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A boomerang donated to Flinders University Art Museum is part of the extraordinary story of the Namatjira copyright battle. The Namatjira family fought for legal ownership of Albert Namatjira’s significant body of artwork for eight years and ultimately won in a single day in an historic moment for the Australian art world. For 60 years the copyright of Albert Namatjira’s work has been held by art publisher Legend Press, denying the Namatjira family of more than a half a century of royalties and cultural legacy. A boomerang designed by South Australian street artist Peter Drew was donated to a charitable auction in an effort to raise funds for the Namatjira family and support their ongoing quest to claim their birthright.
The latest round of 2016 census data shows that the gig economy has taken hold in Australia, that there has been a huge surge in fitness, beauty and barista jobs; and that even though we’re working less, women still do the most housework. But if we look past these headlines, the Census gives us a unique insight into the economic outcomes of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, single parents, those entering the labour market and those coming to the end of their working life. What we see is geographic divergence in Indigenous employment, declines in employment for single parents and the young, and the news is mixed for those entering retirement age.
At first glance, 16-year-old Ethan Jorrock seems like any other teen: he loves hip hop music, hanging out with his friends, and doing backflips on the beach. But he lives in the remote Northern Territory community of Belyuen, and in a hip hop video he created with other local young people he is larger than life and charismatic like musicians Drake or Kendrick Lamar. Music is a way for young people to connect with one another, and this latest video aims to get young people talking about mental health, their emotions, and coping mechanisms.
Nyarri Morgan's first contact with whites came when he witnessed a nuclear bomb explosion at the British testing site at Maralinga, South Australia. In an unlikely collision of cultures, state-of-the-art 3D film technology is bringing his story to life.
science, technology engineering and maths (STEM), according to a mathematician who is encouraging more young Aboriginal people to study the subjects. Chris Matthews is working to address the education gap that last year saw 48 per cent of South Australian Indigenous year 12 students complete at least one STEM subject, compared to 73 per cent of Year 12s overall. The Noonuccal man, who heads up the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Alliance, has told a group of Indigenous students from schools in Adelaide's northern suburbs to be proud of their heritage while having the self-belief to tackle STEM subjects.
WA’s State library initiative uncovers unseen archives of Aboriginal culture, heritage & indigenous communities. Discover Indigenous history today
A lack of understanding by university staff about the cultural obligations and traditions of Indigenous students is affecting retention rates. Fewer than half of all Indigenous students complete their degrees, compared to about three quarters of non-Indigenous students, according to a 2016 Australian Centre for Educational Research report. In an attempt to address that gap, Warumungu man Ethan Taylor organised the first national Indigenous student conference in Canberra — discussing barriers keeping Indigenous people from studying at tertiary institutions. "Having to explain to tutors, 'Hi I wasn't at class because I was at a smoking ceremony' — sometimes it's very difficult to articulate these things when it's not the normal 'I wasn't at class because I'm sick,'" Mr Taylor said. And he said there was no university policy to support them on cultural matters. "Asking for an extension especially, I just felt so uncomfortable. It is probably something [tutors] never get," he said.
Audio recordings and photographs taken by Europeans in the mid-20th century of the Karajarri people on the remote Kimberley coastline, south of Broome, are being returned.
The makers of Redfern Now and First Contact believe television has the power to change social attitudes. With their new show they’re targeting young Australians
Via Maree Whiteley
As international tourist numbers increase, Indigenous operators prepare to reap the rewards.
Via Maree Whiteley
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are strong, rich and diverse. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Identity is central to this priority and is intrinsically linked to living, learning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, deep knowledge traditions and holistic world view. A conceptual framework based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ unique sense of Identity has been developed as a structural tool for the embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures within the Australian curriculum. This sense of Identity is approached through the interconnected aspects of Country/Place, People and Culture. Embracing these elements enhances all areas of the curriculum. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priority provides opportunities for all learners to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. This knowledge and understanding will enrich their ability to participate positively in the ongoing development of Australia.
Via Maree Whiteley
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is delighted to present an intimate exhibition of photographic works by celebrated Indigenous photographer Michael Cook; a touring exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum. Undiscovered - Photographic works by Michael Cook offers visitors a contemporary Indigenous perspective on European settlement in Australia. The 10 striking large scale images shift perspectives around the notion of the European ‘discovery’ of Australia, a land already inhabited by its original people. They reflect on habitual ways of thinking and seeing Australian history. The images question who really discovered Australia while making reference to what was here, what has been introduced and the effect this had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their country and culture.
