Search

Australian Aboriginal peoples' movements have been central to Aboriginal resistances to dispossessions and discriminations since European colonization began at the turn of the nineteenth century and continue into present times. Aboriginal organized protest has coalesced around three political and social criteria: the articulation of a direct claim; the organization of activities involving Aboriginal community members around this claim; and the adaptation of the colonizers' socio-legal practices as tools to advance these claims. An early example is George Walter Arthur and other Tasmanians' campaign to reverse the forced dispossession and exile of the Tasmanians. Activities included the establishment of a newspaper to voice their claims and, in 1847, a petition to Queen Victoria claiming breach of promise by colonial authorities. The Tasmanians remained imprisoned on Flinders Island, but with the legacy of documentary evidence that the Tasmanians never relinquished sovereignty. Petitions against dispossession and living circumstances were also made by a number of Aboriginal protest movement leaders in New South Wales and South Australia in the latter part of the nineteenth century, again unsuccessfully (Attwood & Markus 1999).

Parental and caregivers' hygiene-related knowledge, attitude and practice are compelling factors in the prevention of stunting and malnutrition among the aboriginal children in Malaysia, which are highly modifiable. This study was conducted to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice related to hygiene among primary caregivers of the under three aboriginal (known as Orang Asli) children community in Malaysia.A total of 166 primary caregivers of the under three children of the aboriginal community in Kuala Langat district, Selangor were recruited. Data related to caregivers', child's and environmental factors were collected using a validated and reliable questionnaire, with knowledge, attitude and practice being the dependent variables. IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0 was used to analyse the data. Pearson's correlation was conducted to identify the relationship between continuous data. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practice related to hygiene, as well as the predictors.The mean scores for knowledge, attitude and practice related to hygiene were 6.91 (2.12), 23.67 (3.16), 29.97 (3.55) and 43.05 (4.41), respectively. Significant moderate positive correlations were found between attitude and hygiene practice (r = 0.445, P 0.001). Self-efficacy was significantly correlated with attitude (r = 0.442, P 0.001) and practice (r = 0.557, P 0.001), with every unit increase in self-efficacy will predict 0.281 and 0.536 increase in attitude (B = 0.281, 95% CI: 0.126-0.435) and practice (B = 0.536, 95% CI: 0.348-0.725) scores respectively.Moderate mean scores for hygiene related knowledge, attitude and practice were observed in this study, with self-efficacy being a significant predictor for both hygiene-related attitude and practice but not knowledge. The self-efficacy of the caregivers should be sustained through continuous health education and counselling, to ensure improved hygiene practice. Future related research should consider the mediating role of self-efficacy on attitude and practice.

Kriol, an English-lexifier contact language, has approximately 20,000 speakers across northern Australia. It is the primary language of the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr. Kriol is a contact language, incorporating features of English and traditional Indigenous languages. The language has been perceived both positively and negatively, although recent literature suggests a shift towards more favorable views. This paper investigates how community members in Ngukurr responded to the question of non-Indigenous residents (known locally as Munanga) learning Kriol. Interviews with local Indigenous residents showed positive attitudes to Kriol, with respondents providing a number of perceived benefits for outsiders learning the language. Our interviews provide empirical evidence for pride in the language, affirming a shift to more positive attitudes.

This paper presents the results of archaeological fieldwork conducted at the request of elders from Barunga, a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, Australia. The aim of the project was to use archaeological methods to help people from the community relocate and identify each person buried in the Barunga Graveyard and to develop a system where this information would not be forgotten. In the past, the location of burials and the identities of the buried have been known only through memory, as well as repeat visits to the graveyard. Overcrowding within the graveyard has made this practice difficult. To add to this problem, the vast majority of graves of Aboriginal people in remote Northern Territory communities are not recorded in any register. While there is a legislative requirement for a burial register to be kept in non-Aboriginal communities, this has not been a requirement for those within Aboriginal communities. Instead, families must rely on the memories of those in attendance at the burial, and in time the remembering generation also dies and the identities of people in these graves become more and more blurred. This makes it difficult to mourn properly, or to care for that person by caring for their grave. During our fieldwork, we located 175 graves, and we identified 85 individuals. Of those that could be identified, 29 were identified by an associated plaque or headstone, and 56 were identified through oral histories that were recorded during several field visits with elders from the community. Beyond the archaeological results of this research, we found there is an opportunity to build sustainable development in this community that would see local people employed to locate and identify currently unidentified burials. Drawing on comparative cases from other countries such as India, this study addresses the challenge identified by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (2015) introducing cultural heritage into the sustainable development agenda. Retrieved February 19, 2020, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/culture-and-development/hangzhou-congress/introducing-cultural-heritage-into-the-sustainable-development-agenda/ ), to identify the concrete actions needed to integrate cultural heritage conservation and promotion into the sustainable development debate.

