Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Aboriginal Australians – Education – Western Australia'

This thesis is a history of schooling for Indigenous children in Western Australia between the commencement of the first Aboriginal school in Perth in 1840 and 1978. The thesis represents the view that, for most of this period, and regardless of policy, education for Indigenous children was directed towards changing their beliefs and behaviours from being distinctly Aboriginal to recognizably European. Four major policies for Aborigines provide the framework for the thesis, these being amalgamation (1840-1852), protection (1886-1951), assimilation (1951-1972) and self-determination (1973- ). The amalgamation of the Indigenous popuIation with the small colonial society in Western Australia was a short-lived policy adopted by the British Colonial Office. Protection, a policy formalised by Western Australian legislation in 1886, 1905 and 1936, dominated Aboriginal affairs for the first half of the 2ofh century. Under this policy the Indigenous population was regarded as two distinct groups - a diminishing traditional population to be segregated and protected and an increasing part-Aboriginal population that was to be trained and made 'useful'. In 1951 Western Australia accepted a policy of assimilation, coordinated by the Commonwealth government, which anticipated that all people of Aboriginal descent would eventually be assimilated into the mainstream Australian society. This policy was replaced in 1973 by one of Aboriginal community self-determination, an initiative of the Commonwealth government and adopted throughout Australia. The attempts at directed cultural change were evident in the 'Native' schools that opened in Perth, Fremantle and Guildford in the 1840s where it was assumed that the separation of children from their families and a Christian education would achieve the transition from a 'savage to civilized' state. For another century the education of Indigenous children on missions and in government settlements was founded upon similar assumptions. The thesis acknowledges that the principal change agents, such as the Chief Protectors of Aborigines, mission administrators and the teachers in direct contact with the children, seriously underestimated both the enduring nature of Indigenous culture and the prejudice in Australian society. Between 1912 and 1941 a few government schools in the southern districts of Western Australia refused to admit Aboriginal children. The exclusion of these children is examined against a background of impoverished living conditions, restrictive legislation and mounting public pressure on the State and Commonwealth governments for a change in policy. The change did not begin to occur until 1951 when the Commonwealth and States agreed to a policy of assimilation. In Western Australia this policy extended education to all Aboriginal children. The thesis explores the provision of government teachers to Aboriginal schools in remote areas of Western Australia between 1951 and 1978. The final chapter examines Indigenous perceptions of independent community schools within the fust five years of the policy of self-determination and contrasts the objectives and management of two schools, Strelley in the Pilbara and Oombulguni in the Kimberley.

This study explored how the discursive practices of government education systemic discipline policy shape the behaviour of Aboriginal primary school students in an urban education district in Western Australia. First, this study conducted a Foucauldian genealogical discourse analysis of the historical and contemporary discursive forces that shaped systemic discipline policy in Western Australian government schools between 1983 and 1998 to uncover changing discursive practices within the institution. This period represented a most turbulent era of systemic discipline policy development within the institution. The analysis of the historical and contemporary discursive forces that shaped policy during this period revealed nine major and consistent discursive practices. Secondly, the study conducted a Foucauldian genealogical discourse analysis into the perspectives of key interest groups of students, parents and Education Department employees in an urban Aboriginal community on discipline policy in Education Department primary schools during the period from 2000 to 2001; and the influence of these policies on the behaviour of Aboriginal students in primary schools. The analysis was accomplished using Foucault's method of genealogy through a tactical use of subjugated knowledges. A cross section of the Aboriginal community was interviewed to examine issues of consultation, suspension and exclusion, institutional organisation and discourse. The study revealed that there are minimal consistent conceptual underpinnings to the development of Education Department discipline policy between 1983 and 1998. What is clear through the nine discursive practices that emerged during the first part of the study is a strengthened recentralising pattern of regulation, in response to the influence of a neo-liberal doctrine that commodifies students in a network of accountability mechanisms driven by the market-state economy. Evidence from both genealogical analyses in this study confirms that the increasing psychologisation of the classroom is contributing towards the pathologisation of Aboriginal student behaviour. It is apparent from the findings in this study that Aboriginal students regularly display Aboriginality-as-resistance type behaviours in response to school discipline regimes. The daily tension for these students at school is the maintenance of their Aboriginality in the face of school policy that disregards many of their regular cultural and behavioural practices, or regimes of truth, that are socially acceptable at home and in their community but threaten the 'good order' of the institution when brought to school. This study found that teachers and principals are ensnared in a web of governmentality with their ability to manoeuvre within the constraints of systemic discipline policy extremely limited. The consequence of this web of governmentality is that those doing the governing in the school are simultaneously the prisoner and the gaoler, and in effect the principle of their own subjection. Also revealed were the obscure and dividing discursive practices of discipline regimes that contribute to the epistemic violence enacted upon Noongar students in primary schools through technologies of power.

