Professional Learning Institute

Increasing Knowledge and Understanding

The Worawa Professional Learning Institute (WPLI) is involved in sharing Aboriginal culture, protocols, history and perspectives with schools, teachers in pre-service training, professional development programs for educators, government, community organisations, corporates and others with an interest in learning more about Aboriginal culture and history with a particular focus on Victoria.

Located on land that once formed part of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station. This site is of great cultural and historical significance to many Victorian Aboriginal families displaced by Colonisation. Visitors have the rare opportunity to walk the land.

Context

The Worawa Professional Learning Institute workshops provide a forum for understanding more about our shared history.

Workshops are tailored to meet the needs of relevant industry and designed to provide participants with knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal history and culture.

The aim is to enhance knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Australia and foster cultural competency.

Programs

Program 1: Enhancing Aboriginal Knowledge & Understanding

Dispossession, dislocation and government policies have impacted on the lives of Indigenous Australians and the effects are evident in contemporary Indigenous Australia. includes an examination of the relevant issues (e.g., socio-economic status
of Indigenous Australians, cultural differences, health, education and employment, over-representation in the justice system) in the relevant sector for which it is to be conducted.

Program 2: Professional Development of Educators

Provides an introduction to Aboriginal culture with particular reference to Indigenous Perspectives across the Australian Curriculum.

Program 3: Cultural Safety

Embedding Cultural Safety and Indigenous Perspectives in policy and operational processes.

Program 4. Group Conferencing Training

An accredited professional development workshop in a
trauma informed approach to addressing adverse life stresses experienced across our Aboriginal community. The workshop covers restorative processes and group conferencing, accredited by the Australian Association of Restorative Justice (AARJ) for Group Conference facilitation.

The workshop focuses on the several formats of the Group Conferencing process, which is used to address unresolved conflict &/or complex issues affecting a group of people, or to proactively promote conflict resilience. The training is also valuable for managers responsible for program and policy development.

Book by email: events@worawa.vic.edu.au

Visitors have the privileged opportunity to step onto land of cultural and historical significance which once formed part of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve. The Dreaming Trail honours the land, our traditions and cultural practices, visitors learn about Aboriginal technology and traditional use of plants for food, medicine and craft.

Tour Includes:

• Welcome to Country

• Smoking Ceremony

• Dreaming Trail

• History Walk

A grouping of memorial poles has a prominent place honouring Victoria’s 38 Tribes and an evocative soundscape gives voice to the Children of Coranderrk, who grew up in Optional the Coranderrk children’s dormitory.

Beyond the Dreaming Trail, is the History Walk, a winding walk with a series of twenty-one imposing poles each representing an Aboriginal Change Maker highlighting stories of activism and political campaigns.

Optional:

• Visit our Aboriginal Resource Centre / Keeping Place, partake of Aboriginal inspired light refreshments

Welcome to Country

Welcoming to Country is a traditional practice of special significance with its foundations in ancient Aboriginal lore. In Victoria, the Welcome to Country may include
a smoking ceremony where selected native plants are burnt to create clouds of smoke. The ritual of walking through the smoke symbolises spiritual cleansing and honours the Spirit Ancestors.

Dreaming Trail

Following these traditional customs, visitors are led on an interpretive walk through the Dreaming Trail where an Aboriginal Elder shares information on Aboriginal relationship to land and traditional use of plants. Learn about Aboriginal technology and hear stories of life on an Aboriginal reserve following European settlement.

Children’s Memorial

A memorial to the children of Coranderrk has a place of prominence on an island in the billabong with a soundscape that explores the historical practice of the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and policies and practices common to life on an Aboriginal Reserve.

History Walk

The History Walk charts the history of the Aboriginal struggle and highlights the achievements of 21 Aboriginal Change Makers. From activists to academics, artists, performers, sportspeople and more, these individuals are recognised as making a significant contribution to Aboriginal community development.

Optional extras

Enjoy Aboriginal inspired light refreshments as you browse our Keeping Place.