In this article we visit a car junkyard in the small Arnhem Land outstation of Nalawan in the top end of Australia’s Northern Territory. Using both a mobilities paradigm and recent theorizing of waste from the global south, we will argue through our ethnographic observations that the wrecked cars become mobile, reassembled, and reconceptualized in a range of surprising ways. Though now immobile, the stories they encapsulate continue to circulate and reverberate with the complexities and tensions of Indigenous mobilities.

This article presents the results of a retrospective study that critically examines the development of a responsive parent–child program from conceptualisation to pilot implementation. The development of the Play to Connect program was a continuation of research translation work of the Let’s Start parenting program which was delivered in remote Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory, Australia from 2005–2016. The impetus for the Play to Connect program came from the community need for parenting support that could be delivered by local Aboriginal workers living in the community. The aim was to bring research and community together through the co-creation of contextually relevant knowledge directly useful for local Aboriginal facilitators. Embedded in a dynamic cycle of planning, delivery, observation and reflection, the team of local Aboriginal staff and visiting practitioners designed and piloted an innovative, user-friendly and adaptable parent–child program which was underpinned by the evaluation findings of an existing program, drawing on the framework of play therapy. The 2.5 year long process of development brought about action and change for the local Aboriginal staff. They valued the co-creation of the program and resources and reported increased knowledge of child development and confidence to deliver family support in their community. This study shows that the development of Play to Connect was more than “tailoring” a parenting program – it was a way of creating sustainable support around a program to increase the chances of continuity of implementation and successful community engagement and development.

Mornington Island in northwest Queensland’s Wellesley Islands is well known in anthropology as the subject of David McKnight’s four books, including the bestseller From Hunting to Drinking: The Dev...

The rapid response to the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia has highlighted the vulnerabilities of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in terms of the high prevalence of complex chronic disease and socio‐economic factors such as limited housing availability and overcrowding. The response has also illustrated the capability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Sector, working with the government, to rapidly and effectively mitigate the threat of transmission into these vulnerable remote communities. The pandemic has exposed persistent workforce challenges faced by primary health care services in remote Australia. Specifically, remote health services have a heavy reliance on short‐term or fly‐in, fly‐out/drive‐in, drive‐out staff, particularly remote area nurses. The easing of travel restrictions across the country brings the increased risk of transmission into remote areas and underscores the need to adequately plan and fund remote primary health care services and ensure the availability of an adequate, appropriately trained local workforce in all remote communities.

This paper presents an analysis of the longest-running archaeological field school in Australia, the Barunga Community Archaeology Field School, which has been operating annually for over 20 years,...

A remote Aboriginal community has adopted the online digital landscape in today’s globalised culture and the free market. At the same time, their lives intertwine with a predominantly white Austral...

Child protection practitioners view Aboriginal communities as victim, adversary, participant, partner, and protector of children. These representations of communities are derived from interview data with 19 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal child protection social workers in British Columbia, Canada. The representations of the community are informed by the practitioner’s geographic relationship to the community and the length of community residency (including whether it’s the practitioner’s community of origin). Practitioners view communities as a victim or adversary when no relationship of trust exists with the community. Practitioners view communities having a participative or partnership role in child protection when trust has developed. When communities take full responsibility for children’s welfare, practitioners view the community as the protector of children. No clear association was found between the different representations of the community and the practitioner’s culture or organizational auspices. The practitioner’s own vision of practice is believed to significantly influence the relationship that develops with the community.

In this article, the authors attempt to illustrate how two Aboriginal community-based projects were conceptualized and developed through the collaborative efforts of four individuals who believed in the merits of a project aimed at survivors and intergenerational survivors of the residential school system as well as Aboriginal people in trouble with the law. Drawing upon a small body of literature on university/community collaboration, the authors illustrate the importance of meaningful collaboration between universities and communities in order to enhance a mutually beneficial relationship conducive to community-engaged scholarship. Through an examination of the case study of the Healing of The Seven Generations Project and the Four Directions Aboriginal Restorative Justice Project, the authors hope to illustrate to fellow Aboriginal colleagues in Canada the merits, strengths and challenges of university/ community collaboration. Ultimately, what the authors hope to share through this article is an example of how university/community collaboration can create spaces whereby Aboriginal people have become agents of their own healing.

