Search

The principal purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the utilitarian and symbolic significance of koalas for Aboriginal communities in Queensland, Australia as recorded by colonists during the early period of colonization and the early twentieth century. It does this primarily through a close examination of the nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century archival records and contemporary publications that relate to Queensland Aboriginal peoples' associations with koalas. This paper is the third in a series investigating the historic and cultural importance of the koala according to the location in Australia. It likewise employs the historical method approach, which relies on identifying historical sources, evaluating their relative authority, and combining their testimony appropriately in order to construct an accurate and reliable picture of past events and environments. Through a critique of the published historical sources, the distribution of and the etymology of "koala" are briefly discussed before an examination is made of the animal's spiritual importance, associated cultural traditions, and simultaneous utilitarian role. Mirroring previous studies published by the authors on Victoria and New South Wales, we confirm that the predominately non-Aboriginal historical records reveal that koalas were hunted for food and their skin in some Queensland regions. It shall be seen that the ethno-historical records are inconclusive about the koala's distribution in Queensland, whether they were hunted across all of the state at the point of colonization and whether they were considered an integral food source in some regions. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the extent to which they were used varied across regions and between language groups and was subject to certain rules, and that their spiritual significance can be traced directly to epic creation stories. The implications of this paper are consistent with the earlier New South Wales and Victorian studies: regional variations exist in Queensland in relation to the (pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial) historic relationship between Aboriginal communities and koalas and that close consultation with Aboriginal communities needs to be taken into consideration when planning conservation measures relating to koalas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Wild Australia Show' was a travelling troupe of Aboriginal performers who, during 1892-93, performed in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne where they were photographed by leading studio portraitists of the time. The vast majority of the over 160 collected photos of the troupe are very poorly provenanced, with the performers' names and language group identities often inaccurately spelt partly due to being initially mis-heard and mis-pronounced; and in a proportion of cases photos are non-provenanced. This paper contains an introduction to the photographs, names and group identities of the 27 Aboriginal participants who were drawn from the Queensland frontiers, with a description of the methodology of how their identities were derived from a complex, contradictory, but ethnographically limited corpus of data. This research in visual anthropology represents a contribution to correcting the often ethnocentric and racist legacy of colonial Indigenous museum collections - the failure to recognise and acknowledge basic human identity and familial and social affiliations amongst First Nations peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prevalence of life-limiting conditions in children in Australia is unknown; such data are needed to inform health service planning for paediatric palliative care. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of life-limiting conditions for children and young people aged 0–21 years living in Queensland, Australia. Methods: An observational study using linked administrative health data from the 2011 and 2016 calendar years was performed for all individuals with an International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision Australian Modification code relating to a life-limiting condition eligible for palliative care recorded against an admission to a public or private hospital and health service provider in Queensland or against a cause or underlying cause of death in the Queensland Registrar General Deaths. Results: The overall prevalence of life-limiting conditions per 10 000 population increased from 35.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 34.2–36.2) in 2011 to 43.2 (95% CI 42.1–44.4) in 2016. This increase in prevalence was greatest for children <1 year of age and for those who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Conclusion: This study has estimated the prevalence of life-limiting conditions for children and young people aged 0–21 years living in Queensland. Estimation of the number of children and young people with life-limiting conditions can inform health service planning for paediatric palliative care in Queensland. Future research is needed to identify the number of children and young people with life-limiting conditions who do not have an admitted episode. What is known about the topic?: Data from the UK indicate that the prevalence of life-limiting conditions among children and young people is increasing. However, such data are not available for the Australian population. Because prevalence data can be affected by population characteristics, it is important to establish country-specific epidemiological data rather than extrapolating data from other countries. Country-specific data can inform health planners and policy makers of the scale of the problem within a geographical and demographic context. This is essential for Australia given the diverse geographical and demographic characteristics and specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. What does this paper add?: This study is the first to provide an estimate of the prevalence of life-limiting conditions in children and young people aged 0–21 years in Queensland. Estimates include the prevalence of life-limiting conditions in children and young people who identify as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent. What are the implications for practitioners?: The prevalence of life-limiting conditions in Queensland is greater than previously thought. There is a need to grow both a generalist and specialist paediatric palliative care workforce in response to this increasing prevalence. The estimates of prevalence proportions from this study provide the foundation on which future health service activities can be built because they provide country-specific clinical and demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop an effective digital survey instrument incorporating images to investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander preferences for health clinics and hospitals, design of healthcare settings and the differences between inner regional and remote locations. Methods: Design-related constructs developed from qualitative interviews informed the construction of healthcare setting images. These images were embedded in an online survey instrument to elicit data on design preferences and an area-based recruitment strategy ensured participation by Indigenous Australians from three Queensland locations. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the odds of preference for a healthcare setting design by location. Results: Statistical analysis of data from 602 participants showed a preference for health care at an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clinic. The odds of preference for an in-patient room with a two- versus single-bed design was greater for participants with less education, and lower for participants with a long-term health problem. Conclusions: The multidisciplinary approach to developing an online survey instrument with images and the willingness of Indigenous people of all ages to engage with the images demonstrated the effectiveness of this method in providing robust evidence for the design of culturally appropriate healthcare spaces for Indigenous users. What is known about the topic?: Evidence-based research influences the design of healthcare buildings, yet the field currently provides negligible evidence on cross-cultural perceptions or experiences of conventional modern hospitals and clinics. Although recent healthcare buildings show signs of acknowledging Indigenous users, general principles in the Australian Health Facility Guidelines give limited specific information about how cultural requirements may translate into architectural design. What does this paper add?: The multidisciplinary approach to research design has enabled the development of healthcare design-related constructs from consultation with Indigenous people, the presentation of these constructs as images and the inclusion of these images for comparison and selection in a digital survey instrument. Combined with a culturally appropriate recruitment strategy, this survey provides evidence from a large sample of the Indigenous population. Selected results from analyses of survey responses show the capacity of the methodological approach to address broader questions about Indigenous preferences for healthcare settings by location, age and sex. What are the implications for practitioners?: A focus on individual preferences related to healthcare clinics and the combined significance of design and setting can give practitioners a better understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's preferences and suggest ways to reduce the incidence of poor engagement with healthcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second part of a paper that explores a range of magico-religious experiences such as immaterial voices and visions, in terms of local cultural, moral and socio-political circumstances in an Aboriginal town in rural Queensland. This part of the paper explores the political and cultural symbolism and meaning of suicide. It charts the saliency of suicide amongst two groups of kin and cohorts and the social meaningfulness and problematic of the voices and visions in relation to suicide, to identity and family forms and to funerals and a heavily drinking lifestyle.I argue that voices and visions are used to reinterpret social experience and to establish meaning and that tragically suicide evokes connectivity rather than anomie and here cannot be understood merely as an individualistic act or evidence of individual pathology. Rather it is about transformation and crossing a threshold to join an enduring domain of Aboriginality. In this life world, where family is the highest social value and where a relational view of persons holds sway, the individualistic practice of psychiatric and other helping professions, is a considerable problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This two part paper considers the experience of a range of magico-religious experiences (such as visions and voices) and spirit beliefs in a rural Aboriginal town. The papers challenge the tendency of institutionalised psychiatry to medicalise the experiences and critiques the way in which its individualistic practice is intensified in the face of an incomprehensible Aboriginal 'other' to become part of the power imbalance that characterises the relationship between Indigenous and white domains. The work reveals the internal differentiation and politics of the Aboriginal domain, as the meanings of these experiences and actions are contested and negotiated by the residents and in so doing they decentre the concerns of the white domain and attempt to control their relationship with it. Thus the plausibility structure that sustains these multiple realities reflects both accommodation and resistance to the material and historical conditions imposed and enacted by mainstream society on the residents, and to current socio-political realities. I conclude that the residents' narratives chart the grounds of moral adjudication as the experiences were rarely conceptualised by local people as signs of individual pathology but as reflections of social reality. Psychiatric drug therapy and the behaviourist assumptions underlying its practice posit atomised individuals as the appropriate site of intervention as against the multiple realities revealed by the phenomenology of the experiences. The papers thus call into question Australian mainstream 'commonsense' that circulates about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which justifies representations of them as sickly outcasts in Australian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an ethnographic exploration of the assertion of a 'Barkindji style' art: why this matters and to whom it matters. Focusing particularly on the Darling River area of Wilcannia and on the period from the 1980s to the present, the increasing interest in art-making by local Aboriginal people is considered. Through a dialogue with artists, artworks, and others, the work examines the changing form, design and content of art and the rote of art in defining ideas of Barkindji Aboriginal culture and tradition. Invocations by key cultural brokers to produce work that is seen to 'belong to us' is explored in terms of the cultural, political, and personal work that this involves; particularly as this intersects with ideas of artistic freedoms versus artistic direction by cultural brokers. The paper discusses the personal considerations and tensions that come to bear in the processes connected with production of art and its making. In so doing, this paper engages with, and extends, the work of Tacon et al. (2003), Cooper (1994), Kleinert (1994) and Morphy (2001) as this pertains to art 'styles' and material culture from what is widely referred to as south-eastern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been limited sustained analysis of the lived reality of citizenship amongst Indigenous Australians exempted from protectionist legislation last century. Through examining the diaries of Daisy Smith, this paper explores how her household, exempted from such legislation in Queensland, experienced citizenship during the 1940s and early 1950s. The diaries show that Daisy Smith and her family exercised civil, political and social rights of citizenship, enjoyed meaningful lives and had a sense of belonging to the Australian nation. However, they also show that Daisy Smith constantly worked hard to uphold the conditions of exemption and protect her family's exempted Aboriginal status. These conditions required the Smith family to deny and relinquish all connection with their Indigenous heritage and embrace the dominant Anglo-Celtic culture or risk losing exemption. In this way, their inclusion in the Australian nation and enjoyment of citizenship rights were conditional upon them being manifestly normative Anglo-Celtic citizens. Their experience of citizenship was by its nature restrictive and coercive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language attitudes can be positive or negative, and can have both positive and negative effects on language revival/survival, depending on how deeply ingrained the attitude may be in the holder's mind. Some attitudes are changeable and others are not. Often, a person may not recognise that they hold a certain attitude, until circumstances call it to the surface. This paper considers language revival scenarios in Australian Aboriginal language communities to explore where language attitudes can have an impact. Communal attitudes may oppose the revival of languages without living speakers, or may promote the idea that revival is impossible. Two examples