Eliza Hamilton Dunlop's 'the aboriginal mother': romanticism, anti slavery and imperial feminism in the nineteenth century

This paper positions the work of colonial poet Eliza Hamilton Dunlop amongst international Romantic poetry of the period, and argues that Dunlop’s poetry reflects a transposition of Romantic women’s poetry to Australia. Dunlop’s poetry, such as ‘The Aboriginal Mother’, demonstrates the relationship of Romantic women’s poetry to early feminism and Social Reform. As with the work of Felicia Hemans, Dunlop was interested in the role of women, and the ‘domestic’ as they related to broader national and political concerns. Dunlop seems to have been consciously applying the tropes, such as that of the mother, of anti slavery poetry found within American, British, and international poetic traditions to the Australian aboriginal context. Themes of indigenous motherhood, and also of Sati or widow burning in India, and human rights had been favored by early women’s rights campaigners in Britain from the 1820s, focusing on abolition of slavery through the identification of white women with the Negro mother. Dunlop’s comparative sympathy for the situation of aboriginals in Australia has been given critical attention as the aspect which makes her work valuable. However, in this essay I hope to outline how Dunlop’s poetry fits in to the international context of the engagement of Romantic women poets with Western Imperialist models and colonial Others.

The ‘r’ word and closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia; a potential framework for change

AbstractThe latest Australian Commonwealth Government Close the Gap Report reveals the circumstances of many of Australia’s Indigenous Peoples are either stagnant or going backwards. This paper argues that such ongoing injustice is a consequence of systemic racism that has been perpetuated since colonization and sustained in the twenty first century by discussion or mention of racism being taboo. A counter colonial educational framework is then provided that has the potential to address such institutional racism. The paper begins by providing a definition of systemic racism. Following this there is a brief explanation of the unique geographical context and the racist history of colonization in Australia. The nature of remote communities, the link between traditional law, country and identity will be outlined. Based on readily available sources such as media reports, social media links, and public policy announcements by government the paper then reflects on what has been reported about closure of remote communities in Western Australia. Government policy, announcements and events of the past year will be described and critically discussed in light of the definition of racism provided at the beginning of the article. The proposed framework requires self-reflexivity of organisations and individuals with a particular focus on aspects of sovereignty, healing, re-learning history and starting with a focus on agency instead of deficit. Being guided by this framework has the potential to avoid arbitrarily forcing people from their physical, spiritual and ancestral home, though this is likely to be a long term proposition rather than a quick fix.

Is it art or knowledge? Deconstructing Australian Aboriginal creative making

Abstract Australian Aboriginal symbols are visual forms of knowledge that express cultural intellect. Being classified by a Western interpretation of “art” devalues thousands of years of generational knowledge systems, where visual information has been respected, appreciated and valued. This article highlights how Aboriginal creativity has little concept of aesthetical value, but is a cultural display of meaning relating to Creational periods, often labelled as The Dreamings. With over 350 different Aboriginal Nations in Australia, this article focuses of the Dharug Nation, located around the northern Sydney area of New South Wales. The Dharug term for the Creational period is Gunyalungalung—traditional ritualized customary lores (laws). These symbols are permanently located within the environment on open rock surfaces, caves and markings on trees. Whilst some symbols are manmade, others are made by Creational ancestral beings and contain deep story lines of information in sacredness. Therefore, creative imagery engraved or painted on rock surfaces are forms of conscious narratives that emphasise deep insight.Keywords: Aboriginal Art; Australia; visual knowledge; culture; traditional; symbols

Applying a we al-li educaring framework to address histories of violence with Aboriginal women