Introduction A community-based project was developed to support quit attempts and denormalise smoking in Aboriginal communities. This qualitative study evaluates the effectiveness of project strategies, messages and the partnership process, and explores impacts observed by Aboriginal community members, complementing findings from a quantitative evaluation. Methods The study comprised five focus groups (40 participants) and 14 in-depth interviews (with 15 community members). Data were analysed thematically by manual and NVivo software methods. Results Results demonstrate that the project attracted community attention, was well recalled and messages were considered convincing and persuasive. Participants reported being more likely to quit and to discuss smoking with family and friends, and noticed that many people were quitting. Participants observed an increase in asking people not to smoke in the home and fewer people smoking at events, but noted that many smokers struggled to stay quit. The partnership and participation of Aboriginal Health Workers were viewed as crucial. Conclusion The qualitative findings reinforce quantitative evaluation findings suggesting that the project contributed to denormalising smoking and motivating quit attempts. So what The evaluation provided insight into how the project changed attitudes and motivated community members to make quit attempts and provided ideas to meet the ongoing challenge.

There is a paucity of published information about conceptions of Aboriginal child rearing and development among urban dwelling Nyoongar/Aboriginal people in Australia. We detail the unique findings from an Aboriginal early child development research project with a specific focus on the Nyoongar/Aboriginal community of Perth, Western Australia. This research significantly expands the understanding of a shared system of beliefs and values among Nyoongar people that differ in important ways from those of the broader Australian (Western) society. Consistent with the findings of research with other Aboriginal groups in Australia, and internationally, our work challenges assumptions underpinning a range of early childhood development policies and highlights the implications of cultural biases and misunderstandings among non-Aboriginal professionals in child and family services, education and other settings.

Reflections and learnings from a graduate-level independent study course on Community Based Participatory Research with urban Aboriginal community organizations.

Background and objectives Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) provide culturally appropriate medical services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of telehealth on patient attendance and revenue within an ACCHO during COVID-19. Method This is a time-series study of general practitioner attendances at a regional Victorian ACCHO in two periods: March-June 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and March-June 2020 (during COVID-19). Results After adjusting for the number of available appointments, there was a 27% increased rate of attendances per appointment slot during the COVID-19 period when compared with the pre-COVID-19 period, and a 59% increase in Medicare Benefits Schedule items claimed during the COVID-19 period, compared with the pre-COVID-19 period. Discussion The findings indicate that the provision of services via telehealth increased the number of people able to access the medical clinic, and that this had a positive financial impact for the organisation.

There is a need for emergency management systems in Australia to shift to a more collaborative model that involves working with communities rather than simply delivering to communities. This research paper argues that in order to address this, emergency services organisations in Australia need to continue to shift from a service delivery approach to a more localised, participatory and consultative model that acknowledges and harnesses local leadership, knowledge, skills and experience creating opportunities for community driven and fit-for-purpose emergency management. The paper makes the case for why localised approaches are important in places with diverse populations such as the Northern Territory (NT). The NT Aboriginal community of Nauiyu’s experience of evacuations due to flooding in 2015 and 2018 will be used as a case study to offer an example of locally led approaches to disaster resilience.

Mr. Steven Koptie, BA. 416-415-5000, ext. 3026 George Brown College, Room 436E 200 King Street East Toronto, Ontario M5A 3W5 416-415-5000, ext. 3026 skoptie@georgebrown.ca Steven Koptie, Instructor, Social Services Worker Program, George Brown College, Toronto. Steven has worked for 30 years in the field of social services and counseling. He is of Mohawk Descent from the Six Nations reserve and has tirelessly served the Aboriginal community in Toronto and worked in the far north. He is dedicated to creating opportunity and understanding between Aboriginal people and the world at large. Steven will be returning to University in 2008 for a Master’s Degree in Counseling.

Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) are utilised by primary and secondary schools to improve components of success for Aboriginal students, liaise with their families and the Aboriginal community and contribute to developing and promoting an Aboriginal pedagogy. Despite the challenging role of decolonising the school environment, the important work undertaken by AEWs can be misunderstood and underappreciated by the Western school system. This paper aims to measure the influence of AEWs on Aboriginal culture within schools using quantitative data from Wave 7K Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Results show that there is a positive impact on Aboriginal culture within schools through having an AEW present all or some of the time. For Aboriginal children to grow up strong, employment of an AEW is important to decolonise the school environment and provide a holistic education.

