The Rangiira Diary

2008-04-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

It's 12 pm Sunday April 13 and I will fly to Melville in 2 hours to begin Term 2. We've just enjoyed one week's holiday here in Darwin at the Mirambeena Resort where we have been living for about four weeks, and before that a week on Melville Island together as a family during our staff PD week. Alex joined us at the end of that first week after a fantastic week in Katherine at the residential school with Callum. That was the first time that the whole family spent together on Melville and it was well worth the three month wait!

Here are some pics of our time on the Island together.

Alex and Callum on the beach with a fresh Queen Fish:

The kids looking for bait under the rocks:

Chilling out in the shade:

Sunset on the beach:

So what's been happening? Let's see. In the month since I last blogged we have moved steadily towards the Dry Season, though not without the ongoing exciting dramas of Wet Season travel - here is a picture of one plane unfortunately bogged on our school airstrip:

We celebrated the completion of Term 1 at Tiwi College

Visited Woolaning Homeland Christian School, on which Tiwi College is modelled, a most amazing school at the forefront of Indigenous education in the country:

Saw classes in action at Woolaning - the teachers are inspirational. I have been born again as a literacy teacher (due to limited demand for the calculus at the moment) and we saw the Accelerated Literacy program in action, the program that we intend to implement at Tiwi College during this term.

We read the plaque at Woolaning acknowledging the good aspects of Brendan Nelson's work as Education Minister in his previous life ...

... and had the opportunity to tell him this in person the following day when we had lunch with him at the Parap markets:It all happens in the NT - even a deep heartfelt compassion for the 9% underdog.

Nicole and the kids are getting ready for the new school term this week! They are having a great time here, and the kids are growing in their love of the NT and the people. Nicole continues to hold us all together and make friends with people. She knows all of the support staff here at the Mirambeena by name.

The past week has seen Tiwi College on the front page of the Weekend Australian and in the opinion pages during the week. Indigenous Education is very much in the media at present, at every level, from politics to pedagogy. I have found it a real challenge to get all of the many issues in perspective. Last night at mass (at Nightciff with Fr Vince Carrol from Taroom Toowoomba) I had an overwhelming sense that our year here is all about serving the Tiwi Community. It's not about politics or ideology. It's about the students who come to the school, their parents and families, and the hopes and dreams that the Tiwi Education Board have for their people.

2008-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Darwin is the city of storms. A couple of weeks ago Nicole and I went to the Darwin wharf for a coffee and watched this fantastic afternoon storm build up and cut loose.

Yes - we are still in Darwin. I fly to the Tiwi Islands each Tuesday morning and return home to Nicole and the kids in Darwin Friday afternoon.

On Friday Nicole and Amber did a fantastic job moving house from the Free Spirit Resort to the Mirambeena Travel Lodge in the heart of Darwin, where we expect to be until we eventually leave for Melville, which could be as soon as mid April. We had been here only two nights when a storm hit late yesterday afternoon and flooded out our apartment! The staff were great and helped us move to a new and drier place. During the storm I pulled out the fishing rod and tried my luck lure fishing in the loungeroom. I did well; got as many bites as I've had at the Nightcliff Jetty.

That's Darwin. Darwin is the city of storms.

Although things don't go to plan, from our perspective all is going well here. Tiwi College is moving ahead, though I really wouldn't believe it if I weren't living it. It seems nothing can stop the determination of the Tiwi Land Council and Andy and Peter, the college leaders, to build this school. The roads are still blocked on the islands, building materials can't be trucked in and the builders have left - so the Land Council fly in the materials, get the builders back and press on. We can't bus students to and from school each week - so we fly them in. The rising water table has made a section of the airstrip too wet to use - so we cut the strip short and use the dry end. The buildings aren't finished and we can't accomodate 72 students - so we take a small number of students and start school anyway.

In a few short weeks we have also developed professional capacity as a team of teachers. The school has a vision for learning and a school-wide-pedagogy, the curriculum process is dynamic and drawn from the pedagogy, and we are teaching, assessing and reporting - we send home weekly reports with each student together with a college newsletter.

