Launch of SJC Indigenous Fund Annual Report 2008

The St Joseph's College Indigenous Fund Annual Report for 2008 was launched on Wednesday 20 May, celebrating another successful year for the initiative which provides boarding scholarships for Indigenous boys at St Joseph's.

The launch of the report also marked the commencement of the wider Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. The event was held in Martin Place in Sydney and was attended by more than 280 people, including the fund's patron, Sir William Deane AC KBE, and Indigenous students from schools across Sydney.

Chairman of the SJC Indigenous Fund, Andrew Penfold, said the report highlights the College's outstanding outcomes in Indigenous education. "The Indigenous education initiative at St Joseph's College has attracted a lot of positive attention in recent years... [This attention has] played an important role in encouraging a broader national focus on the issue of Indigenous education and the transformational effect of quality education for Indigenous children," he said.

Headmaster, Ross Tarlinton, said it was extremely satisfying to see the College, and other schools across NSW, actively contributing to quality change in outcomes and attitude through Indigenous education programs.

"The programs supported in our schools, and in the development of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, have already done great things for young people," said Mr Tarlinton. "We are not without our critics for the approach we take and the models we have adopted. The place of the critic is indeed helpful as we continue to critique our work and our direction, and we are grateful for the impetus this provides. However, the critic that uses a platform predicated on the view that there is one single way to address these issues is, in my view, a liability to progress in indigenous education and equality. Just as there are multiple and complex factors that exacerbate disadvantage, there are multiple and complex responses required to address disadvantage. We must not allow those of a single view to hijack this vital agenda."

Sir William said the SJC Indigenous Fund always been a fund for a cause, not a school. "[I] have seen first hand how it has transformed the lives and the possibilities of those young Australians whom it has benefited. The success of the fund has manifestly demonstrated something of which I have for long been conscious, namely, the tremendous extent of the abilities and potential of young Indigenous Australians if only they are given a real chance."

Click here to view the SJC Indigenous Fund Annual Report 2008.

Click here to find out more about donating to the SJC Indigenous Fund.