The wrongs experienced by Aboriginal people have caused life-long and intergenerational impacts that demand culturally grounded healing approaches, yet this is not experienced by Aboriginal people in mainstream services. This article details a culturally informed approach by sharing the findings of a Cultural Healing Program (CHP) designed, developed and delivered by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. The program was for Aboriginal survivors of institutional child sexual abuse who had also experienced cultural abuse having been forcibly removed from their families as children and in the process disconnected from their communities, culture and land. This study of the development, implementation and evaluation of the CHP included a review of literature, interviews with survivors and facilitators, pre- and post-participant surveys, facilitator journals, participant–observer reflections and short films exploring impacts. The study drew upon the experiences of the survivors and facilitators to identify outcomes of the program. Connection with culture and the collective approach were key to healing for all survivors. The paper identifies key learnings that can inform social work practice and discusses implications regarding program design and implementation.

This paper focuses on a water management project in the remote Aboriginal community of Milingimbi, Northern Australia. Drawing on materials and experiences from two distinct stages of this project, we revisit a policy report and engage in ethnographic storytelling in order to highlight a series of sensing practices associated with water management. In the former, a working symmetry between Yolngu and Western water knowledges is actively sought through the practices of the project. However, in the latter, recurrent asymmetries in the research work continue to appear: a bilingual diagram of water usage is displayed but produces confusion; measuring a water hole for salinity, a member of the scientific team throws in a water meter, while a Yolngu elder prefers the telling of an ancestral story; a collaborative 3-D mapping exercise invites participation from community members but struggles to develop an outcome that differs from existing maps used by scientists and government staff. Focusing on these moments as subtle points of rupture, we suggest that attending to “seeing,” “telling,” and “mapping” in both stages of this water management project offers a way to explore the political work of crafting climate futures and beginning to interrogate differing means for “doing difference” within them.

Background and Objectives Improving quality of life for community-dwelling older persons with dementia symptoms (PWDS) and family caregivers requires promoting dementia-friendly communities (DFC). However, little is known regarding older Taiwanese Aboriginal PWDS’ experiences of living in the community. We explored these experiences for older Atayal PWDS and their families in Taiwan. Research Design and Methods This grounded theory research used in-depth interviews to explore the perspectives of older PWDS (n = 4), their family members (n = 3), and key persons (n = 10) in an Atayal community in northern Taiwan. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Participants were interviewed between January and May 2015. Results Participants’ experiences were captured by the overarching concept of “low dementia awareness, high family-like ambience in the community.” Despite the low/absent community awareness of dementia, older Atayal PWDS functioned as freely in the community as at home due to a family-like supportive environment. Aboriginal PWDS and their families also faced environmental challenges, e.g., environmental constraints and barriers to transportation access. Discussion and Implications Our results suggest that this Aboriginal community and culture offer important DFC components, and these strengths could be further studied to enhance DFC models elsewhere. Despite these strengths in supporting PWDS, environmental challenges to transportation access still cause difficulties for PWDS and their families and need improvement. The Atayal community’s low dementia awareness suggests that services introduced must be culturally appropriate and nondisruptive to existing supportive helping systems. Our study can be a model for future studies to understand and identify PWDS’ needs in Indigenous communities.

Objective This study describes the development and implementation of a medication safety program for Aboriginal Health Practitioners practising in rural Australia. Design A two-stage process was used to develop and implement the medication safety program. Initially, a total of eight semi-structured interviews was undertaken with Aboriginal Health Practitioners to identify the main challenges faced while implementing medication safety in the organisation. This was followed by the development of a culturally appropriate medication safety program. Setting Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service. Participants Aboriginal Health Practitioners. Main outcome measure The participants' knowledge, confidence, behaviour, and utilisation of medication safety developed resources. Results The development and implementation of the medication safety program in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service consisted of addressing the barriers to medication safety cited by the Aboriginal Health Practitioner from the interviews, providing face-to-face educational sessions and developing a culturally appropriate educational resource to address the identified gaps. The program developed was evaluated by 17 Aboriginal Health Practitioners who took part in the study. The evaluation of Aboriginal Health Practitioners' knowledge, confidence, behaviour, utilisation of the medication safety program and resources was undertaken using an anonymous survey. A total of 31 participants completed the survey: 17 before the training and 14 at 6 months post-training. The data analysis, using t test, revealed a statistically significant change in the Aboriginal Health Practitioners' knowledge, confidence, behaviour and utilisation. Conclusion The success of the implementation of a collaborative medication safety program within the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service is dependent on understanding the barriers to medication safety in the workplace associated within the organisation and emphasising a wide culture of patient safety.

