Indigenous Entrepreneurship in Victoria, Australia: Reconciling Mainstream Business Practice and Indigenous Community Values. Indigenous entrepreneurship is a mechanism for addressing 'reconciliation' one the Nation's major issues. This study recognises the interrelations between Indigenous Australians as individuals and members of wider community groups and organisations and addresses key strategic documents including 'A Fairer Victoria' which is concerned about the disadvantaged in a developed ....Indigenous Entrepreneurship in Victoria, Australia: Reconciling Mainstream Business Practice and Indigenous Community Values. Indigenous entrepreneurship is a mechanism for addressing 'reconciliation' one the Nation's major issues. This study recognises the interrelations between Indigenous Australians as individuals and members of wider community groups and organisations and addresses key strategic documents including 'A Fairer Victoria' which is concerned about the disadvantaged in a developed society. Identifying Indigenous cultural values and the exigencies and pressures (including mainstream cultural pressure) impacting on Indigenous entrepreneurs assists with removing those impediments and will strengthen key strategic Indigenous Policies and programs in the interests of national economic prosperity and national reconciliation.Read moreRead less
From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art ....From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art site complexes. It will develop management regimes and formal certification for Indigenous rangers while building heritage capacity in these partner communities: enabling intergenerational, culturally appropriate knowledge transfer protocols are in place to ensure sustainable economic heritage futures.Read moreRead less
Re-integrating Central Australian community cultural collections. This project aims to apply current research on archiving and community access to find practical solutions to managing the large amounts of recorded cultural material of interest to the Central Land Council, the peak Indigenous representative body covering the southern half of the Northern Territory. The project aims to identify and integrate information in a common database, work with community members to create a prioritised list ....Re-integrating Central Australian community cultural collections. This project aims to apply current research on archiving and community access to find practical solutions to managing the large amounts of recorded cultural material of interest to the Central Land Council, the peak Indigenous representative body covering the southern half of the Northern Territory. The project aims to identify and integrate information in a common database, work with community members to create a prioritised list of any at-risk materials and apply locally meaningful categories for managing the archival materials relevant to their community, and deliver appropriate documentation of process, permissions and reports to support ongoing sustainability of the collections.Read moreRead less
Adult literacy and Aboriginal community well-being in western NSW. Adult literacy and Aboriginal community well-being in western NSW. This project aims to examine the effect of an adult literacy campaign on Aboriginal communities in New South Wales. Since 2012, four western NSW Aboriginal communities have implemented a Cuban-designed mass campaign model to address very low levels of adult literacy. Over 100 people will have achieved basic literacy by July 2016, and four more communities will joi ....Adult literacy and Aboriginal community well-being in western NSW. Adult literacy and Aboriginal community well-being in western NSW. This project aims to examine the effect of an adult literacy campaign on Aboriginal communities in New South Wales. Since 2012, four western NSW Aboriginal communities have implemented a Cuban-designed mass campaign model to address very low levels of adult literacy. Over 100 people will have achieved basic literacy by July 2016, and four more communities will join by 2019. This project will use a social determinants of health framework to analyse quantitative and qualitative data collected at an individual and population level. This research is expected to improve understanding of the link between Aboriginal adult literacy and health.Read moreRead less
Return, reconcile, renew: understanding the history, effects and opportunities of repatriation and building an evidence base for the future. The repatriation of ancestral remains is an extraordinary Indigenous achievement and inter-cultural development of the past 40 years. This international project will provide critical new knowledge to understand repatriation, its history and effects and will provide scholarly and public outcomes that empower community-based research and practice.
Investigating the archaeological values of Marra cultural heritage sites. This project aims to investigate the archaeological landscape of Limmen National Park, the traditional Country of the Marra people, and to inform the creation of a cultural heritage management plan. It builds on a long-standing relationship with the Marra and the urgency to preserve their cultural knowledge associated with the Park. The project will use a two-way thinking methodology, combining contemporary Aboriginal know ....Investigating the archaeological values of Marra cultural heritage sites. This project aims to investigate the archaeological landscape of Limmen National Park, the traditional Country of the Marra people, and to inform the creation of a cultural heritage management plan. It builds on a long-standing relationship with the Marra and the urgency to preserve their cultural knowledge associated with the Park. The project will use a two-way thinking methodology, combining contemporary Aboriginal knowledge with archaeological and anthropological data to understand the meaning of the archaeological record for Aboriginal people today. Key outcomes include data for continent-wide archaeological narratives, a holistic blueprint to help manage the Park’s cultural heritage, and an archive for Traditional Owner research.Read moreRead less
Oral Tradition, Memory and Social Change: Indigenous Participation in the Curation and Use of Museum Collections. This project addresses concerns about how museums meet their charter in a diverse society. It will engage museums in a process of brokering and negotiation with indigenous Australians in relation to specific museum collections. There is little formal recognition of how such processes occur within museums and contribute to the creation of shared meanings about ourselves as a nation. I ....Oral Tradition, Memory and Social Change: Indigenous Participation in the Curation and Use of Museum Collections. This project addresses concerns about how museums meet their charter in a diverse society. It will engage museums in a process of brokering and negotiation with indigenous Australians in relation to specific museum collections. There is little formal recognition of how such processes occur within museums and contribute to the creation of shared meanings about ourselves as a nation. It is part of the role of museums as places of learning to engage and fascinate, and this project brings together traditional knowledge and expertise in three fields of study to pass on our national heritage to future generations. Read moreRead less
Financial dispossession: a history of Indigenous peoples and stolen wages in Victoria. This project will investigate the history and impact of past Victorian government policies on stolen wages on Victorian Indigenous communities. The project will further the understanding of these stolen wages policies and assist in the campaigns for justice for those Indigenous people affected by these policies.
Evaluating and developing music-based strategies for teaching and learning in remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. This project examines music-based teaching and learning employed by Aboriginal stakeholders in their efforts to sustain endangered cultural practices in remote communities in the Kimberley. Community and University-based researchers and teacher/practitioners will develop strategies to improve cultural teaching and learning in a variety of contexts.
Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy. This project aims to transform our understanding of the deep-time Aboriginal occupation of Victoria's Snowy River landscape, by excavating a network of sites dating back to >52,000 years. This project expects to generate new knowledge in archaeology and palaeoclimatology through partnership research in Gunaikurnai Country. Expected outcomes of this project include unprecedented details of Aboriginal occupation, ritual in ....Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy. This project aims to transform our understanding of the deep-time Aboriginal occupation of Victoria's Snowy River landscape, by excavating a network of sites dating back to >52,000 years. This project expects to generate new knowledge in archaeology and palaeoclimatology through partnership research in Gunaikurnai Country. Expected outcomes of this project include unprecedented details of Aboriginal occupation, ritual installations, wooden artefacts, ancient human DNA, use of deep caves and open landscapes, and economic strategies dating back to the Last Ice Age and beyond. This should provide significant benefits in community research, greater social understandings of Aboriginal connections with Country, and a more inclusive Australia.Read moreRead less