of language revival in Australia are discussed, namely the Badjala (Butchulla) language programme in south-east Queensland, and the Jingulu and Mudburra programme in Elliott, a remote community in the Northern Territory. Attitudinal challenges for revival programmes are examined, as well as types of support needed for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a larger study, this paper reports on findings into risk and protective factors associated with gambling products and services by Indigenous Australians. Both Indigenous card gambling (traditional or unregulated) and commercial gambling (regulated) were investigated. Permission was granted by Indigenous Elders and by a university ethics committee to conduct this research. Using qualitative methods and purposeful sampling, interviews were conducted with 60 Indigenous and 14 non-Indigenous Australians, 14 non-Indigenous gambling help counsellors and 20 non-Indigenous gaming venue managers. Risk factors include gambling availability and familiarity, the use of non-monetary stakes and traditional exchange systems, venue comfort, social inclusiveness and ignoring cultural relationship restrictions. Protective factors include limiting physical and social access to gambling, self-regulated social group gambling and engagement with collective culture. From a public health stance, inclusive responsible gambling policies designed around access may assist Indigenous gamblers in more appropriate and meaningful ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mornington Island Mission in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia, was a site of historical engagement between Aboriginal people and missionaries. In this paper, we apply the theoretical concepts of “domains” and the “intercultural” to the investigation of this engagement between 1914 and 1942, when the mission was overseen by the Reverend Robert Wilson. Through the examination of the removal of Aboriginal children, the establishment of a mission compound and Aboriginal camp and the inclusion of Aboriginal adults into the mission compound through production and economy, we show how mutually constituted domains operated. At the same time, the interaction between Aboriginal adults and children with missionaries within these domains was increasingly intercultural in nature. Thus, both “domains” and the “intercultural” are shown to have relevance to the historical case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analysing a multi-dimensional urban Australian Aboriginal identity performance, this paper identifies and problematises commonplace cultural assumptions about the constitution of humour as a form of anxiety release, and the understanding of humour as cloaking aggression. It raises analytical questions about how identity construction illuminates complex links among anxiety, weakness and laughter as well as links among humour, repair and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the colonial encapsulation and post-colonial recognition of North Queensland's Aboriginal population have been achieved through legislative demarcation. This paper explores the way such demarcation has extended the influence of the state within local Aboriginal life-worlds, focusing on the State of Queensland's Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 and the Commonwealth's Native Title Act 1993. Drawing on ethnographic and historical material from Central Cape York Peninsula, and recent anthropological theorization of the state, I argue that anthropologists need to seriously consider Aboriginal claims about what Michel-Roiph Trouillot calls 'state effects'. But careful examination of these claims suggests that the state no longer simply imposes its projects on fundamentally distinct Aboriginal life-worlds. Not only is the state now deeply engaged within these life-worlds, it is also deeply interwoven into post-colonial Aboriginal subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech-language pathologists' (SLP) management practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults with acquired communication disorder (ACD), following stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), are not well understood. This study explores SLPs' management approaches for ACDs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults post-stroke or TBI. SLPs' documented notes were analysed from a two-year retrospective medical record review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults (≥18 years), admitted to a regional Queensland hospital with principal diagnoses of stroke or TBI. SLPs frequently used informal approaches to assess ACDs. English-language formal assessment tools were also used in conjunction with the informal approaches. ACD diagnosis was more common in stroke than TBI patients. One-third of patients with ACD received inpatient rehabilitation at the study site. SLPs infrequently documented cultural or linguistic adaptions to assessment or interventions. Informal approaches to assess ACDs were commonly employed which may be because they are perceived to be more culturally appropriate. Clinical guidelines for stroke and TBI should accommodate the diversity of cultures and languages. Better consideration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communication styles and incorporation of these into SLP ACD management approaches may facilitate accurate diagnosis and culturally safe rehabilitation services. Informal approaches for assessment and intervention of ACDs, that incorporate yarning and salient tasks, are likely to be more culturally appropriate and safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. More flexibility and guidance in the use of culturally and linguistically appropriate alternative assessment approaches are required in the National stroke guidelines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The adoption of enhanced models of culturally secure ACD service provision, that incorporate frequent SLP engagement with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander support person during assessment and rehabilitation, are needed. There is an imperative for health professionals to actively account for culture and language difference in rehabilitation practices to ensure Indigenous peoples worldwide receive equitable and culturally-responsive services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rugby league flourished in the Aboriginal settlements run by the Queensland government in the 1920s and 1930s, as officials relaxed policies of segregation and isolation to allow Aboriginal teams to travel within the state. Revenue from the games, at times significant sums, went to government trust accounts and not directly to the settlements. Available data on this sporting income and government spending policies reveals an exploitative system, ethically comparable to Stolen Wages and reflecting the dispossession of Aboriginal Queenslanders in this era. While sport bolstered community pride, these exploitative dimensions qualify its contribution to Aboriginal wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) play a critical role in providing culturally appropriate, accessible primary healthcare (PHC) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. The success of many ACCHSs has led to increased policy support for their growth and development, including the transition of state government administered PHC services to Aboriginal community control in select communities. However, there is minimal published literature available which evaluates such transitions. This paper reports on an evaluation of one ACCHS (Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service)'s experience of transitioning local PHC services to community control in Yarrabah, Queensland, with a focus on the processes and strategies which were implemented to achieve successful