Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority provides opportunities for all students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of Australia by learning about the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. Students learn that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are strong, resilient, rich and diverse.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority sets out essential cultural knowledge that all Australians should know: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples form significant, diverse and resilient living communities within contemporary society. Learning about this cross-curriculum priority is embedded in the curriculum areas of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0. Through this cross-curriculum priority, the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0, in the words of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration:

… provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with the ability to see themselves, their identities and cultures reflected in the curriculum; and allows all students to engage in reconciliation, respect and recognition of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.¹

Learning about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority requires engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ knowledges, experiences, values and perspectives. For the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 cross-curriculum priority, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), through its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Advisory Group, sought the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to inform the key aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures that all Australians should know. For the development of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0, the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) and the VCAA have collaborated to ensure this cross-curriculum priority meets Victorian standards and is relevant to the Victorian context.

It is crucial to involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in decision-making about information relevant to them. Working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples has ensured a respectful and culturally responsive curriculum, with appropriate language. Shared decision-making is an essential component of reconciliation and strengthening relationships.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living throughout Victoria and across the country are diverse. While the term ‘Koorie’, or ‘Koori’, is commonly used to describe the Aboriginal Peoples of Victoria, the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 cross-curriculum priority uses the term ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ throughout because the cross-curriculum priority includes all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Within the cross-curriculum priority, ‘histories’ and ‘cultures’ are used as broad terms. ‘Histories’ relates to more than the History curriculum area; it also relates to contexts and perspectives in multiple curriculum areas in the Victorian Curriculum F–10. ‘Cultures’ refers to ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing. Living communities and identity are central to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority.

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¹ Council of Australian Governments, Education Council (2019) Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, p. 15 Australian Government Department of Education website.