Self-regulation and executive functioning impairments are common in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Given the high rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder identified amongst children living in the remote Fitzroy Valley region of Western Australia, the Alert Program® was identified as a culturally safe intervention for use in local primary schools. Researchers collaborated with Aboriginal Elders, community members, and staff from a Fitzroy Valley primary school to trial the Alert Program®. Teachers were trained to deliver eight Alert Program® lessons to children in class. Self-regulation and executive functioning were measured using teacher and parent/caregiver questionnaires three times. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Teacher-led delivery of the Alert Program® was feasible in a region with high fetal alcohol spectrum disorder rates. As measured by teacher and parent/caregiver ratings, this curriculum may improve the self-regulation and executive functioning of children for some outcomes and provide sustained effects for some children. This community partnered pilot research, evaluated a school-based program to reduce the behavioral impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and informed design of a larger trial across eight Aboriginal community schools.

Men's Sheds are entrenched throughout Australian and international communities due to their popularity in attracting mainly older men to come together and undertake various social and workshop activities. A growing body of research has emerged where men associate regular Shed participation with improved social, emotional and physical wellbeing. However, few studies have examined Aboriginal men's engagement in Men's Sheds. This article reports on a study that investigated how a cohort of older Aboriginal men from one rural Tasmanian community consider the benefits of engaging in their local Shed. A community-based participatory research approach was developed in consultation with Aboriginal community leaders to ensure the study supported the community's expectations. Interview data from ten Aboriginal men combine to represent the Shed environment as an enabling therapeutic landscape, with key themes represented as domains of belonging, hope, mentoring and shared illness experiences. Shed activities were premised on these men co-creating an informal, culturally safe and male-friendly community environment to enjoy the company of other men. The created Shed environment was mutually beneficial as the participants reported improved wellbeing despite living with the effects of declining health and ageing. The findings inform Aboriginal communities and health-care stakeholders to consider the unique role of Men's Sheds for enhancing the health of an ageing male population.

Background: Food insecurity affects one in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in non-remote environments. Inequalities in diet contribute to the differential impact on diet-sensitive chronic diseases and the related burden of disease among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This study aimed to describe Aboriginal community and stakeholder perspectives on food insecurity to get a better understanding of the key factors driving this issue and recommendations for potential solutions in urban and regional Aboriginal communities in Australia. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 participants who were purposively selected. This included Aboriginal people in two communities and both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stakeholders from local food relief agencies, food suppliers, schools, and government. A conceptual framework was developed from food insecurity literature and we used the sensitizing concepts of availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability or the lack thereof of healthy food to elicit interview responses. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Results: All participants felt strongly that food insecurity was a major problem experienced in the local Aboriginal communities. Five core areas impacting on food security identified: trapped in financial disadvantage; gaps in the local food system; limitations of non-Aboriginal food relief services; on-going impacts of colonization; and maintaining family, cultural and community commitments and responsibilities. Conclusions: This study found Aboriginal families in urban and regional Australia are experiencing food insecurity on a regular basis, which is impacted by a range of socio-economic, environmental, systemic and cultural factors, as reported by the participants. Our findings highlight the need to address system level changes in the food environment and acknowledge Aboriginal culture and food preferences while considering the development of programs to alleviate food insecurity among urban and regional communities.

This study of a remote Aboriginal community in Australia’s Northern Territory in 2014 sought to understand diabetes from a local Aboriginal perspective. Participants drew on a variety of holistic healing methods in the absence of an individual or individuals identified as holding a healing role in the community. The study offers an alternative to the common assumption that all communities can identify specific individuals as Aboriginal healers who are central to maintaining Aboriginal beliefs and wellbeing who contribute to holistic health (Clarke 2008; Maher 1999; McDonald 2006; Seathre 2013; Williams 2011). This research found the seven adult Aboriginal diabetes patients participating in the longitudinal ethnographic study actively engaged in self-healing strategies. Moreover, diabetes clinicians could combine local remedies and biomedical treatment to heal diabetes within the clinic, as well as actively engaging the patient in their own treatment, effective to reduce the symptoms and prevalence of diabetes in Aboriginal populations.

