More than family history: race, gender and the Aboriginal family in Australian history. This project will explore Aboriginal family histories. Historical processes and complex interplays of race and gender within the colonial period across space and over time make for complex layering in diverse Aboriginal families. Research into Aboriginal family formation reveals a strong basis for identity and wellbeing through telling foundational stories within the narrative of the nation.
Ngukurr to Newcastle: intercultural collaboration and influence. This interdisciplinary project will explore the intercultural contributions of residents from a remote Aboriginal community both on their own community and the broader Australian society. In doing so it aims to challenge dominant deficit-centred view points of remote Aboriginal communities and instead examine these communities as sites for lively intercultural exchanges. It will support community members to collect and document st ....Ngukurr to Newcastle: intercultural collaboration and influence. This interdisciplinary project will explore the intercultural contributions of residents from a remote Aboriginal community both on their own community and the broader Australian society. In doing so it aims to challenge dominant deficit-centred view points of remote Aboriginal communities and instead examine these communities as sites for lively intercultural exchanges. It will support community members to collect and document stories about the people who were an are influential and in doing to engage in Indigenous histories from an Indigenous perspective. Collaborative engagement with the community will ensure that these stories are preserved in accessible forms so that they are accessible for future generations and future leaders.Read moreRead less
Governing Aboriginal self-determination in NSW: 1980-2025. This project aims to examine how Aboriginal affairs governance in NSW has operated in the era of self-determination since 1980 to today. Using an ethnographic approach to study political power through time, it can develop a new understanding of the real practice of self-determination as policy. It expects to investigate whether governance processes have enabled improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people in NSW. Today, as policymakers ....Governing Aboriginal self-determination in NSW: 1980-2025. This project aims to examine how Aboriginal affairs governance in NSW has operated in the era of self-determination since 1980 to today. Using an ethnographic approach to study political power through time, it can develop a new understanding of the real practice of self-determination as policy. It expects to investigate whether governance processes have enabled improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people in NSW. Today, as policymakers negotiate co-design and partnership in Aboriginal affairs, this project can create new knowledge on the potential of resetting relationships between government and Aboriginal people. This will provide a significant contribution to crucial debates on advancing Aboriginal self-determination today.Read moreRead less
Tracking three significant Songlines of Country. This project aims to track three significant Songlines and the intersecting and interconnected cultural relationships between northwest NSW Aboriginal language groups, and their neighbouring language groups northeast of the Darling River and northwest into northeast SA and the Corner Country. Indigenous oral history methodologies will provide a dynamic, rich and deep cultural knowledge and history of each site. The project is of major importance t ....Tracking three significant Songlines of Country. This project aims to track three significant Songlines and the intersecting and interconnected cultural relationships between northwest NSW Aboriginal language groups, and their neighbouring language groups northeast of the Darling River and northwest into northeast SA and the Corner Country. Indigenous oral history methodologies will provide a dynamic, rich and deep cultural knowledge and history of each site. The project is of major importance to Indigenous Communities in NSW, SA and QLD and will also develop the wider public’s understanding of Aboriginal history and culture. In particular, the project seeks to emphasise that Aboriginal stories are not myths and legends and are more than ‘stories’ simply understood. Aboriginal stories are lore and provide deep insight into the history of the Australian continent.Read moreRead less
Keeping culture: Utilising Koori Elders wisdom and knowledge in education. Sharing the wisdom and knowledge of New South Wales (NSW) Koori Elders is imperative for the continuation of Koori culture and for the understanding of all Australians of the country we share. By recording oral histories and illustrating them with historical and contemporary records, images, and commentary, by insider-interview, recording and collaborative editing with participants, the project aims to document Koori Elde ....Keeping culture: Utilising Koori Elders wisdom and knowledge in education. Sharing the wisdom and knowledge of New South Wales (NSW) Koori Elders is imperative for the continuation of Koori culture and for the understanding of all Australians of the country we share. By recording oral histories and illustrating them with historical and contemporary records, images, and commentary, by insider-interview, recording and collaborative editing with participants, the project aims to document Koori Elders' wisdom and knowledge, perspectives and experiences, for use in school and community education. Expected outputs include a scholarly book, refereed-journal articles, conference presentations, and preparation resources for NSW school students, and academic publications. The proposed outputs will make it accessible to schools and communities.Read moreRead less
