Acknowledgement

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of our land; their Elders past and present and thank them for keeping my spirit safe as I travel across their lands. I also acknowledge my dear friend David Forsyth; without his help and guidance, this chapter would have never happened.

Introduction

I need to start this introduction by letting the reader know that this chapter is not focused on leadership theories. It is a chapter about leadership in practice, leadership for change, and leadership for a better world. I suggest that when a leader shares their story, and when they lead from a position of connection to the environment, that they connect the group to themselves and the environment around them.

There is always an internal struggle when I am writing anything academic. Traditional Western academia prides itself on research-driven, peer-reviewed, style-guided literature reviews. Although I have never found writing in this manner difficult, I do feel as though I am fighting against my very nature. As an Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal), my nature is to tell and listen to stories. I suppose that is why my life’s work is built around presenting. In some ways everything we do is presenting, every conversation and every encounter with others is presenting. This is why we worry about how we look, what type of job we have, and what people think about us, and therefore we spend so much time and money on material things.

The more students I see, the more I realize that we as an Australian society are losing the very essence of storytelling, the basics of communication, and the ability to feel comfortable in new settings. Some of my peers say that it’s the development of the mobile phones, and that technology is isolating us. I don’t disagree with this idea; all one must do is have a look around at a local café and you will see many people with their eyes down scrolling through their phones. I certainly do it. I believe that we as educators and as a society have lost the ability to teach connection and this loss of connection is causing anxiety among our young people. They no longer know how to connect with others and the environment. This lack of connection is especially evident when we watch their interactions on school camps.

School camps (outdoor education) place young people in unfamiliar settings. They are often arranged into groups with young people that they normally don’t associate with at school. This is the first time that they spend time with their teachers outside of the classroom, and for many this is their first time in the bush. If you are like me and love observing people and their behaviors, then school camps are a lot of fun. There are a lot of awkward conversations and a lot of personal growth. One of the key observations that I have made is young people struggling to make conversation with strangers and teachers. There is an obvious anxiety around sharing one’s story and a fear of being judged. The question I ask myself constantly is, “Why do these young people struggle so much with their identity?” It’s not just young people who struggle. I have witnessed many teachers and adults shirk questions about who they are and avoid conversations altogether.

As an Indigenous Australian I know how hard it is to discuss identity. For most of my life, I was told that being Indigenous was a bad thing. My own grandmother would often comment that we are better off telling people we are Maoris than saying we are Aboriginal. The strange thing about my internal struggle for identity was the observations I made when visiting Indigenous family or community events. Here were multiple clans of Indigenous Australians, all of which have suffered from colonization, all with trauma, yet here they are hugging and communicating with comfort about their identity and belonging. It took me many years to realize that there is great strength in Indigenous Australian ways of belonging and connection. That there is healing and comfort in knowing who you are and how you connect.

The setting for this chapter is an Indigicate school camp. Indigicate is a specialist outdoor education company that designs and facilitates outdoor education using Indigenous Australian pedagogies as the method of learning. I want you to imagine you are at camp with me as part of a group of university students. It is the start of a five-day hiking program and today’s conversation is about connection, trust, unity, and change. You are here because you want to know more about Indigenous Australians and what they have to offer. Already you have heard that there are many negative problems associated with Indigenous Australians, but you don’t know why. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how I teach connection through storytelling, how we have lost connection with ourselves and the environment, and that through our connection we can create a happier, stronger society.

This chapter is written as a story in first person. It is written in a traditional Indigenous Australian method that honors my ancestors. We are storytellers and our ways are old. As a book chapter, and due to this book being academic literature, I have added in the references as required. This is the internal struggle that I deal with, and it is tricky to honor both Indigenous and Western methods of academia. In my opinion, the best way to hear any story is on country (sitting on the land), from the very mouth of the storyteller. In the absence of that, this is the best I can do.

Getting to Know Each Other

You are with me on country now, out in the Australian bush on one of my programs. There are eight of us. We have walked a short distance to a cozy place among gum trees and kangaroo grass. It is warm. There is a slight breeze coming from the North. The breeze makes the trees ruffle, but they don’t ruffle loud enough to drown out the sounds of the birds. In the distance, there is a small stream; those of you with good hearing can faintly hear it. Those of you with deep connection can feel it.