If there is a lesson in any of this, it is that although very little goes to plan, things work out anyway. On Friday we had the fax with the flight details to get students home. I should know better - nothing here goes to plan, but I decided to stick with the details anyway. We were expecting an 11 seater caravan plane at 12:45, and a five seater landed at 1:20. We put four students on the plane to Milikapati and I then get on the phone to Ray who organises the flights 'Ray. What happened?' Every week is different. It seems that this week, 3, 300 planes were grounded across thecountry due to concerns with the fuel injection system. Ray organsied a plan B and couldn't get that faxed through. Plan B then failed because of a storm in Darwin and the planes ended up hours later than expected. We were lucky to actually fly the kids out and get back to Darwin ourselves.

Ever the optimist, I lost a bet with Mark that we'd be back in Darwin by 4 pm. As I sat down last night drinking one of the beers in the six pack I bought him for loosing the bet, I wondered if I had learned my lesson.

No, I don't think so. Not yet.

2008-02-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from a couple of weeks ago when the girls started school at the Free Spirit. They are loving it: swimming togs for the school uniform and the day ends at 1 pm with a swim followed by an hour on the jumping castle. Their school uniform arrived last week and they look very smart in their blue and gold shirts.

The classroom is in the Free Spirit Resort function room with full access to bar facilities.

Although Yentle misses her friends in Toowoomba, she is making some good friends here.

Meanwhile, back at the house Alex and Nicole plug away at Katherine School of the Air:

Back on the island we begin week 3 of the term where we are provided with many wonderful opportunities for personal growth. Here's a shot of the beast that charged the car (the number 13 Troopie that we're buying of Great Southern) on our first venture to the beach last week. I was in the passenger seat and saw the creature arc up and begin to charge my side of the car while Mark and Steve had the car in neutral urging me to get it on film. I won't write in this family blog what I said to them.

Here's the beach. Saw a few horses. No crocs (I'm sure they saw us). They tell us that this beach is the best barramundi fishing in the world. We're going to give it a crack this week

As for teaching students at Tiwi College, it's all about quality not quantity. With the heaviest monsoon rains in 25 years, the roads have been cut and the students have been at the school for four days this year. Here's a shot of some of the studets on the first day at Nguiu airport.

That first week was big enough anyway. We had Kevin Rudd's apology followed by an historic meeting of the Tiwi Land Council at the school the following day.

Nicole drove the manual bus around Darwin for the first time last week. It was in Darwin in 1991 when she first learned to drive and last drove a manual car. That was the same year we first went to the Tiwi Islands.

On the family front, Barry and Maria celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last week and are now travelling to Ireland for a few weeks to visit Danielle, Jason, Charlotte and Olie. And I believe that Karl and Colleen are bying a computer! This is very exciting because they will soon have skype access. I understand from Lyndie that Owen graciously declined the offer to teach Dad how to use the computer, instead preferring to avoid the inevitable frustrations with such a task and maintain the healthy and loving relationship that he has with the folks. Very wise.

I understand that there is still no effective communication access at the school, although I did see the wireless satellite going up before we left the school on Friday. It may be another week till the next blog. Peace for now.

2008-02-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

It is 5 am and I leave for week 2 on the island in about 40 minutes. Week one was a baptism of fire! We drove to Nguiu on Bathurst last Tuesday to meet and fly the students to Pickertaramoor. The school is not finished and we are in the middle of the monsoon rains. When we arrived at the school with the students the reality of the lack of resources hit home: no classrooms, no where to take them outdoors and no indoor facilities.

Despite the difficulties with the weather and lack of facilities, we have run classes and have worked hard to get to know each student.

Nicole and the kids are in Darwin at the Free Spirit Resort during the week. On Saturday we were due to fly home but the weather stranded us on the Island. When the storm clouds roll in the planes don't leave Darwin! This was frustrating, particularly for Nicole who had been at home flying solo for the week and who was expecting me back on Saturday. By midday Sunday the clouds had cleared enough to get out of Picker.

We don't have effective communication on the island so there is no chance to get on the net. Hopefully we will have satellite set up in a few weeks and will be able to update this blog more regularly.

