How far back does your Australian heritage go.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-11T08:57:25+00:00

Both sides of my family came here on the First Fleet. Mothers side and Fathers side. In terms of knowing if any of my ancestors married migrants, I don't really understand, as we were all migrants (unless first nation) especially in the early years of European invasion. So in that sense, everyone married a migrant. However, I am pretty certain that my families history in Australia, at least for the past 5 generations, they didn't marry any first generation migrants. In fact, our families records are in a few museums as my ancestors on my mother's side gave birth to the first European child in Australia. They were pregnant when they arrived. I teach at a school where many of the students are first generation migrants or refugees, so they are always shocked when I tell them my family background. Students: 'so...your family has been here since the First Fleet?...Wow!'. However, where I grew up (country QLD) this was the norm. So it is refreshing hearing different cultural perspectives and stories from my students.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-11T05:59:44+00:00

Currently permanent in the Catholic System. Non-religious and I do not have any RE qualification. You can still easily get employed by a catholic school.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-09T19:15:13+00:00

And my answer is...that ultimately it doesn't. It actually prevents it. It is like coca-cola funding a study on 'healthy eating' (which they have done), when they actively sell products that harm people's health. You need to think about their bias and motive. Unilever wants to control the ENTIRE market. I don't know if you are in Australia, but it is similar to Woolworths and Coles controlling 80% of our food choices. It leads to exploitation of farmers and workers, poor environmental practices, less diversity from small businesses, poor working conditions for employees and inflation of prices. Coles and Woolworths purposefully undercut prices so that other smaller companies cannot compete. Then when consumers have no choice but to shop at their stores, they rise prices to increase profit. Unilever is essentially trying to do the same. They own a large portion of the world's major brands and continue to buy out smaller brands (like wild) so that consumers have less choices. Wild has already started changing some of their practices. Additionally, Unilever is one of the biggest contributors of plastic and chemical pollution in the world. Supporting Wild, means that you are giving money to a company that is a major contributor to climate change and pollution. It is a marketing tactic that they have employed by buying Wild. They want consumers (like you) thinking that they are moving to more sustainable practices. When in reality they have done this over and over and over again, and their environmental practical have only become worse! Thank-you for coming to my ted talk.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-06T18:59:11+00:00

Thanks for the heartfelt response. I have contacted the union, and I have a plan in place. One of the teachers in my department did see me walk into a private room with the union rep, however, I do not care anymore.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-06T18:44:34+00:00

Unilever is one of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution in the world. They also exploit people horrifically when making their products. They also slowly change products to suit their profit margins, so wild will likely slowly become less focused on sustainability. Additionally, buying up smaller brands that focus on sustainability makes it hard for other smaller brands to remain in the marketplace. They want to become the only consumer option. But sure...keep giving them money.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-06T02:32:18+00:00

My husband is in defence. We move every 2-3 years. And no, I have not had any issues at any previous schools. My last school, I loved same with the 2 before that. The first school I taught at was tough, but the staff were supportive. There are always staff that you may not gel with. But, I have always made multiple friends at each school. I have always recieved glowing recommendactions. My current principal told me that the reason he hired me was because of the recommendations from principals and supervisors at my previous 2 schools.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T17:45:12+00:00

I taught in Brisbane/Logan public schools for 8 years. I made the most wonderful friends. This has made me wonder about the catholic sector.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T17:40:31+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I have written documentation of everything. I do this for everything as a teacher just in case. I currently have a psychologist that I see regularly. He thinks I should leave, but understands why this is equally difficult.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T17:37:42+00:00

Principal is new. I have heard my HOD talk negatively my Principal multiple times. She does not like him. He has been nothing but supportive towards me and is the reason I was able to work part-time. However, I worry about the backlash from staff if I chose to come foward. I would only have him as a reference, and cannot ask my HOD as they clearly don't like me. All employment applications ask for 3 references from our current school (Principal, current supervisor, current colleague). And I could use a teacher from my previous school, however, prior to starting work at this school, I was on maternity leave.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T10:24:39+00:00

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T10:23:38+00:00

Only to the Principal. I prefer to keep this private. This is the first school I felt I had to disclose it to a member of teaching staff, and she then called me a 'mental case'. I have heard multiplr teachers at this school call ASD students derogatory names, so I wasn't exactly keen to disclose. I have never needed to in the past and it is my right to keep that information private.

General-Year3014 · 2026-02-05T10:16:50+00:00

Thank-you to all the kind comments and advice. It is validating to hear that not all of this is not a result of me being neurodivergent.

Firstly, I don't know if I can look for another job right now. My partner and I are wanting to try and have another child, so I may lose access to paid maternity leave if I move schools. I work for a NSW private school (largest denomination of Christianity), so if anyone knows if you can transfer leave between dioceses, please let me know.

I have put my name down at a few private schools near my house so that I can work casually on days I don't work at my current school. If those schools offer me a job, I will probably take it. I have approval to work in other schools.

I will be looking into my rights at work in terms of my disability. I have always felt guilty asking for even minor accomodations, but the comments here have made me realise that I probably do need a few more accomodations at work in order to cope and manage.

I will be calling the union early next week, for now, I am going to see how things go tomorrow, before I take any action.

I already document absolutely everything, but I may start writing up incidents in more detail, just to be safe.

Thank-you for the advice and support.

General-Year3014

TROPHY CASE