Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the comm ....Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the community while developing resources for future use. The outcomes of this project are expected to inform global efforts to sustain intangible cultural heritage and contribute to the Australian reconciliation agenda.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
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.
The role of song in Kaytetye and Warlpiri biocultural knowledge. This project aims to integrate Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with Indigenous ceremonial knowledge in two central Australian Aboriginal languages: Kaytetye and Warlpiri. With a multidisciplinary team and by building on existing lexical and musical corpora, the project expects to produce the first biocultural monographs. Identification of biota and human uses of them will be expanded with their song, site of origin and kinship affi ....The role of song in Kaytetye and Warlpiri biocultural knowledge. This project aims to integrate Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with Indigenous ceremonial knowledge in two central Australian Aboriginal languages: Kaytetye and Warlpiri. With a multidisciplinary team and by building on existing lexical and musical corpora, the project expects to produce the first biocultural monographs. Identification of biota and human uses of them will be expanded with their song, site of origin and kinship affiliation; thus advancing knowledge of how societies interact with the natural world and the role of music in retaining knowledge. Expected benefits of this project are greater intergenerational transfer of Indigenous biocultural knowledge through working on country and enhanced Indigenous capacity. Read moreRead less
Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased ....Restoring on-Country performance: song, language and south coast landscapes. This project aims to investigate relationships between place, people and endangered performance traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. For the first time, it will bring together work on archival song and language material, ecological readings of landscape and Indigenous community expertise to extend and enhance knowledge of critically endangered Nyungar songlines. Expected outcomes include increased community capacity to develop, maintain and share a place-based performance repertoire and the potential to nourish social cohesion, strengthen connection to Country and aid re-interpretation of the landscape. This should provide benefits to Indigenous wellbeing, environmental understanding and processes of reconciliation.Read moreRead less
When the Waters Will Be One: Indigenous Performance Traditions at the New Frontier of Inter-Cultural Discourse in Arnhem Land. This project will examine the emerging roles of Indigenous performance traditions from Arnhem Land as fulcra for the strategic development of new discourses between peoples of the region and the international community. The adaptation of music and dance traditions to new media and performance contexts will be considered as will the hereditary intellectual paradigms that ....When the Waters Will Be One: Indigenous Performance Traditions at the New Frontier of Inter-Cultural Discourse in Arnhem Land. This project will examine the emerging roles of Indigenous performance traditions from Arnhem Land as fulcra for the strategic development of new discourses between peoples of the region and the international community. The adaptation of music and dance traditions to new media and performance contexts will be considered as will the hereditary intellectual paradigms that underpin these processes. This project will also investigate historical antecedents to these new developments within the past 50 years, and explore their centrality to current attempts by Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land to achieve cultural and economic sustainability amid a continuing period of radical social change.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
Vitality and change in Warlpiri songs at Yuendumu. Vitality and change in Warlpiri songs at Yuendumu. This project aims to understand the reasons behind the reported decline in knowledge of songs amongst younger generations at Yuendumu in the past 40-50 years, using a Central Australian music archive. This project will analyse selected song repertories over time, with insights and advice from today's senior custodians; and design strategies for Warlpiri people to re-engage with this important bo ....Vitality and change in Warlpiri songs at Yuendumu. Vitality and change in Warlpiri songs at Yuendumu. This project aims to understand the reasons behind the reported decline in knowledge of songs amongst younger generations at Yuendumu in the past 40-50 years, using a Central Australian music archive. This project will analyse selected song repertories over time, with insights and advice from today's senior custodians; and design strategies for Warlpiri people to re-engage with this important body of Warlpiri-initiated research in their own country. This research is expected to reinvigorate inter-generational transfer of highly significant cultural knowledge and practices.Read moreRead less
Reclaiming indigenous performance in southeast Australia, 1935-75. This project aims to reframe a period of Australian history, the Assimilation era (1935-1975), to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' active intervention in public affairs through performances of music and dance. The project will collaborate with present-day communities aiming to construct an alternative history of cultural resilience and agency. Outcomes directed at academic, community and public audiences aim to ....Reclaiming indigenous performance in southeast Australia, 1935-75. This project aims to reframe a period of Australian history, the Assimilation era (1935-1975), to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' active intervention in public affairs through performances of music and dance. The project will collaborate with present-day communities aiming to construct an alternative history of cultural resilience and agency. Outcomes directed at academic, community and public audiences aim to better inform current debates on Australian identity, support the work of contemporary practitioners, build international networks and validate histories hitherto hidden at the heart of Australian nationhood.Read moreRead less
Hearing the music of early New South Wales, 1788-1860 . This project aims to restore the musical sound world of early New South Wales, from local Aboriginal songs to imported European settler music. It aims to develop new creative research methodologies applicable to the study, teaching and understanding of musical interactions in the early colony. By digitally embedding the recorded outcomes and documentary materials within an accessible web repository, the project aims to disseminate new knowl ....Hearing the music of early New South Wales, 1788-1860 . This project aims to restore the musical sound world of early New South Wales, from local Aboriginal songs to imported European settler music. It aims to develop new creative research methodologies applicable to the study, teaching and understanding of musical interactions in the early colony. By digitally embedding the recorded outcomes and documentary materials within an accessible web repository, the project aims to disseminate new knowledge of musical soundscapes. The project expects to transform the way we talk about and understand the sound worlds of Indigenous and settler musical cultures, with benefits for academic, music professional and amateur researchers.Read moreRead less