transition. Methods: Data was collected from interviews with key personnel involved in the transition and organisational documents from the evaluation period. Face-to-face or telephone interviews were conducted with 14 key stakeholders, audio-recorded and transcribed with written consent. Historical organisational documents were provided by Gurriny. All interview transcripts and documents were imported into NVIVO, coded and analysed using grounded theory methods. Results: Gurriny's journey of achieving community control of PHC in Yarrabah entailed an almost 30 year process of building and demonstrating organisational capacity. The first stage (1986 to 2004) was focused on establishing and developing a community-controlled health service and the second stage (2005–14) on preparing for the transition. Formal handover occurred in June 2014. Stage one strategies included: addressing community social and emotional wellbeing; consulting the community; collaborating with researchers; and, strategically building services, organisation capacity and stakeholder trust. Stage two strategies were: communicating and engaging with stakeholders; ensuring strong governance; planning and developing the services and workforce; assuring quality; and, financial planning, management and modelling. Conclusion: Achieving successful transition to community control of PHC for Gurriny entailed a lengthy process of substantial, ongoing organisational growth and development. Gurriny's experience provides a framework for both governments and the ACCHS sector to inform future transitions of PHC services to Aboriginal community control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aboriginal peoples have occupied the island continent of Australia for millennia. Over 500 different clan groups or nations with distinctive cultures, beliefs, and languages have learnt to live sustainably and harmoniously with nature. They have developed an intimate and profound relationship with the environment, and their use of native plants in food and medicine is largely determined by the environment they lived in. Over 1511 plant species have been recorded as having been used medicinally in Australia. Most of these medicinal plants were recorded from the Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia. Not much has yet been reported on Aboriginal medicinal plants of Queensland. Therefore, the main aim of this review is to collect the literature on the medicinal plants used by Aboriginal peoples of Queensland and critically assess their ethnopharmacological uses. Methods: The information used in this review was collected from archival material and uploaded into the Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre (TIEC) database. Archival material included botanist's journals/books and old hard copy books. Scientific names of the medicinal plant species were matched against the 'World Flora Online Plant List', and 'Australian Plant Census' for currently accepted species names to avoid repetition. An oral traditional medical knowledge obtained through interviewing traditional knowledge holders (entered in the TIEC database) has not been captured in this review to protect their knowledge. Results: This review identified 135 species of Queensland Aboriginal medicinal plants, which belong to 103 genera from 53 families, with Myrtaceae being the highest represented plant family. While trees represented the biggest habit, leaves were the most commonly used plant parts. Of 62 different diseases treated by the medicinal plants, highest number of plants are used for treating skin sores and infections. Few plants identified through this review can be found in other tropical countries but many of these medicinal plants are native to Australia. Many of these medicinal plants are also used as bush food by Aboriginal peoples. Conclusion: Through extensive literature review, we found that 135 medicinal plants native to Queensland are used for treating 62 different diseases, especially skin infections. Since these medicinal plants are also used as bush food and are rarely studied using the Western scientific protocols, there is a huge potential for bioprospecting and bush food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is obviously a part of this story, yet as John Connor notes (2004), the tactics and objectives of Aboriginal fighters are more often presumed than investigated. Thus Aboriginal resistance is generally portrayed as parochial, half-hearted and devoid of long-term planning. The usual image is a handful of warriors pitifully tossing some spears – a hopeless prelude to wholesale massacre. The implication is that Aboriginal groups were incapable of collaborating or of mounting effective, inventive, planned resistance. In this paper, the author investigates Laurie's and Cilento's remarkable assertion (1959) that during the 1840s-1860s an alliance of at least a dozen Aboriginal groups openly declared war in southern Queensland and conducted a highly effective 'Black War' that temporarily impeded settlement. The author examines whether such a 'state of war' was recognized at the time, and whether there is sufficient evidence to conclude that intergroup collaboration, inventive strategies and broader military objectives were at work. The author utilizes definitions from guerilla and terrorist conflict (e.g. Eckley 2001, Kilcullen 2009) and identifies tactics, planning and objectives. He challenges the claims of military historians such as Dennis (1995) that Aboriginal strategies were devoid of innovation. Instead, the author notes the use of new materials, a move away from pitched battles and the development of 'guerilla bands'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The stillbirth rate for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infants remains higher than non‐Indigenous rates. Risks for stillbirth include maternal factors such as ethnicity, age, geographic location, and physical health. Fetal risk factors include gestational age, birthweight and congenital anomalies. The total stillbirth rate for all babies born at the Townsville University Hospital during the study period was 11 per 1000 births. Aims: To identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stillbirth rates, risk factors and causes in North Queensland. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart audit was conducted to identify Indigenous women who had experienced stillbirth in the Townsville University Hospital between January 2005 and December 2014. Results: Thirty‐two charts were available for audit. The stillbirth rate for non‐Indigenous infants was 10.3 per 1000 births. The stillbirth rate for Indigenous infants was 11.7 per 1000 births. Almost half of the women lived in rural, remote or very remote areas. Maternal risk factors included poorer physical health, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking, fertility issues and lack of antenatal care. Fetal risk factors included congenital anomalies, including cardiac and skeletal abnormalities, placental disorders, and preterm birth. Conclusions: Stillbirth risk remains higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their babies. Supporting women to enhance their health is paramount, particularly during pregnancy. Further, increasing awareness of stillbirth risk factors through education for both women and healthcare professionals will support culturally responsive care for women and their families to mitigate stillbirth risk and enhance pregnancy outcomes in non‐urban Queensland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses coexistence among aboriginal people, social change and land rights in Northern Queensland. Factors affecting negotiations between aborigines and pastoralists over land use agreements; Provisions of the Aborigines Protection and Control of Opium Act 1897; Developments related to native titles.