For almost a century, water management and governance in the Murray–Darling Basin overlooked the interests, perspectives, knowledge, and rights of Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal engagement in land and water matters has improved substantially this century, and increasingly, models of research, collaboration, management, and decision-making developed by First Nations and their representative organisations are effecting positive change. Approaches that are more inclusive have come about through the determined efforts of First Nations and through the commitment of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (and its predecessor) to work within a legal and policy framework that is extremely limited. This chapter describes the strategies developed to confront the historical legacies of colonisation and exclusion from the water sector. Notwithstanding signs of progress, First Nations still have unmet water needs and unresolved claims for political, economic, and cultural recognition. This chapter outlines the work remaining to empower Aboriginal community control, use, and guardianship of water and to enable the restoration of sustainable relations with the Basin's rivers, estuaries, wetlands, and floodplains.

In Australia it is well documented that teachers continue to struggle with implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies and engaging with Aboriginal communities. This paper describes a research project analysing place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. We argue that place-based learning is critical in developing preservice teacher's knowledge and confidence in Aboriginal education. Surveys, individual and group yarns provided in-depth data from 64 participants completing elective courses including placebased ‘Learning from Country' (LFC) experiences. Three key findings emerge from the data. Firstly, the utility of an experiential ‘learning by doing' approach, secondly, the profound shifts in participant understandings of the diversity of Aboriginal cultures, histories and communities and thirdly, how these experiences highlighted the strength and presence of the local urban Aboriginal community. These findings suggest that LFC holds promise as a pedagogical strategy to improve teacher capacity in Aboriginal education.

IntroductionAboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) routinely collect sexually transmissible infection (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) clinical data from individuals through electronic medical records (EMRs). At a population level these data are an underutilised resource and can be used to help drive clinical and public health interventions. Accordingly, we have established a national STI and BBV sentinel surveillance network for ACCHSs —the ATLAS network. Objectives and ApproachIn establishing the ATLAS network, we standardised and automated extraction of deidentified clinical data from multiple EMRs using The University of Melbourne’s GRHANITE™ software. Regular reports are provided to each ACCHS, addressing 12 clinical indicators considered best practice in STI and BBV control and management. Data are used to drive Continuous Quality Improvement strategies, can be aggregated at regional and national levels, and have the ability to link to other surveillance networks also using GRHANITE™. ResultsThe ATLAS network currently includes more than 30 ACCHSs, including urban, regional and remote areas. To date, data have been analysed for >50,000 individuals aged ≥15 years attending medical consultations at ACCHS between January 2016 and December 2018. For clients in the key age-range for STI testing of 15–29 years, the mean annual rate of chlamydia/gonorrhoea testing was 25% (range: 1–59%). The mean annual rate of chlamydia positivity for clients 15–29 years was 3% (range: 0–19%) and the mean annual rate of gonorrhoea positivity was 2% (range: 0–18%). Conclusion / ImplicationsAn integrated network of STI and BBV testing and management data has been successfully established amongst ACCHSs nationally. The ATLAS network can be readily expanded and has the potential to link to other datasets using the GRHANITE™ tool. ATLAS provides a unique data infrastructure with capacity to support novel research programs as well as underpin quality improvement activities within participating sites.

The purpose of this study is to describe education for the aboriginal community in Tanah Menang, Bungku’s Village, Batanghari District, Jambi Province, Indonesia. This study employs a descriptive qualitative approach. We collected data through interviews, observations, and documents. The results found that: 1) the education for Orang Rimba in Tanah Menang provides since 2017 that focused on a base education; 2) the teacher creates the lesson material through the picture, and puzzle fixed with their environment; 3) the primary method of learning is teacher-centered, 4) the average of students age is 10 to 20 years old; 5) the learning process conveyed in bilingual, heritage language of Orang Rimba and Bahasa.

Objectives To determine preferences for health and aged care services in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and explore related factors. Methods Mixed-method, cross-sectional study including 336 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 60 years and older from regional and urban areas. Results Exclusive preference for Aboriginal Community Controlled services was most common. This preference significantly increased when preferences for, and use of, aged care and disability services were considered. The likelihood of holding an exclusive preference for Aboriginal Community Controlled services was higher in regional settings compared to urban and in those reporting lower engagement in traditional activities during childhood. Conclusions These findings suggest that the majority of older Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people prefer aged and disability care provided by Aboriginal services. Given the anticipated increase in service demand in this population, there is a growing need for culturally safe services, particularly in regional settings.

