Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 5, 30 July 2021, page no.6
The QTU proudly hosted the inaugural Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture as prelude to the Biennial conference.
Aligned with the objectives and deliverables of our Union’s Reconciliation Action Plan, the Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture is set to become an annual QTU event coinciding with our Conference, or, in a non-conference year, the Friday evening preceding the State Council nearest to NAIDOC Week.
The Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture, named in honour of the activist and campaigner for First Nations rights and social justice. combines education, First Nations peoples, and activism. The inaugural keynote lecture was delivered by Professor Tracy Bunda, a Ngugi/Wakka Wakka woman who grew up on the lands of the Jagera/Jugera/Yuggerapal peoples. Professor Bunda has an outstanding record of teaching and research, specialising in First Nations education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies. She has been the Director of the University of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit since 2019.
In her keynote address, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Dreaming, Professor Bunda discussed the importance of relationships that are activist and transformative. More than communicative loops of sender – receiver – feedback, Professor Bunda called for communication in relationships through which participants are changed, arguing that this change is the real feedback. Such communication in relationships should be visible between students and teachers, and First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.
The event also included performances from members of the Indigenous Youth Mobility Project, which supports young First Australians from communities across Queensland to dream – lead – learn.
The QTU acknowledges TAFE Queensland for the use of facilities at the Southbank campus, and Dr Scott’s children, who gave us permission to use their mother's name.