The Tiwi Bombers

2008-01-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

On Australia Day last Saturday we were at TIO Stadium to see the Tiwi Bombers take first place on the NTFL ladder! Not bad considering this is their first full year in the comp. I had the guitar and our bombers cheer squad pumped out such classics as a re-worked Men-At-Work downunder - 'come from the land of Tiwi', and 'swing low the aeroplane' (after the tiwi star 'the aeroplane' who kicked five goals). It got us on TV. I expect that if my All Black allegiance gets out, I will be kindly asked to watch the finals on TV from home lest the bombers collapse in the grandfinal.

Alex started Katherine School of the Air two days ago and is going strong. Nicole is doing a mighty job as his home tutor! The girls will start Tiwi College primary school next Tuesday, here at the Free Spirit until we get to the island in a few weeks. Very exciting. This will be Yentle's first year of school!

2008-01-22T04:57:00.001-08:00

For those intersted in the geography of the Tiwi Islands, the land council website link below has 22 maps, from land ownership to dugong and seagrass distribution: http://www.tiwilandcouncil.net.au/Land/Atlas/Atlas.htm .

Today Jacko, the abc Bush Cook (see http://www.abc.net.au/message/tv/ms/s548689.htm) walked us through the acquisition and preparation of bush tucker, as it applies to Indigenous communities and Indigenous health in the Northern Territory. This was within a broader PD focus on nutrition and health. Tiwi College is a five day a week residential college and nutrition is a key element of the school culture. This is no easy aspect, since all the food must first make its way to Darwin (fruit and vegetables from Brisbane; meat from Alice Springs) then to Melville by barge, then to Pickertaramoor on a refrigerated truck. The handling and preparation of food within a well-balanced diet, including bush tucker, is also key element of the school curriculum.

The staff and their families living in the college will order in food once a week. Chris and Jeff, the hospitality coordinators, have done an amazing job managing the logistics of feeding 170 people in a remote part of this island! And I imagine that Nicole, myself and the kids will soon have a new appreciation of the Stephen Street corner shop a mere 200 meters from home down Fourth Ave in Harristown. (Run out of milk love? Give me a sec and I'll jump in the Troop Carrier down to the barge at Pirlangimpi and head over to Darwin. Be back in about 2 days...)

I am appreciating more and more the centrality of education, especially literacy, for supporting and revitalising individual and community wellbeing in communities, and indigenous communities in particular. Studies undertaken by the Fred Hollows foundation have found that for every year of educaton given to an indigenous girl, four years will be added to the life expectancy of her baby. As for literacy, as Noel Pearson puts it, 'From literacy everything else follows. If we are not getting reading right, then children will struggle with underachievement'.

2008-01-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

On the weekend Brett repented and was absolved for a lifetime of reference to that 'sad little provincial code'. No greater love is there than to get in the suppoters gear and go nuts for the home side. (Boycie - you may have read in the Copland Diary of my recent Melville Island Richmond Tiger Epiphany - Like a Tiger). Here are the mighty and victorious Tiwi Bombers:

Though the spirit is willing, on Sunday night there was backsliding from the new faith in the form of the Rugby Hottest 7's finals. The Fijian South Sea Drifters defeated the Aussie Spirit to win the comp. The Groote Eylandt Chooks took out all others in the haka stakes with a unique chicken dance haka involving some rolling on the ground and interesting egg-laying manoeuvres.

Two Days on Melville Island

2008-01-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

Mark and I and the other teachers (six in all) spent Thursday and Friday on the Tiwi Islands. We flew into Tiwi College at Pickertaramoor around 9 am and then spent the day visiting the communities, first Nguiu on Bathurst Island and then up to Milikapati on Melville. How do you sum it up in a blog? It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

Here's the short version:

Thursday 9 am in a small twin engine plane
Landed at Pickertaramoor

Into Tiwi College bus and to the college
Then to Three Ways, where main the roads meet

Where the plaque errected last year by the govenor general reads
'The hopes of Tiwi generations have
Passed along these roads seeking
The vision of Tiwi leaders
Through three ways to the future'.

From Three Ways on the new Tiwi bus service
Packed with children and adults
To the barge landing near Paru
Then to Nguiu for an hour
Walking to the store and back

From Paru to Nine Mile water hole. Unbelievable.