Purpose: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diagnosed with cancer are known to experience poorer survival, with these survival disparities mainly restricted to the first 2 years after diagnosis. With improved accuracy and completeness of identifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over the whole study period, our goal was to examine whether the survival disparity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples diagnosed with cancer in Queensland has changed over time.Methods: Population-based data from the Queensland Cancer Register between 1998 and 2017 for Queenslanders aged 15 years and over at diagnosis (n = 377,963; 1.6% Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) were used to determine whether this disparity has reduced over time. Flexible parametric survival models incorporating time-varying coefficients were used to examine the association between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status and cancer-specific survival within 5 years of diagnosis.Results: The adjusted 5-year cancer-specific survival rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people diagnosed with cancer increased from 60.5% (95% CI 59.2-61.9%) in 1998-2007 to 65.5% (95% CI 64.3-66.6%) in 2008-2017, with the corresponding estimates for other Queenslanders being 66.6% (95% CI 66.4-66.8%) and 70.1% (95% CI 69.9-70.3%). The survival disparity was significant only for the first 3 years since diagnosis for 1998-2007; however, it was significantly (p ≤ 0.02) elevated for all five time intervals for 2008-2017, with similar average hazard ratios (95% CIs) over the 5-year interval after diagnosis of 1.45 (1.36-1.55) for 1998-2007 and 1.42 (1.34-1.50) for 2008-2017.Conclusion: Although survival has increased over time, the lack of improvement in the disparity in cancer survival experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer patients highlights the urgent need to better understand the multifaceted and completed factors that underlie this gap to guide targeted, evidence-based interventions and support their implementation across the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the prevalence of dementia and problems associated with ageing in the Torres Strait. Methods: The study was conducted across all 18 island and 5 mainland communities in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area of Far North Queensland. Participants underwent a comprehensive health assessment and a Geriatrician assessment, which were used to establish consensus diagnoses. Results: A total of 276 Torres Strait residents aged between 45 and 93 participated in the study. The prevalence of dementia in the sample was 14.2%, which was 2.87 times higher than the wider Australian population. Conclusion: Torres Strait Islander peoples share the increased risk of dementia seen in Aboriginal Australians compared to the wider community. This highlights the need for interventions to address this increased dementia risk for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This biographical study concerns a Kaurareg man named Gida (c.1849-1899), who resided on Muralag (Prince of Wales Island), in Torres Strait in the late nineteenth century. It is part of a larger research project on the so-called 'Meston's Wild Australia' or 'Wild Australia Show' of 1892-93 which was conceived by Queensland entrepreneur Archibald Meston. Meston conscripted a travelling troupe of Aboriginal people from the Queensland frontier whom he presented to the public as 'wild' but 'magnificent' both physically and in relation to particular skilled customs, yet doomed to extinction, being in the 'dying days of their race'. The tour climax was planned to be their appearance at the Chicago World Fair in late 1893, but the troupe were left stranded by Meston in Melbourne. The aim here is to provide a longitudinal and culturally informed account of Gida's life, with understanding of a range of critical life events, in addition to those that projected him into the Wild Australia Show and allowed him to return triumphant from the tour. Gida became renowned as a leader being referred to as both a 'King' and by the ignominious name of 'Tarbucket', titles reflecting the ethnocentric colonial construction of the 'other' as both a romanticised primitive, partly of the 'wild', yet simultaneously a faithful servant of the state, shaped as such by the emerging Aboriginal policies. Gida and his co-performers were conscripted from Kiwain village on Muralag. Gida had fled here as a young man after another village had been attacked and 'razed' in c.1870 by a punitive expedition led by Frank Jardine of Somerset settlement on Cape York, in which a significant number of his tribespeople were slaughtered for allegedly head-hunting the crew of a wrecked ship. An analysis of this phase of history more readily explains the personal and socio-economic impacts on Gida and the Kaurareg people, before tracing the later fate of Gida and the ongoing inter-generational trauma of his descendants as acknowledgement by their contemporary leader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study estimated the incidence of major amputation for people in North Queensland, Australia, examined changes in amputation rates over time and investigated survival after major amputation. Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who underwent a major amputation above the ankle between 2000 and 2015. Major amputation rates and incidence rate ratios (IRR) were calculated using census data to define the at-risk population. Associations between risk factors and calendar year with major amputation were assessed using quasipoisson regression. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox-proportional hazard analyses estimated the incidence of and risk factors for all-cause mortality. Results: The annual incidence of major amputation was estimated to be greater in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders than non-Indigenous people (IRR 2.75, 95 % CI 1.92 to 3.84). After adjusting for population growth, the annual incidence of major amputations did not change significantly over time for either groups. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were at greater risk of all-cause mortality after major amputation compared to non-Indigenous people, although this association was not significant after adjusting for other risk factors (hazard ratio 1.24, 95 % CI 0.82 to 1.90). Conclusions: The incidence of major amputation in North Queensland has not reduced over time, indicating the need for better preventative treatments, particularly in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population more than doubled in size between 1996 and 2016. Growth was highest in urban areas and lower in rural and remote areas. An important contributor to growth was identification change, whereby individuals report their Aboriginal status differently over time. Official population projections in Australia currently do not incorporate this phenomenon, leading to underestimation of future populations which affects policies, targets and planning for demand‐based services. We outline a new projection model to improve subnational estimates of future regional population growth by endogenizing identification change and Aboriginal/non‐Aboriginal childbearing. Results suggest that growth will be higher than currently projected, especially in urban‐dominated regions in New South