Aboriginal public health and education : has it made a difference in practice?

Over the years, public health in relation to Australian Aboriginal people has involved many individuals and groups including health professionals, governments, politicians, special interest groups and corporate organisations. Since colonisation commenced until the1980s, public health relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was not necessarily in the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but rather in the interests of the non-Aboriginal population. The attention that was paid focussed more generally around the subject of reproduction and issues of prostitution, exploitation, abuse and venereal diseases (Kidd, 1997). Since the late 1980s there has been a shift in the broader public health agenda (see Baum, 1998) along with public health in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (NHMRC, 2003). This has been coupled with increasing calls to develop appropriate tertiary curriculum and to educate, train, and employ more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal people in public health (Anderson et al., 2004; Genat, 2007; PHERP, 2008a, 2008b). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been engaged in public health in ways in which they are in a position to influence the public health agenda (Anderson 2004; 2008; Anderson et al., 2004; NATSIHC, 2003). There have been numerous projects, programs and strategies that have sought to develop the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Health workforce (AHMAC, 2002; Oldenburg et al., 2005; SCATSIH, 2002). In recent times the Aboriginal community controlled health sector has joined forces with other peak bodies and governments to find solutions and strategies to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (NACCHO & Oxfam, 2007). This case study chapter will not address these broader activities. Instead it will explore the activities and roles of staff within the Public Health and Research Unit (PHRU) at the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO). It will focus on their experiences with education institutions, their work in public health and their thoughts on gaps and where improvements can be made in public health, research and education. What will be demonstrated is the diversity of education qualifications and experience. What will also be reflected is how people work within public health on a daily basis to enact change for equity in health and contribute to the improvement of future health outcomes of the Victorian Aboriginal community.

How I became the first Aboriginal person in Australia to lead a national education organisation

In this paper, Bronwyn Fredericks reflects on how, in 1997, she became the National President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations Inc. (CAPA). The paper describes the election process faced by Fredericks, and identifies some of her key achievements during her time as National President. In becoming the National President, Bronwyn became the first Aboriginal person in Australia to lead a national education organisation. The story within this paper is told from the author’s autobiographical memory, drawing on the cultural, social and political context in which the story and the author were (and are) situated (Wojecki 2007). In this way the story teller reveals story lines which have not previously been articulated (Wojecki 2007). Throughout this paper, Fredericks ‘re-stories’ her experiences of leadership.

Rock pools of critical thought : finding a place to think through my higher degree and what a PhD was all about

The rock pools, salt pans, cliffs and bluffs, and the banks of the Coorooman and Pumpkin Creeks within Darumbal and Woppaburra Country are used as a backdrop in this paper, which offers an exploration of one woman’s quest to undertake her PhD and develop as an Indigenous scholar. The paper describes this Country and the use of Country to nourish, develop, stimulate and support the intellect. It draws on Australian and international literature to demonstrate the intellectual growth and development of Indigenous scholars. The paper offers a highly personal narrative of intellectual journeying which shows how we can be agents of change and power in our individual lives, even while power is being exercised over us and we are being oppressed and marginalised as Indigenous peoples.

Demonstrating Indigenous women’s educational leadership : Tiddas Showin’ Up, Talkin’ Up and Puttin’ Up!

This is the opening paper for a special edition of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues and comes from an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Program funded project titled Tiddas Showin’ Up, Talkin’ Up and Puttin’ Up: Indigenous Women and Educational Leadership (Bunda and White 2009). The project name, Tiddas Showin’ Up, Talkin’ Up and Puttin’ Up, draws from two Indigenous sources. Firstly, it reinscribes the white way of knowing the familial relationship of ‘Sister’ in the Indigenous generic language term of ‘Tidda’. Secondly, Showin’ Up, ‘Talkin’ Up’ (Moreton-Robinson 2000) and Puttin’ Up calls into being the constructions of our leadership as Indigenous women, grounded in our communities and with particular reference to our leadership in universities.

Remembered, reclaimed and renewed...

Review for the exhibition titled 'No More Secrets' by Pamela Croft and Cheryl Moodai Robinson at the Casula Power House

Re-Presenting/Representing Melbourne: A literary and cultural analysis of Melbourne’s inner city and outer suburbs in contemporary fiction

This article provides an overview of a research project investigating contemporary literary representations of Melbourne’s inner and outer suburban spaces. It will argue that the city represented by local writers is an often more complex way of envisioning the city than the one presented in public policy and cultural discourses. In this view, the writer’s vision of a city does not necessarily override or provide a “truer’ account but it is in the fictional city where the complexity of the everyday life of a city is most accurately portrayed. The article will also provide an overview of the theoretical framework for reading the fictional texts in this way, examining how Soja’s concept of Thirdspace (2006) provides a place to engage “critically with theoretical issues, while simultaneously being that space where the debate occurs” (Mole 2008: 3).

