0:00:05.569,0:00:11.860 Central Queensland is a unique slice of Australia encompassing the beautiful Capricorn Coast, 0:00:11.860,0:00:16.800 extending inland through the rural centre of Rockhampton and stretching as far West 0:00:16.800,0:00:20.980 into the Central Highlands of Emerald. 0:00:20.980,0:00:26.179 Central Queensland has a subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and cool, dry winters. 0:00:26.179,0:00:32.040 Rainfall is highly seasonal with most rain occurring during the summer months. 0:00:32.040,0:00:39.270 Temperatures will rarely fall below five degrees in winter and 37 degrees in summer. 0:00:39.270,0:00:43.989 Roughly a two-hour drive from Rockhampton is the town of Woorabinda. 0:00:43.989,0:00:48.090 Woorabinda is generally accessible all year round by sealed roads. 0:00:48.090,0:00:54.109 Woorabinda, meaning ‘kangaroo sit down’ is a discrete Aboriginal community that sits 0:00:54.109,0:00:58.430 on the traditional lands of the Wudja and Gungaloo people. 0:00:58.430,0:01:05.910 The township is bordered by the seasonal Mimosa Creek, a tributary of the mighty Dawson River. 0:01:05.910,0:01:11.910 In 1926 the Queensland Government closed down the Taroom Aboriginal Reserve, a neighbouring 0:01:11.910,0:01:14.820 town of the now Woorabinda. 0:01:14.820,0:01:20.170 The people of Taroom were soon relocated tothe Woorabinda District over a gruelling 12-month 0:01:20.170,0:01:23.110 expedition. 0:01:23.110,0:01:29.000 In 1927 the Woorabinda Aboriginal Reserve was officially established. 0:01:29.000,0:01:34.110 The new reserve was a highly regulated and tightly controlled environment. 0:01:34.110,0:01:38.690 The people of Woorabinda and Taroom Reserves were originally removed from their homelands 0:01:38.690,0:01:44.780 across Queensland, New South Wales and as far west as the Northern Territory. 0:01:44.780,0:01:50.560 Today Woorabinda is a proud Aboriginal community, with a population of around 1,000 people. 0:01:50.560,0:01:55.700 There are over 52 clans represented within the community. 0:01:55.700,0:02:00.680 The township has a strong cultural presence with an enduring connection to the traditional 0:02:00.680,0:02:09.110 languages, art and dance, with these cultural practices ever present throughout the community. 0:02:09.110,0:02:13.820 Woorabinda has great facilities, with most services within walking distance. 0:02:13.820,0:02:19.420 The town has a Police Station, post office, service station, swimming pool and a local 0:02:19.420,0:02:22.350 sports hall. 0:02:22.350,0:02:27.660 The town has a freshly stocked independent grocery store selling a variety of grocery 0:02:27.660,0:02:29.350 items. 0:02:29.350,0:02:44.109 There is also a fast food café for those who need an early morning caffeine fix. 0:02:44.109,0:02:49.440 Woorabinda is renowned for their enthusiastic support of rugby league and the town boasts 0:02:49.440,0:02:56.030 an impressive football grounds and is home to the indomitable Woorabinda Warriors. 0:02:56.030,0:03:01.630 The Woorabinda Multipurpose Health Centre provides a full range of healthcare services, 0:03:01.630,0:03:07.810 including an emergency department, acute inpatient, general outpatient, aged care, community health 0:03:07.810,0:03:11.510 and also visiting specialists. 0:03:11.510,0:03:15.160 Positioned at the southern end of the community is Woorabinda State School. 0:03:15.160,0:03:20.310 The school has roughly 150 students from kindergarten to Year 6. 0:03:20.310,0:03:26.010 The school’s motto is ‘proud and deadly’. 0:03:26.010,0:03:33.470 At Woorabinda we’re looking for teachers who have a very strong sense of social justice. 0:03:33.470,0:03:39.450 Our kids have a history and they come from families with a strong colonial history in 0:03:39.450,0:03:40.450 Queensland. 0:03:40.450,0:03:44.229 So we need people who are willing to go in for the good fight. 0:03:44.229,0:03:46.700 They’re going to go in to bat for the student. 0:03:46.700,0:03:51.199 So even when the student is having the worst day possible, you will never, ever give up 0:03:51.199,0:03:52.199 on that student. 