Indigenous heritage: working ancient wetlands for social benefit and cultural understanding. This research will answer important theoretical and practical questions about Aboriginal community engagement with Heritage research. It will generate significant archaeological outcomes on the nature of Indigenous occupation in ancient eastern Australian landscapes, and this research will also improve the employability of young Aboriginal people.
Cape Keerweer 1606-2006: an ethnographic history of the Wik region, Queensland. In this research with Wik Aboriginal people I investigate how key facets of the peoples' lives have changed since the first Dutch visit 400 years ago. I seek a credible empirical explanation for their descent into crisis, especially post-1978, something with wider implications for the national interest. I examine historical causes through shifts in demography, land tenure, occupations, power relations, violence, lang ....Cape Keerweer 1606-2006: an ethnographic history of the Wik region, Queensland. In this research with Wik Aboriginal people I investigate how key facets of the peoples' lives have changed since the first Dutch visit 400 years ago. I seek a credible empirical explanation for their descent into crisis, especially post-1978, something with wider implications for the national interest. I examine historical causes through shifts in demography, land tenure, occupations, power relations, violence, language use, and art production. From the intensely local, the past individuals and cultural landscapes of Cape Keerweer, I move outward in space and onward in time tracing gradual Wik engagement in regional, state, national and global relationships 1606-2006.Read moreRead less
A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers ....A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers of the late Dr Diane Barwick. Through this innovative study of past life courses we seek to understand the unique experience of 'fourth world' people in the health transition, and the deep historical forces structuring the persistent health problems of Indigenous Australians.Read moreRead less
Colonial encounters: Archaeology at Ebenezer Mission, north-western Victoria. From the 1860s, most Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia were confined to reserves such as Ebenezer Mission, and despite official accounts which argue for the success of the 'civilising' enterprise, archaeological evidence promises to provide a new Indigenous perspective. Investigation of this key site, in collaboration with Aboriginal descendants, will reveal 1. How everyday life on the mission was experience ....Colonial encounters: Archaeology at Ebenezer Mission, north-western Victoria. From the 1860s, most Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia were confined to reserves such as Ebenezer Mission, and despite official accounts which argue for the success of the 'civilising' enterprise, archaeological evidence promises to provide a new Indigenous perspective. Investigation of this key site, in collaboration with Aboriginal descendants, will reveal 1. How everyday life on the mission was experienced by different social groups: Aboriginal girls, boys, families and 'fringe' dwellers, and Moravian missionaries, 2. The role of gender organisation within the colonial process, and 3. How Aboriginal cultural identity was shaped by missionisation. A range of general and scholarly histories will be produced.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-m ....Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-musicological study aimed particularly at showing the distribution of song-styles and the way songs were transmitted.Read moreRead less
Indigenous mental health in remote communities: Applying a contextual model of community research and intervention. This project will make an international advance in understanding indigenous mental health that will be of interest to many groups around the world. The main specifically national benefit will flow from contextual knowledge on how to improve mental health for remote indigenous communities that also allows strengthening of communities and their economic and social enterprises. We w ....Indigenous mental health in remote communities: Applying a contextual model of community research and intervention. This project will make an international advance in understanding indigenous mental health that will be of interest to many groups around the world. The main specifically national benefit will flow from contextual knowledge on how to improve mental health for remote indigenous communities that also allows strengthening of communities and their economic and social enterprises. We will also build capacity in the communities for research skills, documentation skills, and writing skills. The types of contextual information collected will provide recommendations to mental health service providers about how to incorporate local forms of knowledge when dealing with issues of well-being.Read moreRead less
A study of Indigenous art in settled Australia. This project will assemble the first comprehensive data on Indigenous artists who operate outside the areas of Central and Northern Australia generally regarded as the heartlands of Indigenous arts. Its findings may have implications for Indigenous arts funding policies but will be primarily concerned with the task of mapping the artistic landscape of the nation. Apart from the benefits for the participants, for Indigenous and Australian art schola ....A study of Indigenous art in settled Australia. This project will assemble the first comprehensive data on Indigenous artists who operate outside the areas of Central and Northern Australia generally regarded as the heartlands of Indigenous arts. Its findings may have implications for Indigenous arts funding policies but will be primarily concerned with the task of mapping the artistic landscape of the nation. Apart from the benefits for the participants, for Indigenous and Australian art scholarship, and for more soundly based Indigenous arts industry research, the project will help dismantle entrenched attitudes in non-Indigenous Australia against Indigenous people in 'non-remote' Australian society.Read moreRead less
The relationship between speech production and perception in Australian language speakers: implications for speech development and learning in Aboriginal children. Chronic ear infection blights the life of at least 50% of Aboriginal Australians. In a vicious cycle that extends from generation to generation, it leads to hearing loss, educational disadvantage, socio-economic disadvantage and environmental depredation, which once again leads to ear (and many other) infections. This is a unique atte ....The relationship between speech production and perception in Australian language speakers: implications for speech development and learning in Aboriginal children. Chronic ear infection blights the life of at least 50% of Aboriginal Australians. In a vicious cycle that extends from generation to generation, it leads to hearing loss, educational disadvantage, socio-economic disadvantage and environmental depredation, which once again leads to ear (and many other) infections. This is a unique attempt by researchers across academic disciplines to study the role of language in educational disadvantage and whether this disadvantage might be made worse for Aboriginal children by the early use of English at school. We ask whether, on purely acoustic or linguistic grounds, communicating in an Aboriginal language might offer improved educational and health outcomes for Aboriginal children in the early years.Read moreRead less
Defending Australia, defending Indigenous rights: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military service and Australian identity, 1946-2003. This project will examine the experiences of Australian Indigenous service personnel between 1946 and 2003, both during their times of service and in civilian life. The project will analyse the links between military service, the advancement of Indigenous rights, Australian identity, and the development of contemporary Indigenous communities.
A reliable absolute chronology for the Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley, Western Australia. The Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is an internationally significant record of human occupation and cultural evolution. This project will determine the antiquity of human expression in one of the richest (and possibly the oldest) rock art regions in the world using advanced analytical techniques.