Can you all please sit and listen. I will introduce myself, and then you will introduce yourself. Can you please form a circle. This is an Aboriginal way of doing things. In a circle everyone is equal and no one can hide. We all sit in the circle in the Australian bush, sitting on what I like to call country. You ask me, “Why do you do what you do and why did you start doing this?” I look at you and for a short while I wait in silence. I am listening to my ancestors, waiting for them to direct me. With a warm tone, I introduce myself.

“I am Shawn Andrews, a Mununjali man with ancestral roots in Southern Queensland and Tasmania. My people have lived on this land for as long as there was wind. The soil, trees, waterways, and animals are my ancestors. I am an Echidna who does not sit still. I am the first in my family to make it past year nine at school, the first to go to university, the first to graduate, and the first to travel overseas. I come from generations of strong Indigenous women. Women who were stolen from their families, who were persecuted, called savages, and told their ways are uncivilized. I have struggled with my identity and for many years I felt it was wrong to be Aboriginal, that we are subhuman and that our ways are not as important as the Western ways. My struggle made me sick. I lived and studied with severe depression and anxiety, and formed a terrible addiction to gambling.

“In 2014, at age 32, I decided that I needed to change, that I must start to honor my ancestors and listen to them. I needed to listen to the wind and follow my calling. I needed to find out who I am and why I am here. I decided to stop gambling, to seek help for my depression and anxiety, and to start a business. I felt there was a better way to educate non-Indigenous Australians about Indigenous Australian history and culture. That we could create a sequential curriculum that taught the truth about Indigenous Australian culture and history. A curriculum taught in the outdoors on school camps. In February 2015, with only $20.00 in my pocket and no car, I started a company called Indigicate, an outdoor education company that aims to create unity between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. A business that teaches the beautiful things about Indigenous Australian culture, our connection to others, land, and spirit.

I sit in the circle, in silence for a short while. Looking directly at you I ask, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’”

A Fractured Country that Needs Unity

After a short reflection on each other’s stories, I am asked, “Why did it take so long for me to become happy?” My reply is blunt. “Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years, yet I always felt like a stranger in my own country. I was brought up believing that the English saved us with their medicines and food, that the European way of life was much better than ours, and that being an Indigenous Australian is a negative thing.”

I pause again to gather myself when a kookaburra starts to laugh. It is as if he waited for us to stop talking before he laughed; maybe he is an ancestor or a creator. His laugh echoes through the bush and when he finishes he looks at us, possibly waiting for applause or maybe waiting for me to start.

There are many questions from the group. One person looks at me and says, “Surely things aren’t that bad, I know the Indigenous Australians have a lot of problems today, but these are things you can fix. You just need to change yourselves.” Another group member puts their hand up and asks if I can explain connection. Another asks, “Does Indigicate work, and what are its aims?” I look around the group and smile; the group doesn’t realize that their learning journey is about to begin. That they, like many groups before them, will get a snapshot of the good and bad of being an Indigenous Australian. I close my eyes and listen; slowly I open them and say, “Before we can understand the future, we must learn about the past.” With a deep breath, I start our history lesson.

“On January 26, 1788, the lives of Indigenous Australians were changed forever. On that day, the British invaded the Eora people’s country (Sydney) and set up a colony that almost led to the total annihilation of the Indigenous Australians (Broome, 2010). After many frontier wars across Australia, then known as New Holland, the Indigenous Australians succumbed to disease and the eventual forced removal from their homelands to small parcels of land often known as missions. By the time of 1829, it was believed that less than 30 percent of Indigenous Australians’ pre-1788 population still survived. In 1830, the Tasmanian Government decided to get rid of the entire Indigenous Australian population on the island. They formed the Black Line. Directed by Governor George Arthur, thousands of able-bodied men formed a human chain and marched across the island. Their objective was to kill every Indigenous Australian. It failed in the short term, as the Indigenous Australians had already moved to the smaller islands to the North. It succeeded in displacing Indigenous Australians and allowed the Europeans to take control of Tasmania (Macintyre, 2016). The myth that the Indigenous Australians from Tasmania had all died out was born from this event. This is not true. My family are descendants of both sides of this horrific policy. My English family, the Spotswoods, benefited from the new “free” and. Strangely, one of the Spotswoods, my great-grandfather four times removed, married one of the Tasmanian Aboriginal women.