An Aboriginal woman living in a remote area is 45 times more likely to experience domestic violence than their white peers. (Gordon et al, 2002) The nature of that violence is multi-layered, complex and incorporates a history of intergenerational loss, grief, trauma and the impact of colonisation, as discussed by Atkinson, C (2008). It involves women, children, families, communities. It is a story about people, many of whom find themselves in trouble with the legal system. Of the 25 male parents who killed their children in a domestic violence context five identified as Aboriginal (20%) (NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Annual Report, 2015, p.17). The percentage of women in Victorian prisons who have been victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse has been reported to be 87% (Johnson, 2004). This figure is supported by the latest Ombudsman’s report on Victorian Prisons (2015).None of the 17 females who killed their children identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team Annual Report 2015, p.18). The most common charge/offence for both Aboriginal men and women is an act intended to cause injury (see Figure 2).The stories of women in this program and anecdotal evidence from people working in the field reveals that most of this violence is lateral, ie within families and communities which is not an uncommon occurrence where there is a history of colonisation.

Programs to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Attending to the social and emotional wellbeing of those from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural backgrounds is widely recognised to play a key role in effective social work practice. However, relatively little is currently known about what effective practice comprises, and significant challenges exist in any effort to demonstrate that programs do achieve significant change both for individual participants and the communities in which they live. This paper considers one program, Seasons for Healing, to illustrate the type of intervention that holds promise when working with adults and discusses the difficulties that arise in both defining and assessing program outcomes.

All in the blood: a review of Aboriginal Australians' cultural beliefs about blood and implications for biospecimen research

Public participation in medical research and biobanking is considered key to advances in scientific discovery and translation to improved health care. Cultural concerns relating to blood have been found to affect the participation of indigenous peoples and minorities in research, but such concerns are rarely specified in the literature. This article presents a review of the role of blood in Australian Aboriginal cultures. We discuss the range of meanings and uses of blood in traditional culture, including their use in ceremonies, healing, and sorcery. We draw on more recent literature on Aboriginal Australians and biomedicine to consider how traditional beliefs may be changing over time. These findings provide an empirical basis for researchers and bioethicists to develop culturally grounded strategies to boost the participation of Aboriginal Australians in biomedical research. They also serve as a model for integrating anthropological literature with bioethical concerns that could be applied to other indigenous and minority groups.

Expressions of shame in investigative interviews with Australian Aboriginal children

This study inspected a sample of 70 interview transcripts with Australian Aboriginal children to gain a sense of how frequently verbal shame responses were occurring in investigative interviews regarding alleged sexual abuse. Transcripts were examined to determine how children articulated shame, how interviewers reacted to these responses, and how shame related to children's accounts. Examination of frequencies revealed that verbal shame responses occurred in just over one-quarter of the interviews. One-way analyses of variance indicated that children who expressed shame within the interview spoke the same amount as children who did not express shame, however, they required more interviewer prompts before a disclosure was made. Interviews where children expressed shame also included a greater number of interviewer reminders compared to interviews without shame responses. Results emphasize the importance of interviewer awareness of shame, and also point to the value of reassurance, patience, and persistence with non-leading narrative prompting when interviewing children who express shame during discussions of sexual abuse.

Economic and social opportunity: the changing lives of Aboriginal Victorians

 This study examined Aboriginal advantage in Victoria, demonstrating that relatively rapid change is occurring on a number of socio-economic indicators. This research, including interviews with Aboriginal participants, highlighted the interdependence of Aboriginal agency and responsive societal structures as significant enablers of Indigenous progress and advancement.

Providing culturally appropriate mental health first aid to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adolescent: development of expert consensus guidelines

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that the prevalence of mental illness is higher in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents compared to non-Aboriginal adolescents. Despite this, only a small proportion of Aboriginal youth have contact with mental health services, possibly due to factors such as remoteness, language barriers, affordability and cultural sensitivity issues. This research aimed to develop culturally appropriate guidelines for anyone who is providing first aid to an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adolescent who is experiencing a mental health crisis or developing a mental illness.

METHODS: A panel of Australian Aboriginal people who are experts in Aboriginal youth mental health, participated in a Delphi study investigating how members of the public can be culturally appropriate when helping an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adolescent with mental health problems. The panel varied in size across the three sequential rounds, from 37-41 participants. Panellists were presented with statements about cultural considerations and communication strategies via online questionnaires and were encouraged to suggest additional content. All statements endorsed as either Essential or Important by ≥ 90% of panel members were written into a guideline document. To assess the panel members' satisfaction with the research method, participants were invited to provide their feedback after the final survey.