Wales and Queensland where identification change is projected to account for more than 50% of growth. There will also be considerable population ageing, which has implications for services and policies relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social justice from an Aboriginal perspective is about treating everyone affordably with the same rights, access and opportunities, showing respect and embracing all cultures within the community. It is essential that services and organisations create an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and practices to be acknowledged and embedded into planning and delivery of effective and efficient services. This would enable a more client-friendly and culturally appropriate service that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could access. Research indicates that Aboriginal people who have access to services that are culturally sensitive, close to where they live, staffed by Aboriginal health professionals, non-racist, where people are acknowledged as true owners of their land and culture, and where beliefs and traditions are respected and accepted would have healthier communities. In light of the above, research was undertaken to explore and identify the different types of health and counselling services in a rural and remote community in south west Queensland. The methodology used for this research integrated both a quantitative and qualitative approach, researching the services that existed through focus groups. There were a total of twenty-seven (27) participants recruited for the research. From the data collected and analysed, the themes identified were: racism and discrimination, beliefs, attitudes and misconceptions, leadership, and culture. For the purpose of this paper, racism and discrimination will be discussed in relation to health service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Early childhood anaemia, usually attributed to iron deficiency, is associated with persistent detrimental effects on child development. This study investigates the association of anaemia between age six and 23 months with indicators of childhood development at school‐age among children of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Far North Queensland. Methods: The triennial Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) encompasses five domains of early childhood development—physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills (school‐based), communication skills and general knowledge. AEDC 2012 and 2015 assessments were linked with health information for children and their mothers from remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Far North Queensland. Results: AEDC assessments were available for 250 children who had measurements of haemoglobin recorded at age 6 to 23 months. More children who had had early childhood anaemia (n = 66/143, 46.2%, [37.9%, 54.4%]) were developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains compared to those who had not been anaemic (n = 25/107, 23.4% [15.2%, 31.5%], P <.001). Multivariable analysis confirmed that early childhood anaemia more than doubled the risk of developmental vulnerability (OR 2.2 [1.1, 4.3] P =.020) at school age. Conclusions: Early childhood anaemia is a risk factor for developmental vulnerability at school‐age in this setting. Interventions combining nutrition promotion and multi‐micronutrient food fortification, are effective in prevention of early childhood anaemia. Such interventions could also improve early childhood development and subsequent educational achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among adolescent and young adult (AYA) females worldwide, but epidemiological patterns unique to this group are often obscured when results are combined with older patients. This study investigates breast cancer incidence and survival among AYA females, including differences by broad stage at diagnosis. Methods: A retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted using de-identified data for females in Queensland, Australia, aged 15–39 diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer between 1997 and 2014 with follow-up to December 31, 2016. Incidence rate trends were examined with Joinpoint analysis. Cause-specific survival was calculated for key characteristics, and 5-year adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated from a multivariable flexible parametric model. Results: The study cohort comprised 2337 patients, of whom two-thirds (n = 1565, 67%) were diagnosed with advanced disease (tumor diameter >20 mm, lymph node involvement or presence of distant metastases at diagnosis). Incidence rates of localized tumors decreased by 1.9% per year (95% confidence interval [CI] −3.5% to −0.4%) over the study period, whereas the trend for advanced breast cancers remained stable. Five-year cause-specific survival increased from 85% to 92% for 2011–2014 compared to 1997–2001 (adjusted HR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.29–0.65). Patients who were Indigenous from disadvantaged areas or diagnosed with advanced stage experienced significantly worse survival. Conclusion: The high proportion of younger females diagnosed with advanced breast cancer should be the focus of future campaigns to improve awareness and earlier detection. While survival has increased over time, further work is required to ensure that this progress is experienced equitably by all patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is now evidence linking antibiotic burden in infancy and subsequent risk factors for cardiometabolic disease. In this study we assessed the metabolic health of a community-based cohort of Aboriginal Australians aged 15–25 years and retrospectively examined their early childhood antibiotic burden to identify a possible link between the two. Metabolic health data were extracted from electronic files of 433 participants in prior Young Persons Checks between 2013 and 2016. More than one-third were overweight or obese. Males had more metabolic syndrome than females (20.6% vs 10%; P = 0.03). Metabolic syndrome was twice as common in the 20- to 25-year age group than in the 15- to 19-year age group (19.8% vs 9.7%; P < 0.001). A subsequent medical chart review focused on childhood infections and the antibiotic burden of participants in the Young Persons Check from birth to 15 years of age. Nearly 75% were prescribed antibiotics during their first 2 years of life and 29% were exposed four or more times. Childhood antibiotic burden decreased with age. This population of Aboriginal adolescents and young adults has high rates of antibiotic exposure in childhood and metabolic abnormalities. We did not find a correlation between the two within the cohort, potentially demonstrating a ceiling effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To establish the point prevalence of cognitive impairment among a representative group of homeless people in Cairns. The sample included a large number of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Method: This research was conducted among an opportunistic sample of participants residing in a homeless shelter. An interview administered cross‐sectional survey was conducted with 60 participants over 12 weeks. The Kimberly Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA‐Cog) and a clinical diagnosis by a psychiatrist (using DSM‐V criteria) were used to establish cognitive impairment. The 36‐item