“For Indigenous Australians, the 1800s was a horrific time. There were countless massacres, prolific disease, and catastrophic loss of culture. Clans were forced into missions and policies were developed to control Indigenous populations. In 1869, the Aboriginal Protection Act was established; protection boards were set up across the colonies, and the rights of Indigenous Australians became controlled by the state (Victorian Government, 1869). In 1886, the Half Caste Act was established (Victorian Government, 1886). This policy saw police, directed by the Aboriginal protection board, forcibly removing Indigenous Australian children of mixed race from their families. This led to a decline in the Indigenous Australian population on the missions and almost led to the destruction of the Indigenous Australians. The removal of the children is known in Australia as the ‘stolen generations.’ My family (like many Indigenous Australians) are descendants of stolen children. Often the children were stolen over multiple generations. The Australian government continued to remove Indigenous Australian children right up until the late 1960s. It was the government’s opinion that our race would die out and that our people would assimilate into the white Australian population (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2017; Hill, 2008).

“During the early and mid-1900s, Indigenous Australians’ rights decreased and their lives became increasingly difficult. Australia was formed in 1901 and along with federation came the white Australia policy. The basis of the policy started during the gold rush where it was determined that Chinese migrants were too good at mining and needed to be removed. ‘The great white man’s march for a great white country’ occurred in 1885, and from here popular opinion was for the development of a country that was completely white.

This racist agenda did not impact the Indigenous Australians directly, as the white Australia policy only affected immigration. Indirectly, Indigenous Australians suffered as the general population became whiter and the general policy for immigration was for Australia to remain a white nation. All immigrants would need to submit to a dictation test, where they would need to read or write 50 words in a European language (Australian Government, 1901; National Archives of Australia, 2017).

“This policy was a huge ‘success,’ and in 1941 the Australian population was 99 percent white (ABS, 1941). It was only World War II that led to a change in immigration and the eventual disbandment of the white Australia policy in 1975 (National Archives of Australia, 2017).

“Adding to pressure of being the only colored people in a white nation, Indigenous Australians were additionally subjected to the historical opinion that they were savages and uncivilized, that without the help of the English we would have died out, we were primitive hunters and gatherers, without medicines, trade, social structures, and religion. History was rewritten and schools across the nation began to teach a negative view of Indigenous Australians and that Australia’s history began in 1778 when Captain Cook ‘discovered’ Australia (Pascoe, 2016).

“Obviously, Indigenous Australians knew that the ‘white version’ of our history was false and that we did have complex civilizations before and after the English invaded, but what could we do during this time? Our lands and children had been stolen. Our culture belittled and humiliated. Our people suffering and dying. To add insult to injury, the Australian Government decided to celebrate Australia Day on January 26, the day our suffering began: the day the British invaded the Eora people’s country (National Australia Day Committee, 2017; Pascoe, 2016).

“Since the mid- to late-1990s, there has been a period of growth for Indigenous Australians and Australia. The Australian government, under pressure from the United Nations, began to address the ‘Aboriginal Problem.’ Working groups were established and studies conducted. In 2008, a report called ‘Closing the gap on Aboriginal Australia: The challenge for Australia’ was released. It made known some disturbing facts about Indigenous Australians (Australian Government, 2010; Katitjin, 2010). Indigenous Australians represent 2.5 percent of the population. On average, Indigenous Australians die 17 years younger than non-Indigenous Australians. Eighty-three percent of Indigenous deaths below the age of five occur in the first year of life. Infant mortality is 12.3 deaths per 1,000 births for Indigenous Australians compared to 4.2 for non-Indigenous Australians. There is a 25 percent difference in the minimum literacy and numeracy standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; 43 percent of Indigenous Australians complete year 12 at high school; and 48 percent of the Indigenous Australian workforce-aged population are employed, compared to 72 percent of non-Indigenous Australians. Since 2008, there has been little improvement in these statistics. With improved reporting, the government has added the following alarming statistics: Indigenous Australians have 10 times the suicide rate of non-Indigenous Australians, 28 times more likely to be imprisoned, and have a 60 percent higher rate of mental health issues (Australian Government, 2010).

