The Man speaks out
As the Ambassador for this Saturday’s Aboriginal Education Council (AEC) Community Fun Day in Alexandria, Anthony Mundine is well aware of the importance of community involvement and cultural education. Indeed, for Indigenous youth in particular, he says it’s the key to success.
It’s not hard to see why Mundine favours education as a transformational process, since he admits it was only years after completing his own he realised its importance. “Personally, I only went to grade 11 – I didn’t really take my education seriously,” he said. “But…after I finished my schooling and got older, I started to realise how the system and the infrastructure is set up, basically, for us to fail. So I began to educate myself on the areas I was interested in.”
Never backward about coming forward, Mundine has clear ideas about the root issues needing to be resolved. One of the main problems he identifies is a lack of connection between today’s Aboriginal youth, and their cultural heritage and language. “The main problem is the culture – that’s our rock as people,” he said. “We should be setting up schools where we teach Aboriginal kids their culture, their way of life and language. [We should] employ elders to come and teach the kids about their way of life.”
Such an aim ties in with those of the AEC, which was founded 47 years ago in response to the lack of educational opportunities available to Aboriginal students. Executive Officer Donna McIntosh said there was a rapid realisation that social issues such as health, housing and poverty were having a dramatic effect on the prospects of Aboriginal students at all stages of the education ladder, from kindergarten to university. The AEC has since become the foremost Aboriginal education institution, working to raise funds for scholarships and increasing awareness of Indigenous culture.
By reconnecting the youth with their Aboriginal heritage, Mundine believes the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse will also be addressed. “All the substances that are hurting our people, they’re not a part of our Aboriginality, they’re not a part of our culture. Things like alcohol, drugs and smoking didn’t even exist in our culture. So we have to teach our kids that that’s not our way,” he said.
The former league star and champion boxer said he himself hoped to be an inspiration to young Indigenous Australians. “I’ve been down the track they’re travelling, growing up as an Aboriginal and feeling out-of-place at times,” he said. “I feel like I can be an inspiring person, especially to my people, because they are the ones that can relate to me.”
Mundine will be amongst those present at the AEC Community Fun Day this Saturday, November 14, at Alexandria Park Community School. The program runs from 10am to 4pm and includes live entertainment, football and basketball games, food, stalls, and lessons in painting Aboriginal art.
by Ehssan Veiszadeh
