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value in pre-school education for Aboriginal children; he pioneered work in teaching English as a second language
and promoted bilingual education; he was instrumental in the provision of demountable community schools,
and ‘mobile schools’ on pastoral properties where government regulations precluded the erection of permanent
buildings.
Jim’s efforts to upgrade Aboriginal education led to his joint appointment with Dr (later Professor) Betty Watts
of the University of Queensland to compile a report on curriculum and teaching methods in Territory Aboriginal
schools. The ‘Watts/Gallacher Report’, published in 1964, became the definitive document on Aboriginal education.
In 1990, Graham Benjamin described this report as ‘a land mark document... still used as a benchmark, identifying
for many Aboriginal educators and their communities, long held concerns and needs in educational policy’.
The Report recommended the establishment of residential colleges to provide bridging programmes to smooth
the transition of Aboriginal students from community primary school to high school. In 1966 Jim was awarded
a Churchill Fellowship to study education programmes for indigenous people in Canada and the United States.
He returned with a strengthened resolve to have transitional colleges established. Kormilda was established in
1967, Dhupuma in 1972 and Yirara in 1973. Kormilda extended its brief to include some vocational training
programmes, and Aboriginal teaching courses later provided at Batchelor College. Although the concept of
Aboriginal residential colleges subsequently proved controversial, and Kormilda now operates as a mainstream
secondary college, Jim’s work has been commemorated in the ‘Gallacher Gardens’—a grove of native trees from
which bush tucker is obtained—which grace Kormilda’s grounds.
Responding to a worldwide movement among indigenous peoples, the Whitlam Labor Government
implemented a policy of ‘self-determination’ for Aboriginal people in 1973, which entailed greater autonomy
for Aboriginal Councils and the withdrawal of Welfare Division staff from Aboriginal communities. Jim found
some consequences of this policy troublesome. He considered an education system sensitive to Aboriginal culture,
incorporating Aboriginal history, and involving the Aboriginal community, should not be subordinated to the
political aspirations of a small proportion of Aboriginal people who rejected dialogue with Europeans and denied
their children opportunities to benefit from what education could offer. He did not, however, lose his optimism in
the ability of Aboriginal people themselves to find solutions to the problems confronting them.
Immediately after Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, Jim acted as Director
of Northern Territory Education for 10 months. Forced to live apart from his family on the MV Patris, he drew
on his considerable administrative skills to rapidly re-establish a viable education system. It is said that his total
commitment to protecting the welfare of children, teachers and programmes, his ability to delegate authority, and
his compassion and concern for the whole community generated remarkable co-operation. When Dr James Eedle
was appointed Director in October 1975, public and private accolades flowed in, in recognition of Jim’s
remarkable achievements, with some expressing chagrin that he had not been appointed Director. Surely he was
also disappointed: his achievements belie his stated belief that he was a really a good ‘second-in-command’.
His only formal academic qualification, however, was a Teacher’s Certificate, and, as the Territory then saw
itself as ‘growing up’, concern for academic qualifications appears to have over-ridden consideration of proven
administrative abilities.
Jim remained Assistant Director of Education until self-government in 1978, when the Chief Minister,
Paul Everingham, appointed him to head the government’s newly formed ‘Aboriginal Liaison Unit’. He continued
in this position until his retirement in 1983, after which he maintained his community involvement in Aboriginal
education and training. Formerly a Darwin Community College Councillor and member of the Carpentaria College
Council, he became a member of the Northern Territory Grants Commission and long-serving first Chairman of
Batchelor College Council. Shortly after his death the Batchelor College Library and the Alice Springs College
Campus were dedicated to his memory. Plaques placed at both campuses are permanent reminders of the exceptional
contribution he made to Aboriginal education.
Jim’s wife and their adult children, Jamie, Robyn and Helena, continued to make Darwin their home. Despite
the initial hardships of Territory life, Jim’s commitment to his work, and the long absences from home this entailed,
June Gallacher recalled her husband as a kind and understanding man who deserved and gained the respect and
love of his family.
Jim’s death was sudden. He died from a heart attack on 22 July 1990 at the age of 66. At his funeral, his friend the
Administrator of the Northern Territory, James Muirhead, spoke of Jim as a man ‘ambitious for the advancement
of Aboriginal people’ who never lost his belief that ‘Aboriginals will eventually achieve full justice, opportunity
and recognition as an integral and valued component of the Australian nation’. It is thus fitting that in a speech to
the Northern Territory Parliament, Wesley Lanhupuy, Member for Arnhem and former Kormilda College student,
should record his regret at Jim’s death with the words (inter alia) ‘had it not been for Jim, I would not be where
I am’.
G Benjamin, ‘Vale Jim Gallacher’, Northern Territory Institute of Senior Education Officers Newsletter 3/90, September 1990; M J Gallacher,
M Ford, C Lovegrove, L Penhall (taped interviews); J Gallacher Papers, Northern Territory University Archives; Northern Territory
Parliamentary Record, 15 August 1990; T C Lovegrove ‘The Law and the Aboriginal’, Special Schools Bulletin, June 1970; Oral history
Interview, Northern Territory Archives Services, NTRS 226, TS 50; B H Watts & J D Gallacher, ‘Report on an Investigation into the Curriculum
and Teaching Methods used in Aboriginal Schools in the Northern Territory’, 1964.
WENDY MACDONALD, Vol 3.
GARRISON, WILLIAM JAMES (COWBOY BILL) (1928– ), stockman, sailor, bush worker and raconteur,
was born in Lock, South Australia, on 12 October 1928. An only child, Garrison’s parents died when he was young.
He was passed from relative to relative, much of his time being spent with a spinster aunt. Garrison was educated