“Adding to these statistics are the issues that are not measured. Issues such as loss of identity, loss of family, and something that I experienced many times in my life, racism. There is a common myth that to be an Indigenous Australian you must be black or living in a remote Indigenous Australian community. When I identify as an Indigenous Australian, I am often asked what percentage or part me is Indigenous. There have been many times in my life when I have been asked to prove that I am an Indigenous Australian. To attend university and be part of an Indigenous unit, I was asked to provide written proof from a registered community that I am Indigenous. This process is humiliating and I imagine it is incredibly difficult for Indigenous Australians who are of the stolen generation and yet to find their ancestral home.

‘In 2012–13 the Australian Government spent $30.3 billion on Indigenous Australian services, approximately 6 percent of general government expenditures’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2014). The money is spent on providing education, medical services, employment services, and recreation facilities. Even with this money going to services, the gap of Indigenous Australians’ disadvantage in Australia grows. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in his Close the Gap report (2017) says that we have made some small gains in closing the gap, yet we still have a long way to go with key targets not being met and statistics worsening in areas of health and employment. He speaks about there being a great optimism in Indigenous Australian communities and that we should work with Indigenous Australians more to help address their concerns. His words are echoed by Indigenous Australian academic Chris Sara who says, ‘Do things with us not to us. Bring us policy approaches that nurture hope and optimism; and acknowledge, embrace and celebrate the humanity of Indigenous Australians’” (Turnbull, 2017, p. 1).

The Importance of Connection

I give the group a moment to reflect. It’s hard to comprehend the brief history of Australia, and I sense there are many questions. I make one more statement before I take questions: “If you had questions as to why there are problems in Indigenous Australian communities, I hope that you understand that we have these issues due to loss of culture and from the inhumane treatment of our people.” There is a somber feeling among the group. The person who stated that “Indigenous Australians need to change themselves” says “I didn’t realize it is so bad, yet the Australian Government is spending billions on fixing Indigenous Australians, why is it not getting any better?” “There are many reasons as to why it is not getting any better,” I answer. “The two key issues are the lack of understanding of Indigenous Australians’ culture and the misrepresentation of Australian history.”

“Indigenous Australians’ culture, in my opinion, is a beautiful thing. Our songs, dance, art, and connection are highly visible pillars of our culture. The one thing that is overlooked or misunderstood is our connection. Karen Martin talks about her connection in her journal article ‘Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being, and Ways of Doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous re-search and Indigenist research’ (2003). Her method of explaining connection is experiential-based and demonstrates a spiritual connection with the land. For me connection with the land and my community is everything. Without it I become sick, I become lost, and I become unhappy. Understanding my connection to myself, my community, and my land gives me peace. For many years, I did not have connection and it was my lack of connection that caused my depression, anxiety, and gambling addiction. I did not know who I was and the sense of loss made me unwell.

“Many times in my life, I have heard the saying, ‘Aboriginal people do not own the land, the land owns us.’ This statement conflicts with Western views of ownership and land management, as we see ourselves as equals to the land, the animals, and each other. Indigenous Australians’ connection is our greatest asset. Our connection to each other was what I witnessed as a child when people from different clans came together. They told their stories, good and bad. There was honor and respect in sharing one’s story. It gave the storyteller a sense that they are real, they are trustworthy, and they are connected. They can share stories of their country, their totem animals, and their people. There is great healing in story sharing. I have witnessed this when sharing my story. There is great healing connection. I have witnessed this when I have traveled Australia: everywhere I went Indigenous Australians welcomed me, hugged me, and shared stories with me. All I had to do was explain my connection. From our connection comes our art, dances, and stories; they are intrinsically connected to each other and based on our connection to the environment and everything in it.

“Historically, Indigenous Australians’ connection, history, and culture has been misrepresented. Especially in the context of Australian Curriculum. Dark Emu, a book written by Indigenous elder Bruce Pascoe (2016), debunks the myths that Indigenous Australians are hunters and gatherers and demonstrates that we have highly sophisticated agricultural systems, laws, religion, and trade. He writes about the deliberate and extraordinary lengths to which the Colonists and the Australian Government went to remove any knowledge of Indigenous Australians as sophisticated societies. If the world found out how sophisticated we are, then they would see that colonization was not a settlement of uncivilized people but rather a deliberate genocide of many cultures. A genocide that occurred so that the British could profit from our lands.

