Darcel Russell

Darcel Russell is National Deputy Secretary of the Australian Education Union.

Darcel Russell joined the National Quality Council in May 2007 as its Equity representative for Indigenous Australians. Russell began work at the Australian Education Union (AEU) as the Federal Aboriginal Education Officer in July 2001. She was elected unopposed to the position of Deputy Federal Secretary in January 2006.

Darcel is a Goori woman from Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), which is located off the South East coast of Queensland. Most of her family still lives on the island, where Darcel enjoys going as often as she can to catch up with family, friends and fishing! Prior to commencing work with the AEU, Darcel was the manager of the Indigenous Studies Product Development Unit, TAFE Queensland. The unit's primary responsibilities include the development of accredited training programs specifically for Indigenous peoples, and the development of a range of print-based and multi-media resources to support the delivery of these programs.

Before working with TAFE, Darcel was employed by Education Queensland, where she worked as a Remote Area Teacher Education Program (RATEP) teacher-coordinator, a classroom teacher, and as a curriculum and instructional designer. Darcel is the current chair of the ACTU Indigenous Committee and the Indigenous representative on the ACTU executive. She is passionate about the power of public education as a tool for increasing social opportunity and promoting change.

She is the niece of Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

‘Closing the gap’

AEU Federal Aboriginal education officer Darcel Russell has worked with First Nations educators to draft a public statement urging Australians to support the proposed changes in response to those who are opposed to the changes and seek to marginalise the teaching of Indigenous histories and perspectives.

“The changes proposed in the review will contribute to both ‘closing the gap’ in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational attainment and closing the ‘why weren’t we told?’ gap in knowledge and understanding of the richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and in the teaching and learning of the shared history of our country,” the statement says.

SEARCH Foundation

In 2010 Darcel Russell was a member of the SEARCH Foundation in Melbourne.

Melbourne InspirActivism

The Melbourne InspirActivism program was held at the AMWU building in Carlton on March 13 and March 20 2010. Presentations on the first day were made by Boris Frankel on political ideas, and Janet Rice on native forest campaigns in Victoria.

On day two, Pat Healy presented on what it was like to be involved in indigenous activism in the 1960s with her story from the 1965 NSW Freedom Ride. Darcel Russell gave a very personal insight into indigenous struggle, remembering as a child what a strong and determined character her Aunty Oodgeroo Noonuccal was.

Davey Thomason spoke about being the youngest organiser in the NSW Builders Labourers Federation in 1972 through to his desire to connect with Shetland Islanders. Dave Kerin shared what a heightened political environment it was during his time with the BLF in Victoria. Daria Healy-Aarons facilitated the skills training sessions on campaign design and strategies, on both days.

Murphy interviews Kevin Tory

November 2008, Peter Murphy interviews Kevin Tory:

The Trade Union Committee on Aboriginal Rights is one of the main links between the trade union movement and the Aboriginal communities. Kevin Cook, the CEO at Tranby College at the time, put a lot of energy into setting up TUCAR.

My job at TUCAR is to give an Aboriginal perspective in the trade union movement. I’m on the ACTU Committee, and the Indigenous Committee of Unions NSW and a number of others including the ANTaR Committee, the Stolen Wages campaign, the NSW Teachers Federation Anti-Racism Committee.

When TUCAR was set up 25 years ago it was mainly to get support for Land Rights. Then it moved into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. We got a Land Rights Act here in NSW, and a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

I was also on the Board of Tranby College for about 15 years with Kevin Cook. When we were at Tranby we also helped organise most of the national meetings of Indigenous people.

It is really important today to get young Aboriginal men and women to get involved in their unions, but to use that as a basis for going into local government and then into state and federal politics.

If we can get black faces into the parliaments, that will be a major achievement. My major role is to support and mentor those young Aboriginal men and women in their union all over the country.

The ACTU Indigenous Conference was held in the middle of the year and 70 Aboriginal people participated. It was inspiring. For the first time the ACTU has employed an Aboriginal person, Kara Touchie, to recruit people to unions. We’ve been trying to get that position for 20 years.

The ACTU was impressed by what our NSW Indigenous Committee did last year in the Your Rights At Work campaign. We developed all the flyers and posters and worked out strategies with Indigenous people all over Australia about how to involve Aboriginal people in defeating the racist Howard government.

The election of the Rudd government and his apology to the Stolen Generation was highly significant as an act of reconciliation. It is a case of ‘from little things, big things grow’.

Now we are looking for a younger person to work with Unions NSW who can eventually take over my job here at TUCAR. This job gives a person more flexibility. I can introduce this worker to my union and political contacts, but also to Tranby College and wider circles.

I’m very happy with the role of Unions NSW under John Robertson in supporting TUCAR and Indigenous people in the union movement. Adam Kerslake is now third in charge at Unions NSW.

Working with Charline Emzin-Boyd, I have an input on all the major policies in the NSW Teachers Federation and the ACTU about Aboriginal Affairs. Over 100 people took part in this year’s Teachers Federation Aboriginal Conference, and I was part of that process.

In particular unions there are great people who have come into the movement – Adam and Charline, Mal Cochrane from the PSA, Diat Callope in the Independent Education Union, Rowan Tobler from the CFMEU, Darcel Russell who is now Assistant Secretary of the Australian Education Union. The Mining & Energy Division of the CFMEU in Queensland has put on Lara Watson, an Aboriginal worker, to help create jobs for Aboriginal people in coal mines. Paddy Crumlin of the Maritime Union is now planning an Aboriginal leadership team in that union, and TUCAR will be involved in that process.