First Year of living in Fregon
School Life
The School that I was to teach in was set up like most schools in Australia except that each class was a composite. There was a Children's Preschool canter (CPC) where the washing machines were, a Junior Primary (Reception to Grade 2), Middle Primary (Grades 3-5), Upper Primary (Grades 6-7) and Senior School which had all of the High School students. Each of these was in a separate building, also there was the staff room Home Economics, a Canteen and Resource center.
The day's events were not like anywhere else except for those schools on the Pitjantjatjara Lands. No day was the same and it was only when you gained enough experience to judge when situations were serious or when it was mostly bluff. When there were community arguments the whole school would come to a holt and the students would often act as commentators to us teachers and explain what was happening.
Over the 3 years I was there I had students going to stab one another, the building being stoned by angry people, bullets being fired at the light and a mule getting stuck in a door of the MP classroom stopping everyone from getting in or out. "All in a day work" - you either looked at the funny side or invented on or you went mad. For most of the time it was traditional payback and we, as white people had no right to interfere. So if you acted like it was all part of a movie it became easier to cope with.
I was to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) part of the time and work in the Upper Primary for the rest of the time with a white teacher called Guppy. I was the 11th teacher to arrive at Fregon for a student population of 90 students. The teacher to student ratio was fantastic however you have to know that these students spoke very little English, had no idea about how to behave at school, no literacy skills and 90% had hearing difficulties. Also most of the girls would bring along their younger siblings, as they were responsible for their welfare.
David and James were the only white students in the school so they were considered a novelty. David took this in his stride James on the other hand found it difficult to cope with. James as he had only turned 4 went to the CPC and David went into the Junior Primary. David who had learning difficulties finally felt like the "normal" learner. The whole class couldn't read or write very well and it boosted his confidence because he was ahead of the others.
Times
School would start at 9 with someone sounding a siren that resonated throughout the community. The students would come to the classrooms and get a towel and some shampoo on the top of their heads and go over to the toilets where there were showers. They would return after a shower to the classroom. Later in 1992 we introduced a breakfast program where the students would go to the canteen where one of the teachers would have started breakfast of toast or Wheet-bix. Kuppa Tea (morning tea) was at 11am or when the store siren rang. All of the kids would rush over to the store to buy food. Some of the children would come back to school but others would go off to the community to play. At the end of Kuppa Tea time the teachers would return to their rooms and wait to see who would return. Even only one student returned the lesson would resume giving that one child intensive learning. The students also become you greatest critics, because if the lesson were boring they would shout "Luma" or no good and the whole class would leave. This taught the teachers to give interactive lessons that were engaging and of relevance to the students
David thought that if all of the class could run off then he could too and I was forever chasing him back to school, as he thought that if all of this mates where chasing the donkeys then he was going too as well. I explained that each family had different expectations of school and that mine was he was to go all day even if his friends weren't. He thought that this was totally unfair. James on the other hand would not leave my side and the trick was to keep him in a classroom that I wasn't in.
Lunchtime meant that everyone went home, as it was an hour and a half long. The whole school shut. David, James and I would walk home and make lunch and the kids would play outside for a while before I dragged them back across the creek at 1:30. School would then continue till 4:30. Often once a month we would have a community picnic and go out to a creek bed and make damper and bush tea and the elders would tell stories of their beliefs. This would be organised to happen sometime in the day and it usually occurred after the store had shut for morning tea. An exact time would never be used because so long as it would occur sometime in the day it didn't matter when. As a new arrival this was hard to get accustomed to, as our lives in the city is governed by exact time. To the Anangu time is measured by greater lengths from years to life times to when time began therefore hours means nothing. The day was usually measured by when the store opened or closed.