version of the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Survey 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) was employed to ascertain limitations in daily living activities. Results: Seventy‐five percent of participants were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Thirty‐five percent of the sample had a cognitive impairment based on the KICA‐cog while over 70% of the sample had a cognitive impairment based on clinical criteria. Being screened for dementia or global cognitive impairment according to the KICA‐Cog was significantly correlated with having greater difficulty across the following WHODAS domains: understanding or communicating, self‐care, and life activities. Conclusions: Many people who are homeless have a cognitive impairment and this impairment impacts their ability to participate in society. A shift in practice is necessary to support homeless populations with a high proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. It is important that culturally appropriate methods—focusing on cognitive health—are employed to support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people who are homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heavy cannabis use in remote Indigenous Australian communities potentially contributes to existing health disparities. Community members' perceptions of cannabis harms will support harm-minimization in these settings. Objective: To describe perceived cannabis harms reported by a cohort of Indigenous Australians living in small, isolated communities as an indication of their existing resources for change. Method: Inductive thematic analysis of 407 semi-structured interviews with participants in a cohort study in three remote communities in Cape York in far north Queensland (Australia) revealed major areas of concern about cannabis. Three attitudinal categories were defined according to reported cannabis impacts and urgency for change: 1- "LOW CONCERN" said cannabis was a low priority community issue; 2- "SOME CONCERN" tolerated cannabis use but identified personal or community-level concerns; and 3- "HIGH CONCERN" expressed strong aversion to cannabis and identified serious personal or community-level harms. The characteristics and the patterns of concerns were summarized across the groups. Results: "Category 1- LOW CONCERN" (n = 107), mostly current users, emphasized personal "financial impacts" and "stress." "Category 2 – SOME CONCERN" (n = 141) perceived community level impacts warranting systematic action, particularly on "employment"; and "Category 3 – HIGH CONCERN" (n = 159), most of the never users, emphasized concerns for families and youth. Irrespective of use history, the cohort reported financial and abstinence-related stress, overlapping alcohol issues and generally endorsed alleviating impacts on children and youth. Conclusion: Nearly ubiquitous experience with cannabis harms and impacts in this cohort suggests resources for harm reduction including family and cultural obligation, stress relief, financial management, and engagement are available across all community members, not just users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to describe incidence rates (IRs) of low-speed vehicle run-over events among children aged 0 to 14 years in Queensland, Australia, from 1999 to 2009, by Indigenous Australian status. Data on low-speed vehicle run-over events among children aged 0 to 14 years in Queensland were obtained for 11 calendar years (1999-2009) from all relevant data sources using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes, text description, word searches, and medical notes and were manually linked. Crude fatal and nonfatal IRs were calculated for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children; trends over time were analyzed by chi-square test for trend. Relative risks (RRs) were also calculated. Data on demographics, health service usage/outcomes, incident characteristics, and injury characteristics were obtained. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed in order to investigate whether these characteristics varied with Indigenous status. IRs were higher among Indigenous Australian children aged 0 to 14 years (21.76/100,000/annum) than other Australian children (14.09), for every year of the 11-year study. The age group most at risk for low-speed vehicle run-over events were young children aged 0 to 4 years, where incidence was 2.13 times greater among Indigenous Australian children (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.67-2.71). There were no significant changes in incidence of low-speed vehicle run-overs among Indigenous Australian children for 0 to 4, 5 to 9, and 10 to 14 years or overall (0-14 years), during the 11-year study period. Over three quarters (n = 107) of low-speed vehicle run-over events involving Indigenous Australian children occurred outside of major cities (43.7% in other Australian children). These data indicate that Indigenous Australian children are at increased risk of low-speed vehicle run-over events and that characteristics of these events may vary as a function of Indigenous status. These results highlight that culturally specific interventions to reduce low-speed vehicle run-over events are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Robust oral health epidemiological information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults is scant. Set within a large urban population, this study describes self-reported oral health behaviours, status and impact assessed through computerized health checks (HC), stratified by age groups and sex, and identifies associations with dental appearance satisfaction.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults (aged ≥20 years) attending the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2015 who had HC and provided research consent.Results: There were 945 patients, 466 (49.3%) female, with an average age of 41.3 years (range, 20-82). Overall, 97.3% owned a toothbrush and 56.2% brushed two or more times/day. Despite self-reporting a significant oral health burden, only 28.8% visited a dentist within 12 months, mostly due to problems (84.3%). Surprisingly, only 28.4% reported dental appearance dissatisfaction, likely a result of community normalization whereby people are resigned to poor oral health.Conclusions: Under-utilization of dental services remains problematic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. To close the oral heath gap, culturally appropriate, acceptable and safe integrated primary health systems, with co-located dental services, demand consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on colonial-era skeletal collecting in Queensland. It outlines the two basic charges of skeletal collecting in Australia wherein the Australian collectors of Indigenous remains had moral doubts on securing the remains of Aboriginal people who were victims of colonial violence. It notes that the Indigenous remains collected by colonial anthropologists in Queensland were used to buttress such as the long discredited theories of human racial diversity.

An essay is presented on colonial violence in Queensland. It outlines the evolutionary anatomists and anthropologists active in Queensland between 1860-1900. It refers to the controversial aspects of Queensland history and politics. It notes the connections of scientific collecting of Aboriginal skeletal remains and fronties violence.

