tended to go into the private schools system. The private school system itself was split between two main groups: a British-style system of schools for the elite, and a massively underfunded Catholic church-run system. The Catholic education system usually shared the poor working and teaching conditions of the state schools. During the 1950s teachers in the state school system became more unionised and better organised. These women and men had received free University education on the condition that they teach in the state school system, or had received University training as a result of their status as Second World War veterans and had chosen to teach. These teachers, and those following them, campaigned to increase teacher's salaries, to transform the structure of Australian education, and to improve the curriculum. This militancy achieved its peak in the 1970s when teachers won salaries equivalent to state parliament backbenchers, a massive and systemic initiative for building improvements, and massive curriculum reform. The Australian Teachers Union was established in 1984, and following a series of union mergers with the ACT Teachers' Federation, the Northern Territory Teachers' Federation, the South Australian Institute of Teachers and the Australian Teachers' Federation, changed its name to the Australian Education Union in 1993. Indigenous education The AEU has a designated Indigenous position on its Federal Executive, an Indigenous observer position on the AEU TAFE Executive, and runs an annual seminar on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. In 2010, the AEU made a submission (authorised by Angelo Gavrielatos, AEU Federal President) to the Australian Government's draft Indigenous Education Action Plan 2010–2014. The submission included 40 recommendations on improving Indigenous education, and stated: "The realistic timeframe that should be considered to achieve outcomes for Indigenous people equal to the rest of the community is to focus on the outcomes that should be expected for the children to be born in 20 to 25 years from today". See also Independent Education Union of Australia References Official AEU Federal Office Website Official AEU Australian Capital Territory Branch Website Official AEU Northern Territory Branch Website Official AEU South Australian Branch Website Official AEU Tasmanian Branch Website Official AEU Victorian Branch Website Official NSW Teachers Federation Website Official Queensland Teachers' Union Website Official State School Teachers' Union of Western Australia Website Every School. Every Child. Campaign website Rebuild with TAFE Campaign website Education trade unions Education International 1984 establishments in Australia Trade unions established