Nine Mile to Milikapati

And to the beach, more beautiful than any you would ever see anywhere
And the water more deadly.
After tempting the six metre croc that has been in these parts now for weeks

We traveled back to the Pickertaramoor
Then to Maxwell Creek Forestry Camp for the night

Friday and back through the forest plantation
To Three Ways then to Pickertaramoor with Tiwi youth
And their parents and leaders of the Tiwi Land Council.
This is actually happening and here are the 6 Family Group houses
Where 12 students will live in each huse five days a week.

The school is being built before our eyes
Even our homes - polystyrene filled with concrete
Apparently cyclone proof.

To the water fall and water hole on the school
A swim in the stream

Then to the airstrip after an afternoon shower and a flight through Hector
To Darwin.

We will be back here teaching in about three weeks.

2008-01-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot going on these past few weeks, but we're here at the Free Spirit Resort just outside Darwin and loving it. Many thanks to our friends and family who have supported and loved and farewelled us enough to get us this far.

It's now 4am NT time and we've got the airconditioning on full bore. I'm still getting a kick out of condensation on the outside of the windows. It's the opposite of winter in Fourth Ave Toowoomba with the gas heater on and our windows streaming on the inside of the windows - and much better since any mould colony should develop on the outside of the house.

I thought it rained every afternoon up here - 'set your clock by the afternoon storm mate'. When we got up on Saturday there was no afternoon storm. The kids were disappointed and I lost a little credibility with Sophie and Laura. I did get some of that back, however briefly, when it stormed at midnight and bucketed down through till late morning the next day (see the pics). It hasn't rained since. But it has been threatening to. I'm telling the kids that we're living in strange times with climate change and stuff like that (you know, to keep the rabbits out).

We're in a bit of a routine now. Nicole and Amber are exercising in the morning and when Nic gets back she logs on to the 'Sacred Space' website for some morning quiet time. This is hard, given that the six of us are living in a small two-bedroom chalet. While Nic centres and meditates on the reading for the day, we are climbing over her and the chairs to get from the bedroom to the table for breakfast, amidst the usual robust dialogue of siblings and a father yelling out to the kids to 'keep it down while your mother meditates'. There is a 'jumping pillow' in the complex and a pool (see pics) and enough to keep the kids entertained, at least for the next little while.

Mark and I started work yesterday (three weeks of pd in Darwin) and met most of the Tiwi College team during the day. The project itself is fantastic, unbelievable really and perhaps a little overwhelming (see below). But at the end of this first day the question on my mind is why people from all over the country (Tasmania, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and of course Toowoomba), and many with children (there are 24 children of the college staff who will be living in Tiwi College) have packed up houses and kids and either resigned or got leave from jobs to be a part of this. Andrew White, the Tiwi College project director, probably answered some of this during the day when he presented the history of the project and the understanding and insight that grounds Tiwi College.

It's hard to capture this in a paragraph (no justice here to Andy's fantastic presentation), but here goes. There seem to be two key aspects to the significance of this project. First, Tiwi College is an initiative from the Tiwi people themselves and is grounded in a 'capacity building community management' model, not a 'service delivery' model. It is a school that has grown out of the hopes and dreams that the Tiwi have for their future, and we who have come here to work and live in the college do so at the request and within the governance framework of the Tiwi. Second, since the school is a five-day per week residential college and is being built from the ground up in an uninhabited place on the Island (Pickertaramoor) the broader community elements such as housing, shops, etc. that make schools work must be created. This is a huge project, yet is an advantage nevertheless, since we are able to establish these elements to support the internal school elements such as school-wide pedagogy and curriculum. The Northern Territory Christian Schools Association have learned about these broader community elements through recent experiences elsewhere, particularly the residential school at Woolaning.

In theory, it seems there is every reason that this school will succeed.

In practice, there are a number of issues that will keep us focussed, one in particular: the accommodation is not yet finished on the island and school starts on February 6 (Waitangi Day), about three weeks away. Mark and I travel to Melville on Thursday for an overnight stay so we should have a better idea of where things are at after that. There is one plan that Mark and I will fly to the island to teach for the week, perhaps under tarps till the buildings are completed, and back to Darwin on the weekends. Nicole and Amber and the kids will stay on here at the Free Spirit. Did I start this post with 'we're at the Free Spirit and loving it'? We'll see how long that lasts.