In ethnohistorical records, tree nuts are frequently referred to as important food sources for Aboriginal people in the tropical rainforest region of northeast Queensland. Experimental processing and chemical analyses were undertaken of nuts from yellow walnut (Beilschmiedia bancroftii), black walnut (Endiandra palmerstonii), black pine nut (Sundacarpus amara) and black bean (Castanospermum australe). Their energy values and potential dietary benefits were analysed through replication experiments that followed traditional Aboriginal processing techniques. Results indicate these species were all high energy-high return food sources. We propose that, despite the relatively intense preparation required, they would have provided an important and reliable source of starchy food within a varied rainforest diet. Findings support the proposal that processed toxic and noxious rainforest nuts may have played a significant role in the late Holocene permanent settlement of the rainforest region and in the development of a unique Aboriginal rainforest culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first group of German settlers arrived in Queensland before it existed on any maps. They came not primarily to seek a better future for themselves, but with the express intention of conducting an Aboriginal mission. This group germinated three of the first four mission attempts in Queensland, and their failure left a significant gap in Queensland's mission effort until the 1870s, by which time the frontier wars were practically over. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The celebrated Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe has sometimes been criticized for his adaptations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island melodies. But what are the underlying political issues, and what are the ethics of such cross-cultural borrowings? The 1980s marked changes in Sculthorpe's music: a new stylistic synthesis, the fascination with Kakadu National Park and the recycling of a small number of Indigenous melodies dubbed the ‘Kakadu songlines’. These melodies can be seen to conform to one of two pre-existing styles within Sculthorpe's works: one Japanese and one Balinese. Whereas Sculthorpe has carefully selected melodies that easily conform to these pre-existing styles, he has also shaped and moulded his idiom around the ‘Kakadu songlines’. Sculthorpe's careful attribution of the ‘Kakadu songlines’ as Indigenous in origin suggests that he is subtly positioning himself in the cultural and political spectrum. Identification with Aboriginality has arguably benefited him in perpetuating his quintessentially Australian image. Nevertheless, Sculthorpe's persistent fascination with these melodies and his persistent identification with Aboriginal attitudes suggest that a sincere homage to Aboriginal culture is being made. Although Sculthorpe's methods may appear to be vestiges of a bygone era, he has consistently acknowledged his Indigenous sources and heralded Indigenous cultures in Australia and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009, the world premiere of children's play Spirits in Bare Feet was produced and presented at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. This play and its live production were the culmination of consultation with custodians of an Australian Aboriginal Stone Arrangement Site of Significance—Gummingurru. An audience reception study of children's responses to the production was conducted applying methods of observation, group discussion, movement and aural exercise, and drawing. Children aged seven to twelve years old recalled the storyline, characters, and moral of the play. Humor, moments of retribution or resolution, and the Australian Indigenous content were of primary interest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Let me begin by acknowledging the Aboriginal presence in the district around Maryborough. The earliest European officials named this then-unknown area the Wide Bay, after the curving mainland between Fraser Island and Double Island Point that had been named ‘Wide Bay’ by Captain James Cook as the Endeavour sailed north along the coast in 1770. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary The Nywaigi Aboriginal people suffered disconnection from their ancestral lands in the coastal wet tropics of Queensland, Australia, during the regime of agricultural and urban settlement in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their acquisition of the Mungalla property in 1999 has allowed them to pursue customary and non-customary aspirations, combining scientific and Indigenous knowledge to address significant challenges and build the capacity of Nywaigi people in natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrenched contests about the future of Cape York Peninsula's lands, waters and people have for long received national prominence. In the federal arena, this has climaxed with the campaign to overturn the State's declarations on wild rivers. Initially pursued as a means of influencing decisions on the determination of the government in a finely balanced federal parliament, it has been retained as an early test of the survivability of the minority Labor government. The peninsula's prominence is founded on its iconic conservation status and the continuity of Aboriginal occupance of their country, reinforced by the formidable capabilities of Indigenous and conservationist leaders. Contests are characterised by their complexity, durability and intractability. Contests are bedevilled by shifting alliances and schisms within Indigenous and conservationist constituencies. Increasingly potent is the schism between modernist/reformist/regionalist visions of Indigenous futures, forcefully presented by Noel Pearson against more traditionalist/localist visions held by many community leaderships. Other participants, notably conservationists, State politicians and bureaucracies have needed to align their policies around these contested visions. Over the last two decades, policies of State Labor governments have maintained some continuity, being pro-active on conservation goals, selectively supportive of Aboriginal advancement, necessarily passive in the determination of land claims, reactive in the resolution of land tenures and property rights, and inconsistent and ineffectual in conflict resolution and in providing leadership in shaping sustainable, multifunctional futures, attuned to the peninsula's unique challenges and potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the early colonial history of Moreton Bay, Queensland and examines not only the motives and perceptions on each side of the frontier, but also the ethnic relations within the penal settlement itself. It highlights the historical background of Moreton Bay which was predominantly considered as a British establishment. It adds that aside from the fact that Moreton Bay became one of the early Australian penal stations, it likewise served as a forbidding secondary detention centre which represented a microcosmic world of early colonial race and ethnic relations. It also notes that the said place became the home of numerous Aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal stone arrangements occur throughout Australia and are of ritual importance to Aboriginal peoples. Stone arrangements are part of the dynamic context within which Aboriginal peoples lived in the late Holocene, where constant renegotiation of social alliances required an increasing reliance on ceremonial places with ritual importance. This is the past social context for the Gummingurru Aboriginal stone arrangement site complex on the Darling Downs, Queensland. In the late 19th century Gummingurru was a highly significant men's initiation site but by the early 20th century most of the traditional custodians of the site had been removed to the government-run Aboriginal mission of Cherbourg. Since 2000, traditional custodians have returned to the site and have given the place and its cultural landscape a new meaning. No longer used for initiation, Gummingurru now has contemporary value as a site of learning and reconciliation for all Australians. Today Gummingurru has been given a new meaning and occupies a new place in Aboriginal society and political networking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine the concept of 'indigenous knowledge' as it is currently used in resource management discourse. In the process of engaging with government agents and researchers in the bureaucracy of resource management, indigenous knowledge is a powerful concept in the legitimization of local indigenous practice as well as the recognition of resource and socio-environmental management aspirations. Our use of the phrase 'management speak' frames our analysis of these bureaucratic engagements as process (management) and dialogue, rather than a 'space'. We do so in order to gain insights into the politics and practice of these engagements that might go beyond recognition of indigenous interests and toward more practical approaches. Our discussion draws on research conducted at Yarrabah Aboriginal Community in northern Queensland in relation to marine resource management in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]