[Truncated abstract] Indigenous Australians suffer cardiovascular disease (CVD) at a rate six times greater than the general population in Australia and while the incidence of CVD has been reduced dramatically amongst the majority of non-indigenous Australians and amongst Indigenous populations in other countries in the last 30 years, there has been little change in the figures for Aboriginal Australians, showing that heart health campaigns have little impact, for this group of people. Aims : The principal aims of this study were firstly, to determine and record the barriers to the development and delivery of CVD prevention programs amongst Indigenous Australians and secondly, to develop an alternative, effective and culturally sensitive method of delivering heart health messages. Methods and results : The study was qualitative research undertaken in three South-West towns of Western Australia where the incidence of CVD was high amongst the Aboriginal community members. The use of semi-formal interviews, informal individual consultation, observation, and focus groups were methods implemented to obtain information. The first phase of the research was to identify the barriers which affected the Aboriginal Health Workers’ ability to deliver specialist educational programs. Questionnaires and interviews with the Aboriginal Health Workers and other health professionals in the towns, and community focus groups were undertaken in this phase of the study. The second phase of the research was aimed at developing an alternative strategy for delivering heart health messages. The focus changed to adopt more traditional ways of passing on information in Indigenous communities. The idea of small gatherings of friends or family with a trusted community member presenting the health message was developed. The third phase of the research was to implement this new approach. Lay educators who had been identified within focus groups and by Aboriginal Health Workers were trained in each of the towns and a protocol involving discussions of health issues, viewing a video on CVD, produced by the National Heart Foundation, sharing in a ‘heart healthy’ lunch and partaking in a ‘heart health’ knowledge game which was developed specifically for the gatherings. Several of these gatherings were held in each of the towns and they became known as ‘HeartAware parties’.

An overview of Aboriginal education in the last two hundred years reveals that Aborigines have had a depressingly inadequate education, also marked by inequity of opportunity and participation. The developmental pattern of Aboriginal education has been characterised by four broad periods or eras related to specific government policies. These periods are identified successively as The Protection Era, the Segregation Era, The Assimilation Era and The Integration Era. The Protection Era began with the early frontier settlement of Europeans in Australia and extended until the 1860's. The Segregation Era marked the full development of Aboriginal reserves from 1860 to 1940. The Assimilation Era extended from the 1940s to the mid 1960s. Finally the period of Integration began in the late 1960s and gathered momentum in the 1970s. Throughout the periods of protection, segregation and assimilation very little effort was expended in the provision of adequate education for Aborigines. It was not until the late 1960s that concerted attempts were made to redress the many decades of neglect and apathy. Researchers uncovered glaring problems needing urgent redress. Aboriginal pupils persistently achieved very poorly in comparison with others and left school at an earlier age. As a consequence Aborigines left school lacking the knowledge and skills to compete with other Australians and had much poorer prospects of employment. In the early 1970s the National Aboriginal Education Committee and the state Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups, combined with support and funding from DAA, Commonwealth Education and The Schools Commission, were very influential in establishing programmes. In response to the growing numbers of Aborigines who were denied adequate schooling, three general types of adult programmes were developed: a) enclave/support systems; b) pretertiary/bridging courses and c) off campus centres. It was these programmes operating at WACAE that DEET commissioned me to evaluate. The existence of these programmes is the result of WACAE's prompt response to the need for redressing Aboriginal educational imbalance. The programmes developed following the commencement of the Aboriginal Teacher Education Programme at Mt Lawley College in 1973. The first enclave was established in 1976, external AEEC commenced in 1978 and G.E.C. in 1980, the first off campus centre was set up in 1983, and the Tertiary Preparation Course (internal AEEC) began operation in 1985. Commonwealth money has provided the financial basis for the programmes, but WACAE was the first institution in Australia to implement programmes and its achievement is significant. The terms of reference for this project required that the method of research should be through data gathering by means of interviews and examination of documentary evidence during a three week period in Perth. The evaluator consulted DAIS staff, students and, as particularly requested in the brief, Aboriginal community members. Findings revealed that WACAE's enclaves, on campus and off campus, have made progress towards educational equity for Aborigines, provide good support and are valued by students and Aboriginal community members. Aboriginalisation was found to be essential to maximum enclave effectiveness. Staff, students and Aboriginal community members would like to see increased Aboriginal representation, contract hiring of staff not being conducive to employment security or staff continuity. It is recommended that rationalisation of enclaves would achieve a more efficient pooling of resources. During the last thirteen years considerable amounts of external funds have been injected and it is recommended that WACAE take greater institutional responsibility for enclaves, using funds from normal Commonwealth sources, as distinct from special course funding. The existing staffing patterns and conditions of employment should be regularised in regard to salary, tenure, study leave, superannuation, etc. Such a measure is necessary to ensure staff continuity, security and inclusion in the power structure of the institution. WACAEs external pretertiary courses (AEEC and GEC) have achieved a small measure of progress towards equity of access and participation in education for Aborigines. The wide geographical distribution is significant in providing availability of courses. The courses are valued by Aboriginal community members and there is a need for external courses of this nature to continue in the future. However, progress towards equity has been extremely slow and time taken for completion of courses is unduly long considering the basic nature of GEC, and the fact that the courses are designed for completion in one year. The courses are preceived as enhancing employment performance and prospects as well as being preparation for tertiary study. There has been a shift in opinion regarding Aboriginal education during the 1980s towards the view that education should not be seen in isolation but in combination with employment and training. It is recommended that DEET take immediate steps to implement the Aboriginal Employment Development Policy in Western Australia, considering how best the benefits of external AEEC and GEC can be maintained and expanded. On the other hand, the Tertiary Preparation Course (internal AEEC) has achieved commendable results and is assessed as being worthy of increased resources and energy. Difficulty was encountered in efforts to determine exactly how DEET funding was used. It seems that this type of enquiry would necessitate the services of a qualified accountant. Enclave/support systems and pretertiary/bridging courses will be needed for some time to come. Many Aboriginal people stated that they envisage the time when these programmes will no longer be needed, 'when inequity of education has been addressed' and 'equality' achieved. Until this goal is reached the programmes will remain necessary. The achievement of the broad objectives of the AEDP, i.e. employment and income equity with other Australians and equity of participation in all levels of education, will see Aboriginal aspirations becoming a reality.

