It is timely that this conference has been convened to promote and support the recording of family and community histories. These histories can be offered as an alternative to the one sided view of Australian history currently presented in our schools, and provide students with a balance of viewpoints about events that have occurred in this country in the last two hundred years or so. In the past schools have taught only one perspective of the colonisation of this country, and have shown little respect for views other than those presented in written reports, letters, press articles and other documents by the British colonisers.