WA's first Aboriginal school principal ostracised by the Department of Education

Gerry Georgatos
Margie Webb was West Australia’s first Aboriginal female school principal – appointed in 1991 to Glen Hill Primary school. In 2000 Mrs Webb caused a storm by taking on the Department of Education on grounds of discrimination. Once again Mrs Webb is standing solid in her drive to see Indigenous languages at Derby High School. However, Derby High School is refusing to include Indigenous languages under the ‘Languages other than English’ program. LOTE is a requirement, and currently Mrs Webb says there is no LOTE at Derby.

Margie Webb Nangarti Milanka said she is enduring a tortuous personal toll while taking on the Department of Education. One of WA’s most senior Aboriginal teachers, with 30 years of experience, has been dismissed by the Department of Education.

“I am an Indigenous woman who was born in Fitzroy Crossing and grew up with the Walmatjarri, Wankatjunka, Gooniyandi and Bunaba people from this area,” said Mrs Webb.

She had been a teacher since 1980, teaching in Perth metropolitan schools and in some of the state’s most remote communities – Kalumburu, Fitzroy Crossing, Bidyadanga and Glen Hill.

She said that Derby High School is not offering any languages to students. “Derby District High School has no excuse for not offering the local Indigenous languages because myself and Carol Davidson are experienced language teachers .”

“I have helped Elders put 14 different traditional Aboriginal languages into schools across the Kimberley and Carol has worked with at least six traditional languages assisting Elders to put these languages into the school forum under the LOTE framework.”

“It has been mandated by an Act of Parliament that schools have to teach eight curriculum areas so all children have access to an equal education. Derby District High School has been in breach of the law since Max Clark left as principal – the last principal to ensure LOTE was offered at Derby. Since then every other principal at Derby has seen no point or purpose to LOTE.”

Mrs Webb said ones culture and heritage are imperative to their well-being. “Derby children need the LOTE framework to get a balanced view of who they are... We have had 20 suicides in the last two years in Derby – mainly Indigenous males, mostly young teenagers.”

“How can a government department so blatantly discriminate against our Indigenous children, against all Derby’s children and by breaking the law and offering them seven of the eight curriculum streams?”

“I believe language is the vehicle of one’s culture and Indigenous people need to learn their own language as well as English,” said Mrs Webb. Mrs Webb believes that denying the opportunity for children to learn their language where the opportunity for it exists is akin to eroding their identity. She said that in remote communities the strengthening of identity can assist in promoting positive role models and work to reduce the current sense of hopelessness many feel, the mental breakdowns and the high youth suicide rates – the Derby district and the whole of the Kimberley have the nation’s highest youth suicide rates, the nation’s highest rates of homelessness, and the nation’s highest unemployment rates.

Mrs Webb said that the Department of Education had gone to great lengths to persecute her for her stances and to the point they instructed the Western Australian College of Teaching (WACOT) to deregister her. However, a WACOT investigation cleared Mrs Webb and she was re-registered to 2016.

This year the Western Australian Teachers Union advised Mrs Webb to accept a $100,000 settlement instead of fighting to clear her name and in arguing her cause. “I told the Union that I wanted my name cleared and that no amount of money was worth (the loss) of my good name which is all that I have from the cradle to the grave.”

Mrs Webb said that an incident took place at Derby High School, on a day where then Education Minister, and now leader of the state’s Labor Party, Mark McGowan was visiting, and where students had breached various standards – with Mrs Webb trying to intervene and who instead was called ‘a black slut’ and other vulgar names by one of the students . She said the incident was misused by colleagues and the Department of Education to persecute her out of teaching altogether.

“I am so sad to have to leave teaching after teaching more than 2,000 bright and brilliant children during the last 30 years, and I have loved my job. I will not accept that I am an ‘angry’ Anglo-Aboriginal person who has the propensity to swear and hit children in our schools as I have been labelled by the Education Department of Western Australia. Why I am given no credibility after 30 years of continuous service?”

“I am a passionate voice for equity for all our children,” said Mrs Webb.

The National Indigenous Times will continue to pursue adequate responses from the Department of Education as to why a teacher with 30 years service, why the state’s first Aboriginal female principal, why one of the strongest voices in the state for Aboriginal languages in our schools has been dismissed.

LINKS:

Aboriginal Perspectives across LOTE
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/learningareas/lote/

Aboriginal languages have an increased chance of being preserved with an additional nine Aboriginal educators trained to teach six different languages in public schools
http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Lists/Statements/DispForm.aspx?ID=1...

Currently, many Indigenous communities are working hard to maintain or
revive their languages. Within schools, also, there is increasing activity
related to the teaching of Indigenous languages
http://www.languageseducation.com/purdie0708.pdf

2008 was the first year of implementation. The first WACE examinations for Aboriginal Languages of Western Australia were conducted in 2009
http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/WACE_C...

About 56,000 people speak an Indigenous language. Of these, approximately 18% speak an Australian creole.
A significant number of people speak an Australian creole including Torres Strait Creole (6,042 speakers) and Kriol (4,213 speakers). 488 people indicated that they speak Aboriginal English.
Other Indigenous languages with large numbers of speakers are Arrernte (2,835 speakers), Djambarrpuyngu (2,766), Pitantjatjara (2,657) and Walpiri (2,507).
The most common Indigenous languages differ between states and territories reflecting the origins of particular Aboriginal groups and their continuity with their traditional lands.
Over half (54%) of the Northern Territory's Indigenous population speak an Indigenous language, by far the greatest proportion of any state or territory. 13% of Indigenous people in Western Australia and 11.6% in South Australia speak an Indigenous language.
The Northern Territory has over half (55.7%) of Australia's Indigenous language speakers, with most of the remainder in Queensland (21.6%), Western Australia (14.6%) and South Australia (5.7%
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/population/index-Diversit-2.html

The Wajarri language dictionary was released last week at a ceremony in the Murchison Settlement
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-02/indigenous-language-dictionary-lau...