In the past two weeks, I have been thinking about the late Kim Beazley, Snr. I knew the great man slightly when I was a priest at Christ Church Claremont, and he was a parishioner. I greeted him after church each Sunday. I visited him at his home in Cottesloe, and on one memorable occasion, he took my colleague John Warner and me to a long lunch at Parliament House, combined with a history of the characters in the Labor Party before the split. He was a lively raconteur.
I have also been thinking of the Headmasters Conference and their actions beginning in the 1930s.
I have been thinking that the massacre at Bondi Beach last week could have been prevented if their vision had been grasped back then.
In 1938, the Headmasters Conference consisting of the Heads of all the Independent boys’ schools in Australia, together with those of some Catholic Schools, were disturbed by the rise of antisemitism in Europe. The Conference proposed that an association to promote the high-quality teaching of religion in Australian schools should be created.
The war intervened, and nothing came of the proposal until 1974, when the HMC and the Association of the Heads of Girls Schools Australia (AHIGSA) formed the Australian Association for Religious Education. I joined AARE in 1975 and over the next 30 years I served at State and National levels, so I know this Association well. And there have been other similar associations.
The question haunts me; did we not do enough? Did we fail to raise the quality of the teaching of religion? Maybe we could have stemmed the tide of antisemitism, Islamophobia and all the other hatreds of different religious groups.
Teaching in schools about religion may have had more effect if the educational community had listened to Kim Beazley, as Australia’s Minister for Education in 1973-75. Mr Beazley proposed a National Curriculum consisting of nine learning areas. He included Religion as a learning area alongside English, Maths and Science. He meant, of course, not the doctrinaire teaching of Christianity – although he was a Christian – but the proper teaching of the religions in our society.
Other prominent educators, like Professor Brian Hill, Foundation Professor of Education at Murdoch University, who was one passionate advocate, pushed for the inclusion of religion in the general curriculum.
It is true that the learning area of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) mandate some attention to religion in society. And the Arts cannot avoid the heritage of Christians and others who have made wonderful music, literature, paintings, and sculpture to express their faith. Some educators told us that we should be content just to have religion included within other learning areas.
Teachers resist the teaching of religions believing that they are not sufficiently informed about the subject. To me, that is a sad excuse. We can all be better informed. That’s why the Principals of Independent Schools set up the AARE with its biennial Conference model of in-service preparation for their teachers. Teacher educators could easily devise similar in-service for teachers in State Schools.
Imagine if as much effort had been poured into the teaching of Religion as has been poured into English and Maths. Imagine if the students graduating from our High Schools, both public and private, had a sympathetic understanding of Islam, and Judaism, and Christianity, of Hinduism, and Buddhism, and Bahai, of Taoism and Shinto, and Confucianism, of paganism, and Wicca, as well as Indigenous culture as a special and focused Australian spirituality.
Imagine if those students had met Australian adherents of those religions, individual Jews or Buddhists or Christians and recognised them, as they would, as fellow Australians, fellow human beings. Imagine how that would percolate through society and act as a damper on religious hatred. (Not to mention how much richer their own lives would be.)
Maybe that would have been enough to stop this hatred of religions, especially the hatred of the Jews.
It is possible that I’m overstating the case. No amount of high-quality education would likely have stopped the shooters at Bondi on 14 December 2025. They were too filled with hatred.
But great educators like Kim Beazley Snr, Sir James Darling (Geelong Grammar’s renowned Headmaster from 1930-1961), Peter Moyes (Headmaster of Christ Church Grammar in Claremont from 1952-1982, and my mentor in AARE) and Brian Hill, must all be wondering whether it would have been any different if Australia had listened to them.
n
Ted Witham is a Life Member and former President of AARE, and was Executive Director of The Churches’ Commission on Education (YouthCARE WA) from 1999-2003, and founding Convenor of the National Association of Government School Chaplaincy Providers (now called Chaplaincy Australia) from 2000-2003.
He taught Religious Education as Senior Chaplain to Christ Church Grammar School (1978-1984).
In 1985, AHIGSA and HMC amalgamated to become AHISA, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools Australia
Mind Journeys 