2020 has brought a lot of changes to all of us. We are spending more time at home as lockdowns and isolation restrictions are in place around the country and getting tighter as COVID-19 continues to impact our lives. It certainly is not life as usual.

What a week Australia has had! With increasing uncertainty about just about everything, life is changing drastically for most Australians.

The catastrophic bushfires that have torched much of the country since September have raised many questions about fire management in Australia. While a shocked and shattered population are blaming everyone from environmentalists to the Prime Minister other stories are emerging of what appear to be lucky escapes but may just hold the answer to best-practice fire management for the future.

Can you believe it is 2020 already? I feel like 2019 passed by in a blink and all of a sudden we are here, a few days away from a new school year. A fresh start with new challenges ahead for teachers, students and parents.

A few months ago I went to a networking meeting – an opportunity to meet with other business people in the area in the hope of meeting some like-minded people who might one day be interested in collaborating on a project.

​I asked him what he thought, about being taught proper blackfella stuff. He’s nine, just recently turned, and while he has a turn of phrase to rival the greatest orator when excepting himself from homework or feeding the Kelpie, I was genuinely unsure what his response would be.

In modern society Christmas is celebrated in many different ways. For some it's a religious holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ, for others it's a holiday to celebrate with gifts. Whether for religious or cultural reasons, the common thread for all that celebrate Christmas across the globe is the coming together to spend time and celebrate with family and friends.

People often think that cultural awareness training is only for large organisations but the reality is organisations of any size can benefit from cultural awareness.

The benefits of cultural awareness training for workplaces are often spoken about. We talk about the role that cultural awareness training has in improving workplace culture; in improving both internal and external workplace communications; and in better servicing Aboriginal clients.

One of the most common questions we get asked at Wingaru is how to engage the Aboriginal community in projects. Whether it be getting someone to consult on a project or participate in classroom activities, it is clear that people want to have the input of Aboriginal people

The Australian curriculum has broadened the definition of texts to include materials that are written, spoken, multimodal, and in print or digital form. It might be thought that the more modern texts are more relevant to the students of today.

The month of September focusses on bringing awareness to suicide prevention with two key events, World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) and R U OK? Day (12 September).

We often hear the phrase “Australia’s dark past” in reference to unpleasant aspects of post-colonial history in this country.

August 4 is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, a day for all Australians to show their support for and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The weeks surrounding the day provide classrooms with a great opportunity to explore this year’s theme, “We Play, We Learn, We Belong”, and promote the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Like most school parents, making sure my child gets a healthy lunch box and a breakfast that is capable of seeing him through a busy morning of learning is a challenge that I face daily. I worry about how much Mr 7 eats and also the quality of the things he is willing to eat.

In 2014 I was working for the Australian Government in an Aboriginal Liaison type position and I was also the President of my local AECG. The NAIDOC theme that year was about those who served.