0:03:52.199,0:03:56.060 You will always believe in that student and you will always fight for that student to 0:03:56.060,0:04:01.010 have the best and highest level of education that you can provide. 0:04:01.010,0:04:06.620 Our kids, because they come to school with what we call locally ‘Woori talk’, it’s 0:04:06.620,0:04:08.949 actually an English-based creole. 0:04:08.949,0:04:12.200 So our kids don’t actually come with the language of the curriculum. 0:04:12.200,0:04:17.340 So that means that when our kids are learning, not only do they have a cognitive load in 0:04:17.340,0:04:22.040 terms of the curriculum, they’ve also got a language load that they’ve got to constantly 0:04:22.040,0:04:24.540 process because it’s not their first language. 0:04:24.540,0:04:26.330 It can be tough teaching at Woorabinda. 0:04:26.330,0:04:28.320 You come in each day. 0:04:28.320,0:04:30.500 There are things that happen in the community. 0:04:30.500,0:04:32.000 It does have a ripple effect. 0:04:32.000,0:04:36.400 We try to stop things at the gate, but of course kids don’t just drop their home life 0:04:36.400,0:04:38.540 at the gate and then come in for school life. 0:04:38.540,0:04:43.470 We’ve realised at Woorabinda that having a child come to school is step one. 0:04:43.470,0:04:48.470 Having a child ready for learning is step two and they are not necessarily the same 0:04:48.470,0:04:49.470 thing. 0:04:49.470,0:04:50.920 This is not like any other town. 0:04:50.920,0:04:54.230 This is a discrete community and they do things in different ways here. 0:04:54.230,0:04:56.610 We are isolated from family. 0:04:56.610,0:04:58.700 You have come to a completely new environment. 0:04:58.700,0:05:02.710 So when our teachers come out here, they often think they’re the only one going through 0:05:02.710,0:05:03.940 that experience. 0:05:03.940,0:05:07.970 If you’re feeling vulnerable or you're feeling overwhelmed, you just have to come and ask. 0:05:07.970,0:05:12.060 Sometimes a debrief session, just with us or with a colleague. 0:05:12.060,0:05:17.790 If you come to Woorabinda to teach, if you can find success and you can navigate your 0:05:17.790,0:05:21.960 way in a classroom and you can get those children progressing in their learning and manage the 0:05:21.960,0:05:30.090 behaviours, and some of the more challenging behaviours, teaching anywhere else will be 0:05:30.090,0:05:31.090 a walk in the park. 0:05:31.090,0:05:32.900 My first year up here as a teacher at Woorabinda, it was fun. 0:05:32.900,0:05:34.020 It was exciting. 0:05:34.020,0:05:35.020 It was challenging. 0:05:35.020,0:05:39.770 There were things that were difficult of course but every day was different. 0:05:39.770,0:05:42.950 Your first weekend will be the greatest weekend of your life. 0:05:42.950,0:05:48.050 So being a teacher here I’ve learnt an incredible amount as well and I feel like I’m the better 0:05:48.050,0:05:49.050 teacher for it. 0:05:49.050,0:05:53.080 The cross-cultural awareness program that I was involved in really helped inform my 0:05:53.080,0:06:00.270 teaching pedagogy through awareness of where Woorabinda has come from and where the students 0:06:00.270,0:06:01.380 have come from as well. 0:06:01.380,0:06:07.330 I’ve learnt amazing behaviour management strategies, resilience and having that positive 0:06:07.330,0:06:08.570 attitude as well. 0:06:08.570,0:06:11.660 So I think any teacher would benefit from coming out here. 0:06:11.660,0:06:15.460 So living in Woorabinda’s definitely a lot different to living in a larger city. 0:06:15.460,0:06:17.960 It is a very small community. 0:06:17.960,0:06:23.270 Just walking to and from school for instance, you bump into people you know, the kids you 0:06:23.270,0:06:24.270 teach. 0:06:24.270,0:06:27.910 But that’s also really exciting because they get to see you as a person as well, and 0:06:27.910,0:06:28.910 not just the teacher. 0:06:28.910,0:06:31.860 So when I first came out here it was funny because I always thought that driving an hour 0:06:31.860,0:06:34.130 and a half was a really long drive. 0:06:34.130,0:06:38.760 I actually think I prefer driving an hour out here with no traffic, no traffic lights 0:06:38.760,0:06:41.280 than I do driving 10 minutes in the city. 0:06:41.280,0:06:45.360 So when I came here to get involved in the community there’s a lot of local staff that 0:06:45.360,0:06:46.360 work at the school. 