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Access to a good education is often argued as deserving of the highest priority. The available research pertaining to the educational experience of Australian Indigenous students, however, too often reflects a picture of profound disadvantage, particularly in relation to their non-Indigenous counterparts. In 2008, Prime Minister Rudd announced $20 million of Federal Government funding for 2000 boarding school places over 20 years, to address chronic levels of academic underachievement and close the education gap between black and white Australians. Education in Australia, however, is tied to white culture, the industrial economy and the means through which white culture survives, so accepting these places may also have a shadow side, in relation to multiple levels of loss and possible cultural alienation. The purpose of this research study is to discover what implications for counselling practice lie in the self-report of the lived experience of an adult sample of eight Indigenous participants who, as children, experienced leaving home to attend school. Their experience spans five decades.

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Suzanne Jenkins lectures across the Counselling Degrees at the University of Notre Dame (Western) Australia. She also supervises Higher Degree Research students. Suzanne maintains a role in private practice as a Consultant, Trainer and Therapist in the fields of interpersonal violence, sexual abuse, trauma and child protection.

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