Objectives: To identify and describe chronic disease prevention programs offered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Methods: ACCHSs were identified through the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW website. Chronic disease programs were identified from the Facebook page and website of each ACCHS. Characteristics, including regions, target population, condition, health behaviour, modality and program frequency were extracted and summarised. Results: We identified 128 chronic disease programs across 32 ACCHSs. Of these, 87 (68%) programs were broad in their scope, 20 (16%) targeted youth, three (2%) targeted Elders, 16 (12%) were for females only and five (4%) were for males only. Interventions included physical activity (77, 60%), diet and nutrition (74, 58%), smoking (70, 55%), and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Check (44, 34%), with 93 programs (73%) of ongoing duration. Conclusions: Chronic disease prevention programs address chronic conditions by promoting physical activity, diet and nutrition, smoking cessation and health screening. Most target the general Aboriginal community, a few target specific groups based on gender and age, and more than one‐quarter are time‐limited. Implications for public health: Chronic disease programs that are co‐produced with specific groups, based on age and gender, may be needed.

I want the reader to engage with a number of questions. They are questions to which I provide no answers. For I see that it is not up to me to provide the answers -- the responses and the resolutions should come from the community. But how problematic is that? What and where is the community, and which community? The Aboriginal community. But we are diverse, with many languages, different country and ways of being. When Aboriginal peoples' lives are destroyed, uprooted, and displaced, the call to community is to the gathering of broken and shattered pieces. So what Aboriginal community can be pieced together in this colonising space? To take the point further, what kind of Australian community do we have in this same colonised space and to what extent does the force of homogeneity determine the evenness of the cultured landscape?...

Simple Summary Many remote Australian Aboriginal communities face barriers in accessing animal health care for their pets. A community that faces these barriers implemented a community-driven program with the objective of improving animal health and population management. The program was evaluated by comparing the percentage of animals desexed, the body and hair condition of dogs, and the presentations at the health clinic for dog bites before versus after 12 months of program implementation. Results show improved animal health measures and no measurable change in human presentations for dog bites. This program, with One Health considerations, could be suitable for other communities facing similar animal health care barriers. Abstract This study evaluated a community-driven animal health and management program in the remote community of Wadeye, Northern Territory. This evaluation used a pre-post design to assess changes in animal and human health outcomes over a 12-month period of program implementation, from June 2018 to June 2019. The evaluation assessed the program by comparing animal health outcomes before versus one year after program implementation and comparing human health outcomes before versus during the first 12 months of the program. Outcome measures included the desexing status of dogs and cats, body condition and hair score of dogs, and rates of people presenting to the health clinic for a dog bite. Animal health outcomes significantly improved after program implementation. From pre to post program, there was a 77% increase in the prevalence of good body condition score among dogs and a 9% increase in the prevalence of good hair score among dogs, and the prevalence of desexed dogs and cats more than doubled. There was no significant change in the number of people presenting to the health clinic for a dog bite. Consideration on how to further incorporate human and environmental health aspects into the program could be useful for future One Health programs.

The Two Women Dreaming project was setup to establish a health link between the centre and the Aboriginal community of La Perouse, by opening a space, in collaboration with the community, between Aboriginal healing Dreaming and Western medicine, for ways of doing wellness. The project developed understandings for culturally appropriate protocols and processes that would enable a bridge to be built between Aboriginal healing Dreaming and Western medicine. Aboriginal writers refer to the practice of listening deeply as ‘a deep contemplative process of listening to one another in reciprocal relationships’. In 2002, the authors painted the story of Two Women Dreaming at one of their community women’s healing retreats. The two rivers in the painting depict the cultures of Aboriginal healing Dreaming and Western medicine walking side by side as they share the ways that the two healings can complement each other and then come together in the ocean.

This chapter explores the relationship between Christian choral singing, Australian Aboriginal identities, age and wellbeing, drawing on an ethnomusicological applied, practice research project undertaken in collaboration with the Lutheran Australian Aboriginal community of Hopevale, Northern Queensland in 2004-2005. The ethnomusicological field data are complemented by theory and research published in different disciplines showing how singing can positively influence wellbeing cross-culturally. It will also show how age, as a variable, impacts the efficacy of choral singing in promoting wellbeing in an Australian Indigenous Christian context.

