Good Morning, Mr Sarra: My Life Working for a Stronger, Smarter Future for Our Children

375 Pages·2013·4.203 MB·English

by  Chris Sarra

GOOD
MORNING,
Mr SARRA
My life working for a stronger, smarter future for our children
CHRIS SARRA

First published 2012 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
Reprinted 2013
www.uqp.com.au
Copyright © Chris Sarra 2012
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews,
as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the
National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/
978 0 7022 3888 8 (pbk)
978 0 7022 4907 5 (ePDF)
978 0 7022 4908 2 (ePub)
978 0 7022 4909 9 (kindle)
Typeset in 12/17 pt Bembo by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
University of Queensland Press uses papers that are natural, renewable
and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable
forests. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to
the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Contents
Prologue ix
1 Humble beginnings 1
2 School days 16
3 A revelation 46
4 I’m a teacher! 67
5 Finding the right path 84
6 The Millaquin mojo 106
7 Lecturing and learning 125
8 Time to walk my talk 144
9 Starting a ripple 179
10 Making waves 222
11 Changing the tide 258
12 A world beyond expectations 295
Epilogue 336
Acknowledgements 345

A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank
account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I
drove . . . but the world may be different because I was important
in the life of a child.
Forest E. Witcraft (1894–1967)
Scholar, teacher and Boy Scout administrator

Prologue
‘The tide of low expectations of Indigenous children in Australian
schools has changed!’
‘Did I just hear myself say that?’ Could it really be that we have
made possible what many never dared to imagine? Despite my
firmest intentions and efforts not to be, I am nervous. I am in the
Sofitel, one of the flashiest hotels in Brisbane, in front of a crowd
of about five hundred people. The deputy prime minister is in the
audience and she is looking at me. I am supposed to be supremely
confident at this moment but the truth is I’m not and I am annoyed
with myself. I had got up early this morning to run on the tread-
mill just to get that confident feeling yet here I am, flustered.
The crowd is here for our Inaugural Stronger Smarter Summit
on Indigenous education. It is indeed a very swish affair. Four
weeks earlier we had bets on the number of people that would
turn up. Most of my colleagues thought we would not get over
two hundred and fifty participants. I said there would be around
four hundred and sixty. There were four hundred and sixty-two
ix