“Many of my conversations with non-Indigenous Australians suggest that it is still a popular belief that Indigenous Australians are uncivilized. It is not their fault that they believe this, since they, like me, are a product of the education we received at school. My own school education on my people was scarce. I was taught we lived here before the English discovered us. That we were poor souls more closely linked to apes than humans. I was taught that if the British had not arrived, we would have died out anyway. My year four teacher once shook her head as she said to our class ‘We gave them (Indigenous Australians) everything, and now they thank us by being drunks and sniffing petrol.’ When I returned home from school that day I asked my mother why she doesn’t drink and if she ever sniffed petrol. Her laugh told me that she knew exactly what they were talking about. Her words were, ‘When there is no hope, people drink too much and sniff petrol. It is a real shame.’

“It is only in recent years that there has been a significant improvement in debunking myths about Indigenous Australians. The drive behind this change has been made possible by the implementation of Indigenous Australian history and culture as a cross-curriculum priority for all schools in Australia. This was led by a shift in government policies and from government leaders wanting to close the gap of Indigenous Australian disadvantage by 2020.

In 2005, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) met to discuss a range of issues relating to Indigenous Education. The meeting led to the development of a working party that would investigate and identify key areas where improvement in Indigenous Australian education outcomes could be developed (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2014). During 2005–2008, the working party established the Australian Directions in Indigenous Education study, which outlined a number of key recommendations that would lead to better educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians (MCEETYA, 2006). In 2009, the Australian Directions for Indigenous Education study was reviewed and it was recommended that there needs to be significant changes if Australia wants to improve the educational outcomes of Indigenous Australians (Buckskin et al., 2009).

“The review was released shortly after former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave an apology to the stolen generations, which coincided with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) push to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage (Council of Australian Government, 2008; Rudd, 2008). It was the aligning of Rudd’s apology, with the review of the Australian Directions for Indigenous Education, and COAG’s push for closing the gap, which led to significant changes in Indigenous Australian curriculum and the education of Indigenous Australians.

“The Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority was formed in 2009 to investigate and implement a national curriculum, and on the advice of review of Australian Directions for Indigenous Education, implemented Indigenous Australian Education as a cross-curriculum priority in Australia’s National Curriculum (Lowe & Yunkaporta, 2013). The implementation of Indigenous education as a cross-curriculum priority changed the education landscape and allowed us to finally move toward unity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.”

Indigication

Having sat for a while, I ask the group if they would like to go for a short walk, of which there is a resounding yes. During our walk, I stop the group to point out the various animal tracks, the first of which is a Buneen. I explain that “Buneen” is the word for Echidna in my language. We walk and see many tracks and have many small conversations about the animals. Rain starts to gently fall and one of the group, looking concerned, asks “If the government made changes to improve education, and money is being spent on improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, then why did the prime minister say in his 2017 report that things haven’t improved?” I ask the group to sit again. We create our circle under the shelter of a gum tree and begin my explanation.

“In my opinion, the key issue is that the Australian Government is focused on fixing Indigenous Australians. They presume that Indigenous Australians are the problem, so let’s direct our spending on fixing them. The problem with this concept is that Indigenous Australians are not the problem. We don’t need to be fixed; what we need to do is educate non-Indigenous Australians about us, they are the ones that need to be fixed. They often know little about Indigenous Australian culture and what they have been taught is incorrect. We need to shift the focus onto educating them and that is exactly what I aimed to do when I set up Indigicate.

“The concept of Indigicate started when I was studying Outdoor Education at University. I felt that there the outdoor education industry spent too much time focusing on journeys and activities in the outdoors and not enough time on connection and curriculum. The majority of the outdoor education I had worked with were hiking and canoeing journeys, and it was a popular belief among my peers that students should be kept busy and that the journey should be physically challenging. They believed that the challenge increased resilience and that resilient students became happier and healthier adults. I felt differently. I wondered why we didn’t stop to investigate and spend quality time connecting with each other and with the bush. I queried my lecturers about it and was told that during the down time would be a good time to talk about connection and maybe even introduce some Indigenous education.

“Two issues arose from this suggestion. The first issue was the amount of down time available in this type of program. The group had hiked a long way, they were tired, and now had to cook dinner. The second issue was the type of Indigenous content that schools wanted to be taught. They want boomerang throwing and bush tucker (eating food from the forest) lessons, both of which turned out to be surface-based lessons and did nothing to work toward closing the gap of Indigenous Australian disadvantage. I remember during one of the lessons a student asked me why I was wearing clothes. Indigenous people don’t wear clothes, she said. It was during these camps that I noticed the lack of communication between the students. They were scared to share their stories and I didn’t know why. I decided to teach an open session around a campfire. The concept was simple. Talk about my story and then answer questions. The first lesson was a huge success and the feedback from the school and the students was that they wanted more. When I reflected on what made the lesson work, I realized that it is the Indigenous Australian method of educating and sharing that made it work, and that this was an opportunity to change the way we educate our young people.