BackgroundThere is strong evidence from many settings that tobacco tax rises which increase prices reduce tobacco consumption, but only limited evidence from Indigenous settings.MethodsWe analysed 3 years (2016–2018) of weekly sales data from 32 stores in remote Aboriginal communities. We used interrupted time series analysis to estimate the immediate impact of the price rice following annual 12.5% tobacco tax rises on sales on (A) stick equivalents of tobacco and (B) fruit and vegetables (kg) per $A1000 of grocery sales, and on the trend in sales between price rises.ResultsWe detected 5.8% and 8.2% immediate declines in tobacco sales following the price rises associated with annual 12.5% tax rises in 2016 and 2018, and a non-significant decline (1.6%) following the 2017 tax rise. Decreased sales were mainly driven by declines in mainstream and premium factory-made cigarettes. Fruit and vegetable sales did not change at the time of tobacco price rises.ConclusionFor the first time, we demonstrated evidence of price-sensitivity and the immediate impact of price rises from tobacco tax rises on tobacco sales in remote Aboriginal communities. We acknowledge that Australia already has very high tobacco taxation and prices, but recommend further increases to the taxation of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco to prevent smokers and industry using cheaper RYO cigarettes to undermine this impact of high tobacco taxes and prices.

A 19-year-old Australian Indigenous woman presented after suffering a ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest whilst swimming, leading to near drowning, in a remote Aboriginal community of South Au...

Simple Summary A systematic review process was used to identify the current global cat population management practices for owned, free-roaming cat populations, particularly those suited to remote Indigenous communities in Australia. Based on this review, a combination of three methods is recommended. The first method, Surgical Sterilisation (SS), requires owners to take their socialised cats to a facility for surgical sterilisation and then take them home. The second method, Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) traps, neuters (sterilises) and returns healthy owned cats, which are unsocialised to the point where trapping is necessary, to their homes, and the third method, Trap-Remove (TR), traps and removes unwanted social cats via adoption and unhealthy cats via euthanasia. Conducting these three methods together over a long-term period appears to be consistent with current global best practice for humane and ethical management of cat populations in these communities. Abstract Pet domestic cat (Felis catus) populations are increasing all around the world, resulting in an increase in contact with humans and wildlife, potentially spreading zoonotic diseases and predating on wildlife. With the recently identified rise in cat populations in remote Indigenous communities in Australia, culturally appropriate cat population management strategies are required. A systematic review process was conducted to review the current global cat population management practices that are suitable for owned, free-roaming cat populations in these communities. Eight articles on in-situ field cat populations and five studies simulating computer modelled cat populations reported results of 66 population management interventions. Surgical Sterilisation (SS) was used in all socialised owned cat articles. The trap–neuter–release (TNR) method was used most frequently on unsocialised cats and gained the best results when the trap–remove (TR) method was used concurrently to adopt out unwanted social cats and euthanise ill or injured cats. The results of this review suggest that long-term TNR/SS programs supplemented with TR provide the current most ethically sound best practice, humane method of managing cat populations in remote Australian Indigenous communities. It is also recognised that no one plan will fit all, and that further research on the micro-level techniques used to deploy both TNR and TR needs to occur, and that culturally appropriate community consultation during all processes is vital in achieving a sustainable management program.

Aboriginal community owned and run businesses have proven to instigate social and political change for Aboriginal communities in Australia, and the nation as a whole. Integral to this change is recognition of the enduring effects of colonisation and realisation of social, cultural and identity capital as valid forms of economic contribution.

This chapter reflects on the successes, and challenges, of teaching Aboriginal languages through the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector in South Australia (SA) over the last seven years. In 2011 a newly developed, and nationally “accredited course” was first offered through the TAFE sector in SA: the Certificate III in Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language. Since then we have celebrated the graduation of 37 Aboriginal adults with their Certificate III drawn from five Aboriginal languages currently being revived, as well as the only stronger language still spoken fluently in SA—Pitjantjatjara. Fourteen of these Certificate III graduates have gone on to complete their Certificate IV in Teaching an Endangered Aboriginal Language. The Certificate IV aims to give graduates the skills to teach their own languages to others in schools, at TAFE and in the university sector. This training has been ongoing, now through Tauondi Aboriginal Community College, with the newly accredited Certificate III. In August 2019, a further 25 students graduated with their Certificate III, representing two languages being revived.