0:06:46.360,0:06:50.390 So obviously I was very involved in chatting to them and socialising with them as well. 0:06:50.390,0:06:51.560 They’re all very welcoming. 0:06:51.560,0:06:56.389 I would also go down and watch the local football games, go along on the weekend and watch them 0:06:56.389,0:06:57.800 play, support the local teams. 0:06:57.800,0:07:02.040 Yeah, there’s definitely incentives to teaching in a rural place like Woorabinda as well. 0:07:02.040,0:07:05.770 There’s subsidised housing, so you can save a lot of money on rent which is fantastic. 0:07:05.770,0:07:10.530 You’re also given five raise days which is a rural area incentive scheme. 0:07:10.530,0:07:15.950 So you can use those days for travel purposes or if you have a specialist appointment maybe 0:07:15.950,0:07:20.360 in the city, and there’s also financial benefits as well to coming out to a rural 0:07:20.360,0:07:21.360 school. 0:07:21.360,0:07:24.650 So a great way to end the week here as well, a lot of teachers will socialise by going 0:07:24.650,0:07:27.841 into Baralaba on a Friday night and you can have a good pub feed. 0:07:27.841,0:07:28.841 You can have a beer. 0:07:28.841,0:07:33.690 There’s a juke box there, a pool table, great atmosphere, a great place to unwind 0:07:33.690,0:07:36.260 and relax, and talk about our week. 0:07:36.260,0:07:39.110 If you like fishing there’s a nice creek there and some camping. 0:07:39.110,0:07:43.810 You can go there and catch yourself a Barra or a Saratoga. 0:07:43.810,0:07:48.010 So before coming out here definitely do your research and make sure that this is somewhere 0:07:48.010,0:07:52.030 that you want to be and embrace the community as well. 0:07:52.030,0:07:57.460 I really came here because I had an interest in Indigenous culture and I wanted to find 0:07:57.460,0:08:01.060 out more about it because I knew wherever I go I’m going to have Indigenous kids in 0:08:01.060,0:08:02.060 my class. 0:08:02.060,0:08:05.280 I know how to best cater for them, to include them. 0:08:05.280,0:08:09.050 So it’s been amazing to find out more. 0:08:09.050,0:08:11.310 I’ve loved my teaching position here. 0:08:11.310,0:08:12.590 It’s been the best thing. 0:08:12.590,0:08:17.590 Yes, it’s been challenging at times but you get the support from everyone. 0:08:17.590,0:08:21.500 Everyone’s very helpful and I didn’t want to do mainstream. 0:08:21.500,0:08:25.860 I wanted to come here, do something different, but yeah, you’ve got to make sure that you 0:08:25.860,0:08:28.420 have the drive to do it. 0:08:28.420,0:08:29.850 You need to have the passion for it. 0:08:29.850,0:08:34.279 I recommend coming up to see the school before you actually start. 0:08:34.279,0:08:38.340 Talk to staff that already work here, find out the ins and outs to see if it’s really 0:08:38.340,0:08:39.810 for you. 0:08:39.810,0:08:42.529 The accommodation is really good. 0:08:42.529,0:08:44.029 It’s fully furnished. 0:08:44.029,0:08:46.610 You just need to bring your own bed. 0:08:46.610,0:08:58.850 If you want your own TV we’ve got the set-top box, you just need a TV and cooking equipment. 0:08:58.850,0:09:07.270 When I first came to Woorabinda working with the kids, my first initial reaction was probably 0:09:07.270,0:09:09.330 trying to understand their speech. 0:09:09.330,0:09:12.900 It’s a little bit different to standard Australian English. 0:09:12.900,0:09:17.870 The life saver was having the teacher aids in the classroom to help us understand what 0:09:17.870,0:09:23.930 the kids are trying to communicate to us as well as having their knowledge of the kids 0:09:23.930,0:09:25.010 in the community. 0:09:25.010,0:09:28.040 It did become easier to understand the kids. 0:09:28.040,0:09:29.730 You just adapt to it. 0:09:29.730,0:09:36.050 I don’t know how, but you just get this connection with them that you’re able to 0:09:36.050,0:09:38.570 listen carefully and you really take it in. 0:09:38.570,0:09:40.420 The other kids will repeat. 