SYDNEY: Representatives of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) participated in the History Teachers Association of Australia National Conference last month, promoting avenues to teach about the Armenian Genocide in the new History Curriculum for secondary school history teachers.
In accordance with the updated Syllabus for secondary History education released by New South Wales Education Standard Authority, within the Depth Study segment 'Australia: Making a Nation - from Federation to WWI', teachers must educate their students about ‘Significant groups, individuals, ideas, beliefs, practices and events in Australia’, which includes ‘Australia’s civic action and humanitarian response during WWI’.
The conference, which took place at Inner Sydney High School, saw over 20 History teachers gather to hear ANC-AU Executive Director Michael Kolokossian’s presentation titled ‘Expanding Holocaust Education - Australia and the Armenian Genocide’.
Kolokossian specifically spoke to the humanitarian efforts to aid survivors of the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian Genocide and the actions taken by significant individuals, including Rev. James Cresswell, Edith Glanville and Rev. Arthur Ebbs as well as institutions who took up the cause to aid Armenian survivors.
During the presentation, Kolokossian also touched on the classroom resources that are being prepared by the Joint Justice Initiative's History Teachers Committee that will be published on the organisation’s Armenian Genocide Education Australia website and available for teachers to employ in their classrooms.
Kolokossian said, “By studying Australia’s civic action and humanitarian response during WW1, including key figures of this period, students will be educated about the Armenian Genocide that was otherwise previously shunned in the educational system.”
“By learning about the selfless actions of Australians who participated in humanitarian efforts to save survivors of the Armenian Genocide during World War One, future generations of NSW students will gain an education that surpasses military battles, bringing light to a history that should inspire immense pride in our nation and one that set the stage for a tradition of humanitarianism that has endured and continues to thrive today.”
On the 3rd of October 2024, conference attendees also had the opportunity to hear from Dr Panayotis Diamadis, a history teacher from Waverley College who also spoke about Australia’s relief efforts during the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides, in a presentation titled ‘The Anzac Legacy in the Eastern Mediterranean’.
In September 2024, the Armenian National Committee of Australia proudly
announced that the Armenian Genocide will be taught in NSW schools, following a concerted effort from the Joint Justice Initiative, which included the adoption of a motion in the NSW Legislative Council calling for the inclusion of the Armenian Genocide education in the new curriculum, a call which was later echoed by over 25 Australian academics and teachers.
