Executive Summary
Topic 4: An Aboriginal Kid living in Redfern.
Students: Ali Wilson (200 410 449), Max Milosevic (305 174 584), Marcus Lewin (305 190 954)
Method: Video Presentation
The topic we were handed for our research assignment was an interesting and delicate task. As an Australian, I personally have not had a great deal of contact with the aboriginal community. In fact the only knowledge I have, has been obtained through the newspapers and from conversations I have had with people. For this reason, the topic we were given gave us a good opportunity to come face to face with a member of the Aboriginal community.
We chose to conduct our study in Video format because we felt this was the most accurate way of conveying what we might find from the interview. This however posed a few problems. Firstly, we are interviewing someone below the age of 18. This raised issues with parental permission, and the permission of the community. Secondly the current state of affairs between the Aboriginal community and Non-indigenous community required that we tread lightly so as not to offend or upset both the interviewee’s and various other parties who might deem the interview inappropriate. We decided that the best course of action would be to get in contact with the community centre in Redfern to find a candidate for the interview. We found two Teenagers named Tyson and Henry. They were both aged 14.
We started the interview quite generally by just asking them to tell us a bit about themselves and where they were from. After a short period it was surprising to find how candid they were about some fairly personal issues. They discussed how it wasn’t unusual for kids to use drugs at very young ages, sometimes even under the age of 10, and that included themselves. They told us about how their parents let them drink and even supply the alcohol. As we all know the Aboriginal community has issues with drugs and alcohol, so it wasn’t surprising to find that they didn’t see this as a problem. They both expressed a desire to leave school in year 10 to pursue a career in the Panel Beating trade which was positive.
Both the boys came from the Wiradjuri tribe in Northern NSW. The tribe is the largest in NSW and has a colourful history. The boys moved down to Sydney when they were quite young so they don’t have an extended knowledge of the tribe. We asked about how they see the Elder’s in the Redfern community, and we discovered that the Elder’s still play a role in leading the community and providing advice. However, some of the Elder’s in Redfern are involved in supplying drugs to youth’s.
On the whole though, we were grateful that we were given this task, as it gave us a clear insight into the issues surrounding the Aboriginal community and the Redfern area.