The name is absent

310

At Pt. Augusta employment figures in 1978 showed that, of
those employed, 48 per cent were employed in ’closed’ positions.

These ’closed* positions are found in government and government-
type institutions.
■Г

The seventies and eighties brought employment in government
agencies for Aboriginal people, even for those with a< relatively
low standard of education. However, the lack of educated Aboriginal
people meant that the government agencies creamed off students from
their first year of tertiary education to fill posts. Potential
leaders were thus lost^ since they did not go on to finish their
course and obtain recognised qualifications.

Furthermore, the jobs thus secured had little promotional
prospects.

Teacher aides, appointed because they were Aboriginal, are
frustrated by their lack of status and their lack of opportunity
for promotion.
*

Such employment resembles somewhat that of handicapped people
in a closed workshop situation.

The Aboriginal people, though employed, understandably fret
under this situation, and employment does not necessarily serve

as a positive idential.

At Strelley, schooling, education and employment form a unified
whole. They are all directed to the good of the individual and the good

of the whole; there is a job for everyone and each person’s job

is . seen as contributing to the total plan.

Ambition on the part of Aboriginal people in the urban situation

means that employment will separate the individual from Aboriginal

society even when it is within an agency serving Aboriginal people,
since taking employment with the government is seen as becoming part
of the white world.

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