“The journey to starting the business and working with schools was a difficult one. The first thing I had to do was strengthen my own connection. I was scared to do this, but when I did, it changed my life. I had learned that when I was connected I was happy. Sharing my story made the difficult parts seem a little less difficult and gave others the courage to ask difficult questions about Indigenous Australian history. The participants would connect with me and the connection gave our conversations depth and meaning.

“As the business grew slowly, we began to realize that we could teach curriculum-based lessons in the outdoors on school camps. We learned that when a leader shares their story, and when they lead from a position of connection to the environment, that they connect the group to themselves and the land around them. The students began to develop stronger connections to peers and their teachers, much stronger than we had experienced before. There was no shame in discussing one’s past and one’s story. The connection we developed allowed us to delve deeply into curriculum and we started to teach real Australian history. History that is telling the truth about the deliberate attempt at genocide of Indigenous Australians, told from our perspective, not the perspective of the colonists. Our camps became slow pedagogy, nonlinear journeys built around connection lessons such as whole body listening, local creations stories, finding your totem animal, and ‘being ok being me.’

“The business is now in its third year. The growth has been phenomenal. We work with over 43 schools and multiple companies across Melbourne and Victoria, Australia. Some of our greatest achievements include the development of sequential school-wide Indigenous Australian curriculum that is driven by experiences on school camps. One of the programs has elders coming out to visit the students on a nightly basis, and the journey starts with traditional ceremonies and finishes with a visit to one of the missions where Indigenous Australians were once forced to live. The lessons from camp teach unity through understanding and connection through meditation, animal totem creation, and shared stories. The students on these journeys complete a graded project when they return to school. The projects’ content comes from what they have learned at camp.”

The sun is now starting to set; the rain has disappeared. In front of me are a group of hungry students who are torn between eating and wanting to know more. I know it is time to finish this part of today’s lesson. I can see a distressed look on one person’s face. I ask, “Is everything ok?” and she replies, “I am scared of sharing my story.” I smile and say, “Your story isn’t scary; it is your lack connection that makes you scared, and don’t worry: we have already made a connection, so I suppose the rest is easy.”

Conclusion

There is real value in looking at change and leadership through the lens of Indigenous Australians. We endured the invasion of our countries, the genocide of our people, and the deliberate destruction of our culture. We are still here and our knowledge systems still exist. The time has come for us to consider how we want to use them and if we can use Indigenous Australian knowledge systems to heal the pain and create unity.

There is great depth and beauty in Indigenous Australian culture. The key to sharing the beauty of culture is to continue to drive change in education and leadership. We need strong leaders who focus on creating change for the better, change with us, not for us. To achieve this, we need to ensure that Indigenous Australian education is continually driven by Indigenous Australians. We need to ensure that history is taught correctly, even if it is uncomfortable. Australia needs to provide adequate and appropriate cultural training for our teachers and our leaders. Training that is connection based and empowers them.

What I have created with Indigicate demonstrates that unity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can be established through inclusive, engaging, connection-based education. When leaders share their story and lead from a position of connection to self, community, and the environment, they are able to immerse groups in that connection. Their connection-driven leadership opens the senses and provides a platform for the individual to engage in new sights, sounds, and feelings. We need more connection-centered leadership powered by leaders who understand that the strongest thing they can do is share their story and the connection that they have. Leaders who do this will change the very fabric of education and forge new paradigms of the study of leadership.

It won’t be easy to right the wrongs of the past. It will take considerable time and effort. It is important to know that what we are doing now in terms of Indigenous Australian education could not happen ten years ago – our nation and its people were simply not ready. Now we are entering a period of growth and change. The generation coming through schools now are a tidal wave of change makers and thought leaders. They are compassionate and want a world with more equality. As educators and leaders, we must harness the energy from this tidal wave and direct it toward the future we all want. Let’s start the conversation and strengthen our connection. Let’s share our story.

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