The Port Adelaide Enfield Local Government Area contains one of the highest populations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents of any local government in metropolitan Adelaide. According to the 2016 Census, the Council area is home to over 2,800 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people representing 2.3% of the total local population (almost twice the Metropolitan average).
In the Port Adelaide Enfield local government area, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has increased by more than 33% since 2001.
Several projects have taken place over the past decade to capture the stories of Aboriginal people who have lived and raised families in the Port and western area.
These stories highlight the diversity of families who have contributed to the social history and vibrancy of community and public life. In many cases this community leadership has continued over generations of families.
A visit to the Kalaya Children’s Centre in Queenstown provides a wonderful photographic history and one example of the successive generations of families and children who have been a part of this important school community. The Kalaya Children’s Centre started out as the Alberton Kindergarten in 1975 in a house in Prince Street by a group including Mary Cooper, Sylvia and Charlie Agius and others with assistance from the Aboriginal Education Foundation.
“It was initially planned as a centre for Nunga parents and children to overcome the loneliness of families who had come in from reserves, and to help prepare children for entry into primary school. Another major innovation at the parents’ request, was to establish a junior primary class next to the kindergarten to make transition easier”.
(Survival in Our Own Land, p. 106).
The Kalaya Children’s Centre continues to play an important role in holistic education involving families and the broader community in learning and community development based on strong cultural identities and participation.
Reference:
Survival in Our Own Land: ‘Aboriginal’ experiences in ‘South Australia’ since 1836. Christobel Mattingley and Ken Hampton (Eds) (1988): Wakefield Press, SA