An individual's school motivation and achievement are products of a complex set of interacting motivational goals, sense of self, and self-concept variables. Motivational goals may be differentially salient to individuals from different cultural backgrounds; and sense of self, including academic self-concept, may vary across cultural groups. This paper examines the nature of Australian Aboriginal students' motivational goals, the nature of their academic self-concepts, and their sense of self within school settings. Also examined are the relationships of these variables to intention to complete further schooling, affect toward school, valuing school, student achievement, and school attendance. The Inventory of School Motivation and the Self Description Questionnaire were administered to 129 Aboriginal and 810 non-Aboriginal students in grades 7-9 in 6 rural and urban schools in New South Wales. The results suggest that Aboriginal students, even in remote locations, were motivated by the same motives and self beliefs as influenced students from non-Aboriginal and largely urban backgrounds. These results tell a positive story about the capacity of Aboriginal children to do well at school given the right sort of motivational school environment and indicate the need for further research into the causes of the relatively poor academic performance and persistence of Aboriginal students. (Contains 44 references.) (SV)