Indigenous perspectives for teaching children about days of remembrance by decolonising curriculum

Darin Gorry
University of New England,
Vicki Pascoe
Central Queensland University, Australia, and Manna Institute, Australia
Einar B. Thorsteinsson
University of New England, Australia
Ashley Holzapfel
Manna Institute, Australia
Marg Rogers
University of New England, Australia, and Manna Institute, Australia

In this discussion paper, we argue the need to decolonise curricula in our educational institutions and outline practical steps to do this to acknowledge, respect, empower and elevate Indigenous voices. As an example of colonised curriculum, Australian children previously learned about remembrance of war service days, such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, through teaching resources that tended to focus on the service of military personnel in wars external to Australia, for example, WWI and WWII. Less emphasis has been placed on other wars, and despite a century of conflict on homelands, even scarcer mention is being made of Australia's Frontier Wars. We explore an exemplar that aimed to address this gap, but despite meritorious intentions, the authors did not ensure that Indigenous authors were part of the process, thereby recolonising curricula. After practising reflexivity, we recommend better ways forward for future projects, by embracing truth-telling that empowers Australian Indigenous voices. This will be of interest to researchers, educators, curriculum designers and policymakers.
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Authors: Mr Darin Gorry is a Meriam man, from the Eastern Torres Straits. Darin has been teaching in the area of cultural competency for UNE and TAFE NSW since 2009. He is currently a lecturer in the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, University of New England, Australia. He has an interest in research into traditional ontology, epistemology, methodology and axiology. He believes that traditional knowledge is equal, or superior to Western knowledge and has a passion to demonstrate this through research. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9415-3176 Email: dgorry@une.edu.au Dr Vicki Pascoe is an Arrernte woman, Lecturer and Indigenous Studies (Arts) Discipline Lead at Central Queensland University, Australia. Vicki's research areas include mature-aged women returning to education; systemic racism within universities; First Nations student experiences within educational institutions and the prison system; First Nations Queenslanders and impaired decision-making capacity; international medical graduates and their experience of medical dominance in Australia; and decolonising university curricula. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0074-2429 Email: v.pascoe@cqu.edu.au Professor Einar B. Thorsteinsson is Professor in the School of Psychology, University of New England, Australia. His research focus is in the area of health psychology including adolescent mental health and coping. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2065-1989 Email: ethorste@une.edu.au Ms Ashley Holzapfel is a Yidinji and Butchulla woman working as an Inclusion and Diversity Specialist in the early learning sector. She is also a First Nations Representative on the Project Management Group of the Manna Institute, Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7599-5861 Email: ashley_holzapfel@outlook.com Dr Marg Rogers is a Senior Lecturer and course coordinator in Early Childhood Education at the University of New England, Australia. Her research interests are in families, military families, professionalism and well-being. Marg is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Australian Government funded Manna Institute. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8407-7256 Email: marg.rogers@une.edu.au Please cite as: Gorry, D., Pascoe, V., Thorsteinsson, E. B., Holzapfel, A. & Rogers, M. (2025). Indigenous perspectives for teaching children about days of remembrance by decolonising curriculum. Issues in Educational Research, 35(2), 573-589. http://www.iier.org.au/iier35/gorry.pdf