As a white Australian young woman, I'll admit that I haven't always had a large exposure to other cultures. As a white Australian young woman entering a career in teaching, I believe it is my responsibility to develop cultural awareness and competence. 

Personally, I find it important to seek authentic perspectives from other cultures, and approach it with an open mind. I want to do what I can to understand, but I've found there will sometimes be parts of history and culture that I struggle to comprehend. 

To the left is a link to a Ted Talk, spoken by Sheila Humphries (2017) informing her association with the Stolen Generations. I suggest that you look into other perspectives as there are so many stories from this time, and just one does not tell the full story. 

As a young, white Australian, stories like Sheila's are difficult but important to hear. I struggle to comprehend that anyone could or would take children from their parents because of their race. I know I'm not alone in feeling a sense of guilt in that those cruel people looked like me. The past is not something that we can change as a nation, but as teachers, we can teach the importance of cultural awareness and competence. These lessons need to be approached with care and sensitivity, it's not a light topic. But by educating ourselves as teachers to have an expected standard of cultural awareness and competence in our classroom, we set a standard for our students to respect each other and all cultures, which they will take with them outside the classroom and into their lives, ensuring we grow from our past mistakes as a Nation.