RESULTS: From a total of 304 statements shown to the panel of experts, 194 statements were endorsed. The methodology was found to be useful and appropriate by the panellists.

CONCLUSION: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth mental health experts were able to reach consensus about what the appropriate communication strategies for providing mental health first aid to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent. These outcomes will help ensure that the community provides the best possible support to Aboriginal adolescents who are developing mental illnesses or are in a mental health crisis.

Deep ecology and Australian suburbia: learning from Aboriginal Australia philosophy

Naess’ Deep Ecology [50] represents a fundamental philosophical and conceptual shift from the dominant Western thinking that can be traced back to the Greek and Roman Empires. Like all philosophy, Naess’ Deep Ecology was born of and is most relevant to a specific time and place being northern Europe. Although the fundamentals of the Deep Ecology philosophy were new to modern Western thinking, it is not new to traditional Indigenous cultures, including the world’s oldest culture, that of Aboriginal Australia. While the past four decades has seen an increasing recognition of Aboriginal philosophical approaches, there is very little understanding of what this philosophical approach is and means for the management of the Australian environment in which humans are a central part. Since European arrival, Australia has been one of the world’s most urban societies. Unlike northern Europe, urban Australia is low density and suburban, a legacy of British and North American influences. Nearly 90% of Australians live in detached houses surrounded by gardens. Managed by individual residents, this land use accounts for about 70% of the total area of cities like Melbourne. Deeply culturally embedded, the Australian desire for living in low-density suburbs is unlikely to change soon. Contemporary cities are widely recognized as causing severe environmental degradation and are not sustainable. Yet in Australia introduced philosophical and design approaches are still used to address the unsustainable impacts of urban forms introduced from another time and place. While impractical to remove the existing suburban form in Australian cities, there is a significant opportunity to retrofit them using Australian Aboriginal philosophical and land management understandings developed and tested over tens of thousands of years. This paper establishes a contemporary Australian Deep Ecology philosophical approach to sustainably living in the suburbs that recognizes and works with the legacies of Australian Aboriginal, English, North American and contemporary Australian influences.

The challenges of addressing an Aboriginal responsibility for Country in land-use and national park planning: a South East Queensland case study

This paper presents research insights on the challenges that Australian Aboriginal communities living within the South East Queensland (SEQ) metropolitan region face in seeking to exercise their contemporary responsibilities to care for Country in land-use and national park planning. A case study design was adopted to analyse the incorporation of two Aboriginal communities connections to Country in state-based planning systems, and to explore the responsibilities Aboriginal communities ethically seek to adhere to in maintaining Country from their own understandings.
Country, from an Aboriginal understanding, involves a deep ecological, cultural, economic and social comprehension of ‘law’ guided by a responsibility for Country. Otherwise known as customary law and custom, Country is that which both Aboriginals and their communities are intrinsically connected to. Country is the moral value that guides Aboriginal obligation to care and this obligation could well conflict
with mainstream contemporary Western management policy and legislation.
This research draws on insights from Quandamooka Country (North Stradbroke Island) and Jagera Country (Brisbane City and Ipswich), located within the Brisbane metropolitan region in South East Queensland of Australia. During this research, it was concluded that, in both Quandamooka Country and Jagera Country, the respective Owners are operating within a sphere of increasingly complex challenges that impact upon their ability to conserve and have recognized the values of their obligations to Country care in planning. Common themes occurring on Country identified in this research included issues relating to a neglect of care to maintain Country by planners and government officials, and interactions that prevent Traditional Owners from having their obligation of caring for Country on their terms expressed through land-use planning legislation. Political agendas of the Queensland State that influences the interactions of planners and government with Traditional Owners were also concluded to be detrimental, and to damaging trust, ongoing discussions and understandings. These insights indicate that Aboriginal communities are facing an increasing conflicting range of perceptions and comprehensions that are hindering the expression and execution of their moral responsibility embodied in their deep ecological law to care for Country in Western planning legislative obligations. It illustrates that the responsibilities given to practicing planners and government officials to care for Country under Western law are commonly not adhered to It concludes with the suggestion that for some progress to recognize an Aboriginal responsibility to Country in planning, state-Traditional Owner relations and collaboration is now needed to help transcend the legislative challenges underpinning Western planning law.

