From Baskets to Boomerangs: Knowledges, Lifeways and Colonial Legacies. This project aims to transform our understanding of Australian Aboriginal lifeways by undertaking a comprehensive study of objects made from fibre and wood, from iconic boomerangs through to woven basketry. Although crucial to toolkits for millennia, systematic research about plant-based technologies has been limited, even though knowledge about their creation has been passed down across generations. This project, initiated ....From Baskets to Boomerangs: Knowledges, Lifeways and Colonial Legacies. This project aims to transform our understanding of Australian Aboriginal lifeways by undertaking a comprehensive study of objects made from fibre and wood, from iconic boomerangs through to woven basketry. Although crucial to toolkits for millennia, systematic research about plant-based technologies has been limited, even though knowledge about their creation has been passed down across generations. This project, initiated by River Murray Traditional Owners, will employ innovative archaeological science techniques, explore colonial legacies and use creative engagement methods to provide new insights into the diversity of Aboriginal experiences and connect Traditional Owners with their material cultural heritage housed in museums.Read moreRead less
Making social cohesion ecocentric through Indigenous language and song . This project expects to develop Indigenous language and song in ways that reframe and Indigenise social cohesion, expanding it from a human-centric policy goal to include connections with everything in Country. Designing and implementing an unprecedented and sustained program of Noongar language and song revitalisation in the south of Western Australia across community, schools, and the performing arts, it should advance th ....Making social cohesion ecocentric through Indigenous language and song . This project expects to develop Indigenous language and song in ways that reframe and Indigenise social cohesion, expanding it from a human-centric policy goal to include connections with everything in Country. Designing and implementing an unprecedented and sustained program of Noongar language and song revitalisation in the south of Western Australia across community, schools, and the performing arts, it should advance the potential for Indigenous expressive culture to nourish reciprocal social and ecological relationships that are adaptable to environmental change. Emerging from a hotspot for biodiversity and global warming, it intends to explore how Indigenous creative responses can focus and spur action on pressing global challenges.
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Remembering dispossession: interpreting Aboriginal historical narratives. Since the arrival of the British, Aboriginal people have sought to make sense of their experiences of colonisation through telling powerful and memorable stories. This study not only reveals the richness of Aboriginal historical stories, but also models ways of using them in the telling of new Australian histories.
Recognising Aborigines: from objects of science to First Australians. Photographs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have played a powerful but unexamined role in shaping global views of race and identity. Reversing the flow of this significant heritage resource from European collections to descendants will enhance international research collaborations and our understanding of current Indigenous issues.
Back to our roots: Re-activating Indigenous biocultural conservation . This project addresses global demand for documented evidence of Indigenous-led biocultural conservation of declining species and cultures. Through a unique cross-cultural collaboration with Dharug and Yolngu women, this project will generate new methods and monitoring tools for restoring the biological and cultural values of native edible root species in urban and remote Australia. The environmental, social, cultural and econ ....Back to our roots: Re-activating Indigenous biocultural conservation . This project addresses global demand for documented evidence of Indigenous-led biocultural conservation of declining species and cultures. Through a unique cross-cultural collaboration with Dharug and Yolngu women, this project will generate new methods and monitoring tools for restoring the biological and cultural values of native edible root species in urban and remote Australia. The environmental, social, cultural and economic outcomes will be amplified through regional education packages and online knowledge sharing platforms. This multiscale, multicultural and multidisciplinary approach will inform local to global policy and action against biocultural diversity loss and contribute to the decolonisation of conservation.Read moreRead less
Indigenising the Semantic Web: Ontologies for Indigenous knowledge and heritage resources on a machine-readable Web. This project will put Australia at the forefront of international efforts to realise a functioning Semantic Web in which all data transactions are handled by machines talking to machines. It addresses the government's call for the creation of infrastructure and e-research tools that enable high-speed distributed access to Indigenous knowledge and culture resources, and its outcome ....Indigenising the Semantic Web: Ontologies for Indigenous knowledge and heritage resources on a machine-readable Web. This project will put Australia at the forefront of international efforts to realise a functioning Semantic Web in which all data transactions are handled by machines talking to machines. It addresses the government's call for the creation of infrastructure and e-research tools that enable high-speed distributed access to Indigenous knowledge and culture resources, and its outcomes will revolutionise the way that these resources are managed, accessed and understood by users everywhere. Indigenous communities will benefit from increased protections for knowledge and heritage resources, and ability to access these in instantaneously customisable ways that promote wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Mapping the diversity of Aboriginal song: social and ecological significances for Australia. Indigenous ceremonies are a fundamental aspect of Indigenous identity and they play a role in Indigenous health and wellbeing. This project aims to develop a typology of Australian Aboriginal ceremonies by classifying them according to their structural features. By mapping their distribution and comparing these with linguistic and anthropological evidence it seeks to provide insights into Indigenous preh ....Mapping the diversity of Aboriginal song: social and ecological significances for Australia. Indigenous ceremonies are a fundamental aspect of Indigenous identity and they play a role in Indigenous health and wellbeing. This project aims to develop a typology of Australian Aboriginal ceremonies by classifying them according to their structural features. By mapping their distribution and comparing these with linguistic and anthropological evidence it seeks to provide insights into Indigenous prehistory and cultural diffusion across arid Australia. This project aims to lead to a greater understanding of the ecological knowledge contained in songs and increased Indigenous knowledge of, and engagement in, ceremonial life.Read moreRead less
Developing an evidence base to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This project addresses two critical health needs for Indigenous Australians, namely cancer and infectious diseases. It will test interventions in each area with the aim of improving health outcomes.
Developing a research focus on the health and quality of life of adolescents in the Northern Territory. The Youth Futures program will focus on the health and well being of adolescents in the Northern Territory, 40 per cent of whom are Indigenous. This project will provide an evidence base to inform health policy, identify transformative life skills and the ways to translate these into practice.
Closing the gap in Aboriginal maternal and child health outcomes. This project will build the evidence base needed to design and implement effective strategies to close the gap in Aboriginal maternal and child health outcomes and reduce Indigenous disadvantage across the life course.