In 1975, 23 Aboriginal Teachers Aides were appointed by the NSW Department of Education. While NSW had been slow to appoint aides, it was the first state to require training as a condition of appointment, and for this training to be undertaken in a university. The Aboriginal Teachers Aides Training program began officially that year in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Sydney.

With the disbandment of the Department of Adult Education in 1983, the training program was relocated in the Department of Education, later the Faculty of Education, where it was known as the Aboriginal Education Assistants Program. It had become clear that the provision of training alone was an insufficient response to the needs of Indigenous students on campus.

In 1989, the Faculty of Education established an Aboriginal Education Centre and, in 1990, the Centre received substantial Commonwealth Government funding enabling it to provide a full range of support services. It also developed Aboriginal Studies programs in the University, drawing on the resources of the Sydney College of Advanced Education, one of the University’s amalgamating institutions.

The name of the Aboriginal Education Centre was changed to the Koori Centre in 1992, to better reflect its purposes and community association. In 1994, the Koori Centre left the Faculty of Education and became a mainstream University initiative. It also moved from the Mackie Building to the Old Teachers College, a site in the heart of the Camperdown campus.

The History of Aboriginal Education at the University of Sydney
by Ms Janet Mooney and Dr John Cleverley, will be published in 2007.

If you would like to share stories or photographs from your study days at the University of Sydney, please email:

or post these to:

Ms Janet Mooney
History of Aboriginal Education
Koori Centre
REPLY PAID 61217
Old Teachers College
The University of Sydney NSW 2006