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» History Of The DRC Indigenous Collection

Welcome

The Diocesan Resource Centre serves the Cairns Diocesan community of schools and parishes with quality religious education resources. A theological collection along with research support is also available to students undertaking adult faith education courses in theology, scripture and spirituality. The catalogue can be accessed through the link below.

Using the catalogue
The online catalogue can be browsed via subject, author and title searches. Registered members with password access are able to email requests for resources via the reservation link.

» View Online Catalogue

Special collections compliment this multi-media mix of religious resources:

» Indigenous Education

English as a Second Language (ESL) ;
Languages Other Than English (LOTE);
Music and the Van Hooser Sacred Music CD collection.

 

Borrowing
Resources may be borrowed for a period of two (2) weeks.
Extensions are happily granted if the resource has not been reserved by another borrower.

Resource Centre Hours
The Resource Centre is staffed from 8.30a.m. - 1p.m. and 2 - 5p.m. each weekday. Inquiries may be directed upstairs to Reception, Diocesan Education Services, if the Resource Centre is unattended.

Resource Centre Staff

Browse The Catalogue

» Online Catalogue

Please note:
Borrowing from the Diocesan Resource Centre collection is restricted to registered members only.

History Of The DRC Indigenous Collection

The Diocesan Resource Centre had maintained a small Indigenous collection of reference materials to support the Diocese's "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives" educational programme for many years. However, the expansion of the collection began in earnest in 1997, as schools and the wider community sought ways to support the National Reconciliation Movement, which was then gaining momentum across the nation. Many of our schools were keen to become involved in this movement by giving Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples and issues stronger focus in the curriculum. At the same time, Indigenous enrolments in our schools began to expand, and it was important that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families saw that we valued their cultures and traditions by including them in the general curriculum.

However, most of our schools have limited resource budgets, and the purchase of audio visual and print material with a specific Indigenous focus was beyond the financial capacity of many. By creating a central collection available to all schools, the DRC is able to ensure access to high quality, contemporary resources on all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and ongoing issues. These resources have been carefully chosen to present students with Indigenous perspectives rather than duplicate often inaccurate or one sided accounts presented in some mainstream texts or accounts.

A particular focus of the collection is the collection of resources on Torres Strait Islanders. For while the amount of accurate and high quality material on Aboriginal Australians is increasing, there is far less in circulation on Torres Strait Islanders. As many of our students are Islanders, and Cairns is now home to a very large Torres Strait community, a concerted effort has been made to fill this gap.

The collection is used by schools, university students and researchers, as well as members of the general community.