The Aboriginal voice and the left-leaning 'Australia' (Baz Luhrmann, 2008)

Arguing that Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" (2008) is a big-budget, non-independent film espousing a left-leaning political ideology in its non-racist representations of Aborigines on film, this paper suggests the addition of a 'fourth formation' to the 1984 Moore and Muecke model is warranted. According to their theorising, racist "first formation" films promote policies of assimilation whereas "second formation" films avoid overt political statements in favour of more acceptable multicultural liberalism. Moore and Muecke's seemingly ultimate "third formation films", however, blatantly foreground the director's leftist political dogma in a necessarily low budget, independent production. "Australia", on the other hand, is an advance on the third formation because its feminised Aboriginal voice is safely backed by a colossal production budget and indicates a transformation in public perceptions of Aboriginal issues. Furthermore, this paper argues that the use of low-cost post-production techniques such as voice-over narration by racially appropriate individuals and the use of diegetic song in Australia work to ensure the positive reception of the left-leaning message regarding the Stolen Generations. With these devices Luhrmann effectively counters the claims of right-wing denialists such as Andrew Bolt and Keith Windschuttle.

Exploring Indigenous social attitudes and priorities in Australia

Given significant government attention to, and expenditure on, Indigenous equity in Australia, this article addresses a core problem: the lack of a sound understanding of Indigenous social attitudes and priorities. An account of cultural theory raises the likelihood of difference in outlook between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, including those making and implementing policy. Yet, years of scholarly research and official statistical collections have overlooked potentially critical aspects of Indigineity. Suggestions of difference emerge from reference to the 2007 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA). If the attitudes recorded a small sample in this instrument manifest in the Indigenous population at large, policy priorities and directions should be reviewed and possibly revised. Despite inherent methodological difficulties, the article calls for targeted social attitude research among Australia's Indigenous peoples so that future policy can be better oriented and calibrated. The national benefits would outweigh the costs via better directed policy making.

Commentary : "Our reflections on identity, gender and transforming action"

This paper explores the cultural interplay between Indigenous women from one geographic locality being on and within the locality of the women of another locality – in this case, Whakatāne, Aotearoa. The authors consider identity, gender and place within the processes of transformation and decolonisation. They argue that women need to be involved in ways that restore their power as women and ensure their rightful place. The authors draw on the female ancestor Wairaka and her courage to argue that Indigenous women need to respond, change and adapt to the places in which they live. They argue that decolonisation needs to include action and possibilities for Māori and Indigenous Australian women.

Two ways : between tradition and innovation

Can art be simultaneously modern and traditional? This short piece examines the perplexities involved in seeking to address both cultural parameters at once in indigenous art of Australia.

Loving Europe : Charmian Clift, Peel Me a Lotus, and Australian women writing travel

“There it went!—Our last little bit of capital, our going back to civilization money . . .” So Charmian Clift fretted when she watched her husband George Johnson hand over a large number of drachma notes to buy a house on the Greek Island of Hydra in 1956. Whereas today’s expatriates fly back and forth between home and away with ease, Clift’s commitment to Hydra meant that a return to Australia, “to civilization”, would always be difficult and perhaps impossible...

Cost-effectiveness analysis of a kidney and cardiovascular disease treatment program in an Australian Aboriginal population

The objective of the study was to assess, from a health service perspective, whether a systematic program to modify kidney and cardiovascular disease reduced the costs of treating end-stage kidney failure. The participants in the study were 1,800 aboriginal adults with hypertension, diabetes with microalbuminuria or overt albuminuria, and overt albuminuria, living on two islands in the Northern Territory of Australia during 1995 to 2000. Perindopril was the primary treatment agent, and other medications were also used to control blood pressure. Control of glucose and lipid levels were attempted, and health education was offered. Evaluation of program resource use and costs for follow-up periods was done at 3 and 4.7 years. On an intention-to-treat basis, the number of dialysis starts and dialysis-years avoided were estimated by comparing the fate of the treatment group with that of historical control subjects, matched for disease severity, who were followed in the before the treatment program began. For the first three years, an estimated 11.6 person-years of dialysis were avoided, and over 4.7 years, 27.7 person-years of dialysis were avoided. The net cost of the program was 1,210 dollars more per person per year than status quo care, and dialyses avoided gave net savings of 1.0 million dollars at 3 years and 3.4 million dollars at 4.6 years. The treatment program provided significant health benefit and impressive cost savings in dialysis avoided.

Australian Aboriginal words in English : their origin and meaning [Second edition]

Australian Aboriginal Words in English records the Aboriginal contribution to Australian English and provides a fascinating insight into the contact between the first Australians and European settlers. The words are grouped according to subject, and for each one there is information on the Aboriginal language from which it derives, the date of its first written use in English, and its present meaning and pronunciation. This book brings them together and provides the fullest available information about their Aboriginal background and their Australian English History.

Australian Aboriginal Words in English : their Origin and Meaning [First edition]

This extensive reference provides authoritative information about the history of over 400 words from Aboriginal languages, offering the fullest available information about their Aboriginal background and Australian English history. The book begins with a general history of the 250 Australian aboriginal languages, including profiles of the languages that have been most significant as sources for borrowing. The words are then grouped according to subject: birds, fish, edible flora, dwellings, etc., with each work listed in a dictionary-style entry. The book concludes by addressing how words changed in English, and discusses English words that have since been adopted into Aboriginal languages.