0:09:40.420,0:09:44.690 If you can’t understand one kid, I’ll say to the others ‘What did he say?’ or 0:09:44.690,0:09:47.580 ‘What did she say?’ and that helps a lot. 0:09:47.580,0:09:48.580 So you work together. 0:09:48.580,0:09:52.310 They don’t understand me sometimes as well because I speak differently and fast. 0:09:52.310,0:09:55.400 So it’s really about helping each other. 0:09:55.400,0:09:58.490 I found here you really need to help them with their self-confidence. 0:09:58.490,0:09:59.950 Some have it, some don’t. 0:09:59.950,0:10:05.080 So you need to be able to cater for that so that they actually can and want to be in the 0:10:05.080,0:10:12.330 classroom, and because they're so hands-on and outdoorsy, you need to be able to in the 0:10:12.330,0:10:17.020 classroom when they’ve got to come in four walls, make that learning applicable to them 0:10:17.020,0:10:21.279 because if it’s not applicable to them, they just can’t sit still. 0:10:21.279,0:10:27.920 They won't be engaged and they’ll just get down on themselves. 0:10:27.920,0:10:32.430 With any situation or any workplace you have your positives, but also you have your negatives 0:10:32.430,0:10:36.980 and in a place like Woorabinda you have to focus on the positives because they will get 0:10:36.980,0:10:41.110 you through, and if you focus on the negatives then you start to become undone. 0:10:41.110,0:10:47.200 We need teachers who are willing to give it a go and who are willing to step outside their 0:10:47.200,0:10:52.120 comfort zone, and are willing to understand the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 0:10:52.120,0:10:56.650 way of living through our own kinship systems that we have here in community. 0:10:56.650,0:11:02.980 Teachers who are damn passionate, teachers who go beyond the call of duty, teachers who 0:11:02.980,0:11:08.839 step outside the classroom into the community and are not afraid, and are not fearful. 0:11:08.839,0:11:16.399 Our Woorabinda children deserve the same education as any other child or young person here in 0:11:16.399,0:11:17.399 Queensland. 0:11:17.399,0:11:20.300 So when you come to Woorabinda there is protocols to follow. 0:11:20.300,0:11:23.770 If you want to go out on country go and let the Council know. 0:11:23.770,0:11:28.920 If need, they’ll point you in the right direction to a traditional owner of this land. 0:11:28.920,0:11:35.930 When we were kids and we were going to Woorabinda School, the teachers knew my mum. 0:11:35.930,0:11:41.090 My mum knew the teachers, so the teachers respected my mum, my mum respected them and 0:11:41.090,0:11:42.560 it filtered through the children. 0:11:42.560,0:11:46.430 So we knew not to misbehave at school because the teachers would say ‘Right, I’m going 0:11:46.430,0:11:53.510 to tell your mum,’ and that’s what happened, and mum would give us a good revving, ‘Don’t 0:11:53.510,0:11:55.170 you dare disrespect those people. 0:11:55.170,0:11:58.760 They’re my friends,’ and that’s how it was. 0:11:58.760,0:12:04.020 To all the people out there, don’t be afraid to come to Woorabinda. 0:12:04.020,0:12:05.920 Come out. 0:12:05.920,0:12:07.060 Experience it for yourself. 0:12:07.060,0:12:08.070 Get to know the people. 0:12:08.070,0:12:10.160 Get to know the children. 0:12:10.160,0:12:11.970 Get to know the Council. 0:12:11.970,0:12:14.760 Get to know everybody – elders. 0:12:14.760,0:12:20.920 Everybody’s got different stories but I guarantee that we will all make you feel welcome. 0:12:20.920,0:12:27.020 Woorabinda is a rural community surrounded by rich, fertile soils, gorgeous landscapes 0:12:27.020,0:12:30.780 and a wide array of Australia’s iconic wildlife. 0:12:30.780,0:12:37.730 The town’s colonial past will always play a role in Woorabinda’s story, but today 0:12:37.730,0:12:45.520 a proud Woorabinda community has embraced both education and culture in their own Woori 0:12:45.520,0:12:46.520 way. 0:12:46.520,0:12:52.350 If you’re considering an exciting rural posting and have never experienced Central 0:12:52.350,0:12:58.530 Queensland and have a genuine passion to be involved in Indigenous education, Woorabinda 0:12:58.530,0:12:59.530 might just be for you. 0:12:59.530,0:13:00.530 Come to Woorabinda. 0:13:00.530,0:13:03.740 Come to Woorabinda please.