Children born of war: Australia and the War in the Pacific 1941 - 1944. Many thousands of mixed-race children were born in Australia due to a range of circumstances when more than one million allied troops were stationed here during the Second World War. These children are the embodied challenge to all of the nations involved, to provide the opportunity for a family background for identity and wellbeing. In seeking to understand the circumstances that brought them into the world, some have been ....Children born of war: Australia and the War in the Pacific 1941 - 1944. Many thousands of mixed-race children were born in Australia due to a range of circumstances when more than one million allied troops were stationed here during the Second World War. These children are the embodied challenge to all of the nations involved, to provide the opportunity for a family background for identity and wellbeing. In seeking to understand the circumstances that brought them into the world, some have been able to resume relationships with family in the United States of America. This project will contribute to addressing the unanswered questions of these children by exploring the social contexts and interplays of gender and race in the extremities of wartime.Read moreRead less
‘Like the Thunder’: Seeing Stories in the Gulf Country. This project investigates the nature of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It will generate imaginative understandings of how new relations might have been built through the historical marriage of a Waanyi woman and Chinese man in the late gold rush era; consider the challenges of contemporary Aboriginal advocacy; and examine how storytelling allows us to understand the nature of relation ....‘Like the Thunder’: Seeing Stories in the Gulf Country. This project investigates the nature of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It will generate imaginative understandings of how new relations might have been built through the historical marriage of a Waanyi woman and Chinese man in the late gold rush era; consider the challenges of contemporary Aboriginal advocacy; and examine how storytelling allows us to understand the nature of relations. The outcomes will be presented in major works of fiction and non-fiction and a collection of scholarly essays. Cultural benefits include showing how storytelling helps reveal the essential nature of human relations, and how the capacity to remake relations is essential to intercultural reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Fine Tuning: A Reconciliation of Indigenous and Western Musical Traditions. Focusing on central Australian song lines, the project strengthens our knowledge, understanding and application of the intricate tuning systems that underpin traditional Indigenous musical practices. Employing a unique methodology that combines Indigenous and contemporary Western musical performance practices with cutting-edge digital technologies, the project will show how the highly nuanced and sophisticated tunings at ....Fine Tuning: A Reconciliation of Indigenous and Western Musical Traditions. Focusing on central Australian song lines, the project strengthens our knowledge, understanding and application of the intricate tuning systems that underpin traditional Indigenous musical practices. Employing a unique methodology that combines Indigenous and contemporary Western musical performance practices with cutting-edge digital technologies, the project will show how the highly nuanced and sophisticated tunings at the heart of Indigenous music-making can be preserved when transposed to contemporary Western art music contexts. In so doing, the case is made for a more genuine, equitable dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous music-makers, to the mutual benefit of musicians, audiences, and society at large. Read moreRead less
The Aboriginal land estate in New South Wales. This project aims to investigate Aboriginal economic activity via the first extensive place-based ethnographic study of New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Land Council. It examines approaches to managing lands for economic development and community benefit, especially the leveraging of communal land holdings for economic advancement as the return of land to the NSW Aboriginal community will escalate from 2017. Yet the benefits of land-based entreprene ....The Aboriginal land estate in New South Wales. This project aims to investigate Aboriginal economic activity via the first extensive place-based ethnographic study of New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Land Council. It examines approaches to managing lands for economic development and community benefit, especially the leveraging of communal land holdings for economic advancement as the return of land to the NSW Aboriginal community will escalate from 2017. Yet the benefits of land-based entrepreneurialism in NSW have never been reviewed. The project will provide significant benefits, including improved policy settings and insights into Aboriginal worlds.Read moreRead less
Recirculating Indigenous traveling songs. This project aims to develop new understandings of how unrestricted Indigenous traveling songs have spread across vast geographic and linguistic boundaries in Australia, investigating ways these songs can contribute to greater social connectedness today. It intends to energise collaborative networks across Indigenous communities, language centres, and holding institutions around the world. Forging models to reinvigorate the performance of traveling songs ....Recirculating Indigenous traveling songs. This project aims to develop new understandings of how unrestricted Indigenous traveling songs have spread across vast geographic and linguistic boundaries in Australia, investigating ways these songs can contribute to greater social connectedness today. It intends to energise collaborative networks across Indigenous communities, language centres, and holding institutions around the world. Forging models to reinvigorate the performance of traveling songs across a wide and diverse range of interconnected localities, this project should advance the potential for Indigenous performance culture to contribute to language revitalisation, cultural identity, and the facilitation of cross-cultural diplomacy in national and international contexts.Read moreRead less