'Imagine if I gave up smoking ...': a qualitative exploration of Aboriginal participants' perspectives of a self-management pilot training intervention

This paper reports on a pilot qualitative study investigating Aboriginal participants' perspectives of the Flinders Living Well Smoke Free (LWSF) 'training intervention'. Health workers nationally have been trained in this program, which offers a self-management approach to reducing smoking among Aboriginal clients. A component of the training involves Aboriginal clients volunteering their time in a mock care-planning session providing the health workers with an opportunity to practise their newly acquired skills. During this simulation, the volunteer clients receive one condensed session of the LWSF intervention imitating how the training will be implemented when the health workers have completed the training. For the purpose of this study, 10 Aboriginal clients who had been volunteers in the mock care-planning process, underwent a semi-structured interview at seven sites in Australia, including mainstream health services, Aboriginal community controlled health services and remote Aboriginal communities. The study aimed to gauge their perspectives of the training intervention they experienced. Early indications suggest that Aboriginal volunteer clients responded positively to the process, with many reporting substantial health behaviour change or plans to make changes since taking part in this mock care-planning exercise. Enablers of the intervention are discussed along with factors to be considered in the training program.

The economic feasibility of price discounts to improve diet in Australian Aboriginal remote communities

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of fiscal measures applied in remote community food stores for Aboriginal Australians.

METHODS: Six price discount strategies on fruit, vegetables, diet drinks and water were modelled. Baseline diet was measured as 12 months' actual food sales data in three remote Aboriginal communities. Discount-induced changes in food purchases were based on published price elasticity data while the weight of the daily diet was assumed constant. Dietary change was converted to change in sodium and energy intake, and body mass index (BMI) over a 12-month period. Improved lifetime health outcomes, modelled for the remote population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, were converted to disability adjusted life years (DALYs) saved using a proportional multistate lifetable model populated with diet-related disease risks and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rates of disease.

RESULTS: While dietary change was small, five of the six price discount strategies were estimated as cost-effective, below a $50,000/DALY threshold.

CONCLUSION: Stakeholders are committed to finding ways to reduce important inequalities in health status between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. Price discounts offer potential to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Verification of these results by trial-based research coupled with consideration of factors important to all stakeholders is needed.

Chronic condition management and self-management in Aboriginal communities in South Australia : outcomes of a longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the longitudinal component of a larger mixed methods study into the processes and outcomes of chronic condition management and self-management strategies implemented in three Aboriginal communities in South Australia. The study was designed to document the connection between the application of structured systems of care for Aboriginal people and their longer-term health status. METHODS: The study concentrated on three diverse Aboriginal communities in South Australia; the Port Lincoln Aboriginal Health Service, the Riverland community, and Nunkuwarrin Yunti Aboriginal Health Service in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Repeated-measure clinical data were collected for individual participants using a range of clinical indicators for diabetes (type 1 and 2) and related chronic conditions. Clinical data were analysed using random effects modelling techniques with changes in key clinical indicators being modelled at both the individual and group levels. RESULTS: Where care planning has been in place longer than in other sites overall improvements were noted in BMI, cholesterol (high density and low density lipids) and HbA1c. These results indicate that for Aboriginal patients with complex chronic conditions, participation in and adherence to structured care planning and self-management strategies can contribute to improved overall health status and health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes reported here represent an initial and important step in quantifying the health benefits that can accrue for Aboriginal people living with complex chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease. The study highlights the benefits of developing long-term working relationships with Aboriginal communities as a basis for conducting effective collaborative health research programs.