Research shows many concepts are best learned in the language that the learner understands.
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The government has rejected the Referendum Council’s call for a national Indigenous representative assembly to be put into the Constitution, effectively taking the debate about constitutional recognition back to square one. Malcolm Turnbull, Attorney-General George Brandis and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, responding to the council’s report, said: “The government does not believe such an addition to our national representative institutions is either desirable or capable of winning acceptance in a referendum”.
Thousands of Stolen Generation children, some just babies, have had their lives permanently affected after they were charged and given criminal records under state government policies that systematically deemed it a crime to be an Indigenous child in ‘need of protection’.
Colonisation that has undermined young Indigenous people’s access to their identity, language and culture has had a “catastrophic” impact in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to a new OECD report. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said disadvantage had also proved pivotal in creating educational inequity. In a report released to coincide with the United Nation’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, the high-powered OECD examined how education practices and policies in the three countries were affecting Indigenous children. It came as young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders at this year’s Garma Festival in the Northern Territory called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to boost support for Indigenous-focused tertiary education and school assistance.
News of the tragic death of Dr G. Yunupingu last week in Darwin at only 46 years of age has again highlighted the unacceptable gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians. Yunupingu had been living with chronic hepatitis B since early in life, and experienced complications of this condition including liver and kidney disease. Hepatitis B infections, which can lead to liver disease and cancer, are unacceptably high in Indigenous Australians. In Northern Australia, 10-20% of the Indigenous population is infected with the virus. Eliminating the impact of this infection in Indigenous Australians would make a substantial contribution to closing the gap in life expectancy.
Many people design learning activities for students in higher education; academics as well as professional staff are involved in preparing learning materials. We often build these activities from evidence based pedagogy, or our own past experiences in learning. But how often do we consider indigenous pedagogy in our design? I don’t claim to be an expert on indigenous pedagogy but I have studied it on both sides of the Tasman and spent the first 12 years of my life growing up three miles from a Maori epicentre of culture, Parihaka. Most New Zealand educators know of and use the three Kete (baskets) of knowledge (Aronui, Tuairu, and Tuaatea) legend. There are many wise words to be found in indigenous learnings that are timeless and can be used to inspire, motivate and nurture learners. My favourite Maori proverb is: He aha te mea nui o te ao? What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata It is the people, it is the people, it is the people. I use this often in my teaching to emphasise that our students need to be at the forefront of everything we do when designing learning activities, be it for a face-to-face, blended or online learning environment.
FOX Sports presenter Hannah Hollis has opened up about the awful bullying she suffered at high school because of her indigenous heritage.
After years of painstaking research, an online map marking the massacres of Aboriginal clans across Australia's colonial frontier has launched. More than 150 sites have been recorded along the east coast, where violent attacks on Aboriginal people took place for decades after the First Fleet arrived. Historian and conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle Lyndall Ryan believes it will be one of the most comprehensive maps of the Frontier Wars ever produced. "I think this project wanted to provide people with the evidence and finding the evidence has taken a long time," Professor Ryan said. "We'd like to hope that this is a preliminary map and more and more sites will be added over time."
Words from 100 Indigenous languages are in the new edition of the Australian National Dictionary – reflecting a heightened interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
Via Maree Whiteley
Servant or Slave Servant or Slave is an emotional insight into both the history and legacy of the domestic servitude forced upon Aboriginal people in Australia. Crucially confronting, the hidden reality of slavery existing throughout Australia’s history is told through the stories of five women. Many thousands of girls were stolen as young children from their parents and placed in institutions to be trained as servants, with the aim of assimilation into ‘mainstream’ Australian society.
Rita Wright, Violet West and sisters Adelaide Wenberg, Valerie Linow and Rita Wenberg share their firsthand accounts of officially sanctioned enslavement. Their stories reveal what was the true intent of the Australian government policy of ‘protection’ prevalent throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
A conference in Alice Springs marking ten years of the Northern Territory Intervention will bring together people from prescribed areas to discuss the issues impacting on them and how best to move forward in taking control of their lives and communities. Speakers include: Yingiya Mark Guyula, Member for Nhulunbuy and local Arrernte woman Pat Ansell Dodds discussing Treaty; Dylan Voller and Vickie Roach, campaigners for reform of the justice system; Barbara Shaw and Matthew Ryan, NT Aboriginal Housing Board; Ngarla Kunoth-Monks, Alukerre First Nation Cultural Trust, speaking on community governance; and Senator Rachel Siewert discussing income management.
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