Abstract:
The paper focuses on the relationship between Australia's first University and Indigenous Australian people and begins by highlighting a training program for Aboriginal teacher's assistants. This unique training program for teacher aides saw a group of Aboriginal students break the stronghold of white education in Australia's first University; the University of Sydney. The paper then examines the creation of the University's Aboriginal Education Centre, later to be known as, the Koori Centre. The paper throws light on the University's response to equity issues and the expansion of educational opportunities for Aboriginal people and the establishment of Aboriginal education and Aboriginal studies in the longer term. While the paper is in part an historical account, and the author has an association with the University, it suggests that Aboriginal education and studies should not merely be dealt with on the sidelines of university learning and teaching, but celebrated equally in mainstream educational programs.