaction to stereotypical views of Aboriginal people as wandering nomads, there is substantial evidence of sophisticated plant husbandry and storage and trading of surplus production.

I have worked quite a lot on the aquaculture sites in Victoria’s southwest and they provide evidence of generational planning, communal engineering, resource husbandry and social organisation that is at least as sophisticated as 19th century agricultural societies ... and that’s what should be taught in schools.