Barayamal

Science Week: Led or Decorated?

A Barayamal scorecard for schools, museums, councils, universities and science centres

Science Week is over. Did you lead or did you decorate?

Fourteen honest questions about the First Nations element of your 2026 National Science Week program. About three minutes. You can copy or print your result.

Score my Science Week
Dean Foley, Kamilaroi man and founder of Barayamal, sitting on a carved wooden bench
Dean Foley, founder of Barayamal

What you will find out

Every organisation that ran a First Nations element this August is writing it up right now and privately wondering which side of the line it was on. This scorecard tells you. You will get a score in four areas: Paid (was every First Nations person paid, at the same rate as everyone else), Credited (were people and knowledge named and approved or merely labelled 'Indigenous'), Decided (who was in the room and who could say no) and After (what continues now that 23 August has passed). You will see which of the four is weakest, where your program sits on the ladder from Decoration to Led and the one thing to change before next August.

Why Barayamal

Barayamal is a First Nations-owned and led Australian non-profit that has backed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander founders since 2016: 1,400+ people supported, 360+ employers connected and $1.37M leveraged. It publishes the Blakwashing field guide, the public record of organisations' First Nations claims and the 3% Pledge directory, reviewed on 5 August 2026. The name means Black Swan in Gamilaraay.

Three minutes, then a plan

Fourteen questions, about three minutes. No preparation: if you ran the program, you already know every answer.

Everyone who finishes gets the Blakwashing field guide and a link to Blakwashing 101, the free fifteen-minute course with no sign-up.

Your answers are stored by Barayamal to show your result and improve the scorecard. Name and email are optional. Privacy, cookies and terms

The scorecard

Science Week: Led or Decorated?

Answer honestly. You get your score, the four-area breakdown and one thing to change, and you can copy or print the result.

Step 1 of 15
1 Did your 2026 National Science Week program include a First Nations element?

Think of everything you ran or hosted between 15 and 23 August 2026.

Paid

2 Was every First Nations person on your program paid?

Count everyone: the Welcome to Country, speakers, workshop leaders and any Elder or advisor who shaped it.

Paid

3 Were they paid at the same rate as your non-Indigenous presenters and consultants?

Credited

4 In your promotion, were First Nations presenters named as individuals, with their nation or community?

Posters, the event listing, social posts, the school newsletter.

Credited

5 Where First Nations knowledge appeared (sky, seasons, fire, plants, tools), did you say whose knowledge it was?

Credited

6 Did the First Nations people involved see and approve how they and their knowledge were described before it went out?

Decided

7 Was a First Nations person in the room when the program was decided, not only when it was delivered?

Decided

8 Could a First Nations partner have said no to an element of the program and had it dropped?

Think of the last change made to the program. Who had the final say?

Decided

9 Who owns the photos, recordings and materials made with First Nations people during the week?

After

10 Now that 23 August has passed, is any of it continuing?

After

11 Is there a First Nations business on your organisation's supplier list today?

Caterers, designers, facilitators, printers, cultural advisors: any business you can pay an invoice to.

After

12 Will the First Nations people involved get a copy of your write-up or report about the event?
13 Did your organisation have a budget line for cultural consultation this year?
14 Roughly how many staff does your organisation have?
15 What stopped a First Nations element happening this year?

Optional. A sentence is plenty.