The name is absent

291

The security felt by the Aboriginal people in the knowledge
* *
of their own capabilities and their awareness of the possibility of
exercising autonomy was shown by the fact that, on a number of
occasions, individuals expressed the view that they should be
making their services available not only to Aboriginal people,
but also to disadvantaged white people.

At Pt. Augusta there are 'success’ stories visible to all, a

source of pride to the Aboriginal people.

One of the students at the Department

pondering on components of success, decided that

Lois 0^,Donohue is successful, because she had to fight
to get where she is. I have been succcessful because
of the encouragement from my parents and by putting myself
as an Aboriginal not a white Australian like some of the
Aboriginals have done.

Fighting for survival, identifying as Aboriginal, were seen as
basic to success.                                              ^v .

Lois 0^,Donohue is one of a group of mature age people in Pt.

Augusta, actively engaged in Aboriginal agencies, who were taken
from their parents as children by missions, and educated in the white
world. Later they returned to search for their families. There

is a group of such people with whom young people can identify; they
are 'success' stories in that they have considerable achievements
to show, but they have not denied their people in doing this.

They move in and out of the white world and the Aboriginal world,
acceptable in both. They are uncompromisingly Aboriginal in
identification, though their life-style has no particular identials
that mark them off as Aboriginal.

There are other success stories, people with a somewhat
different life-history. They were young people who remained within
their family context, and were sent by their parents to boarding
school in the city. These are an intelligent, articulate group.
It was one of these who founded the Davenport Adult Education Centre.

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