On hand this morning was Peter Garrett, Minister for School Education and former singer with the band Midnight Oil, to launch the new Schools’ Education and Curriculum program, a range of resources for secondary schools that provide teachers and students with curriculum materials focusing on Kelly as “an Australian voice in an Australian context.”

Developed in partnership with Shark Island Productions and The Caledonia Foundation, the program includes a National Curriculum Resource in English and Music for Years 11 and 12, a book of eEssays by some of Australia’s leading writers and a school’s version of the award-winning documentary “Paul Kelly – Stories of Me.”

Garrett told those present how he, Kelly and the late artist Mr Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi had collaborated on the song “Treaty.” He praised the project organisers and Mr Kelly himself for providing ways of “getting into the hearts and minds of children” and helping to make them fully-rounded people.

He urged on those present the need for a high standard of equal value content for secondary students, suggesting that Kelly’s “empathetic and evocative” approach to Indigenous Australians would be of special value.

Ian Darling of Shark Island Productions, which has produced an 86-minute version of the film as a “philanthropic package resource” for senior school students, amused those present when he told how 10 minutes of rock and roll had been cut from the original documentary in light of  the school-aged audiences. We wondered what happened to the sex and drugs he also mentioned as forming a part of the Kelly story.

Eva Gold, the executive officer of the English Teachers Association of NSW, praised the potential of the program to encourage English and music student to use “multiple sources” for their own creation, just as Kelly had done. She said it was now possible that teachers could select from the program in implementing the new Australian Curriculum, perhaps comparing Kelly’s lyrical ballads with those of Wordsworth.

The exhibition “Paul Kelly & The Portraits” comprises 18 works by music industry photographers like Greg Noakes, Wendy McDougall, Tony Mott, Martin Philbey, Liz Reid, Peter Brew Bevan, Bleddyn Butcher, Jon Campbell, Peter Hudson, Stu Spence and Jon Lewis.

“Paul Kelly & The Portraits” at the National Portrait Gallery until September 1, before touring to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Tamworth Gallery in NSW and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in Victoria.