Darug People: Cultural Heritage, Integration, Education, and Symbols

This report provides an overview of the Darug people, an indigenous Australian community residing in Western Sydney, and their cultural heritage. It details their geographical boundaries, dialects, and representative symbols, highlighting the differences between their culture and mainstream Australian society. The report also examines the challenges faced by the Darug community due to colonization and the efforts being made to integrate them into modern society, including local support groups and educational initiatives. It explores ways to engage in culturally sensitive issues, such as promoting intercultural competence in schools through inclusive language and activities that integrate Aboriginal language and culture into the learning experiences. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding the Darug people's history, culture, and the need for culturally sustaining pedagogy to support their community.

DARUG TRIBE OF AUSTRALIA
Introduction
The ethnic community of Darug refers to the
indigenous Australians living in Australia since the
pre-colonel times (Trescak et al., 2016). They are
found within the region of Western Sydney and are
essentially considered to be skillful hunters. Their
geographical boundary of the group extended from
Kuringgal in the north in Broken Bay, to the
Wiradjuri along the Blue Mountains in the eastern
side. In the south there was the Southern Highlands,
while in the East there was Eora.
Artifacts representative of the Darug
The cultural heritage of Darug is considerably different
from the main stream population of Australia. In this
context, it can be observed that the people of this
indigenous tribe spoke in language where they went from
the most important thing to the lesser significant object.
This difference in the dialect of the language marked
their difference from the other people of the region
("Aboriginal people and place - Barani", 2019).
The group of Darug has two essential dialects, they are
the Fresh water dialect and the Salt water dialect (Lo &
Lo, 2019). The Fresh water dialect was spoken by the
people of the tribe who lived near the land while the Salt
water dialect was spoken by the people of the community
who lived near to the coast.
There are certain representative symbols of this
indigenous groups which helps to distinguish between the
people belonging to this group from that of the others.
For instance, the Darug male members usually have a
totem of the Wirambi which signifies the flying fox
("Dharug and Dharawal Resources", 2019). The Darug
females on the other hand have the totem of Wuban or
possum. The totems representative of the Darug
population living to the west of Sydney are those of
Goanna and the Cockatoo which is white and black
crested.

Local support groups for the Darug
community
The Darug community is essentially considered to
be one of the oldest indigenous group of people
residing within the region of Australia ("Darug
Clans | A History of Aboriginal Sydney", 2019).
With the introduction of the colonial era in this
continent, the Darug community faced a lot of
obstruction in its growth and development. As a
consequence of this, they have found it quite
difficult to integrate themselves with the modern
main stream population as they are yet to achieve
that level of development and modernization as
the people of the twenty first century. As a result
of this, they face their hard ships in isolation
In order to counter act this and to ensure the
integration of the Darug community with the main
stream population of Australia, several measures
have been taken at the local level by the official
bodies. In the context of teaching and learning, it
can be observed that the Local Aboriginal
Education Consultative Group was established as
a nonprofit organization ("About the AECG –
New South Wales AECG", 2019). Their main
objective is to provide advice on matters related to
education of the Aboriginal community. In this
respect, it can be observed that the Local
Aboriginal Education Consultative Group
provides the necessary empowerment and power
to the Aboriginals so that they would be able to
gain confidence to take part in the main stream
activities.
Ways to engage in culturally sensitive issues with the Darug
In order to ensure the effective process of integration of the
people of the Darug community in to the mains stream
population of Australia, it is essential to engage them in certain
culturally sensitive issues. This can be done in several ways for
instance, debating with them o the importance of maintenance
of the traditional and cultural differences while respecting
them. This would encourage the Darug community to open up
as to how they feel with regard to their differences from the
people of the main stream community.