My thesis combines an analysis of the reasons behind changing attendance and participation of Aboriginal students at a West Australian metropolitan senior high school with an appraisal of the role of Aboriginal students in its school curriculum, 1993-1997. This study also incorporates an examination of teacher attitudes towards Aboriginal students and culture with an ethnographic study as well as a qualitative survey of the attitudes of Aboriginal students towards school and the curriculum process.This thesis begins with an explanation for the choice of Aboriginal students and their experience at school as my research topic. Some autobiographical details of the author and my position on staff at school, 1994-97, then follows. A general background to Aboriginal Education and metropolitan senior high school is provided, with a specific discussion of the role of Aboriginal students and the place of Aboriginal Studies in the life of the school. A concise analysis of the secondary literature is then undertaken which provides, inter alia, a knowledge base for the 'ethnographic' interviews. The various strategies introduced in an attempt to improve the attendance and participation at school of Aboriginal students are then analysed, including an assessment of the success of the Aboriginal Studies programme.The next section focuses on the attitudes and actions of Aboriginal students and their teachers, giving a detailed account and appraisal of a series of interviews.My thesis then concludes by outlining some of the major factors influencing Aboriginal attendance and participation at school, as well as examining some of the key areas where Aboriginal education may be improved. My thesis does not purport to provide definitive answers to these issues, but rather points to an embryonic strategy for improvement, based upon the necessarily limited focus provided by this research.A ++
series of appendices follow my written conclusions. No manuscript collections were consulted in the course of undertaking this research. However, many interviews and questionnaires have been extensively used with a voluminous selection of secondary source material, a selection of which is detailed in the bibliography.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001.
"A thesis submitted in the School of Applied Social and Health Sciences at the University of Western Sydney (Nepean) for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, February 2001" Bibliography : leaves 327-343.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004.
Title from electronic document (viewed 15/6/10) Presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney, 2004. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph.D.) (Economics and Finance)-- University of Western Sydney, 2002.
A thesis submitted for the award of Ph.D. (Economics and Finance), September 2002, University of Western Sydney. Bibliography : leaves 325-342.

Until recently, there was no dementia screening tool for Indigenous Australians and a paucity of information on the extent of dementia in Indigenous Australians. This thesis describes the development and validation of a tool to assess cognitive impairment in remote Indigenous Australians with the primary purpose of determining the prevalence of dementia and other associated conditions in this population. The tool was reevaluated with the larger prevalence sample and a short version of the tool was developed and evaluated. The Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA) tool was validated with Indigenous Australians aged over 45 years from the Kimberley region of Western Australia (n=70). The results were later confirmed in a larger sample from the remote Kimberley (n=363), and an additional sample in rural and remote areas of the Northern Territory (n=47). The KICA results were compared to independent consensus diagnoses using DSM-IV and ICD-10. Interpreters were used whenever participants were not proficient in English. These data led to the determination of a cut-off score of 33/34 out of a possible total score of 39 for the cognitive component of the KICA (KICA-Cog), with a sensitivity of 0.93 and specificity of 0.95 and AUC of 0.98. The tool is now widely used within remote areas of Australia. A short version of the KICACog (sKICA-Cog) was developed and found to be a valid brief screening tool for dementia in the Kimberley population, and had a cut-off score of 20/21 out of a possible 25, with a sensitivity of 0.89, specificity of 0.95 and AUC of 0.98. The sKICA-Cog should be used in combination with the KICA cognitive informant questionnaire (KICA-IQ). The KICA-IQ cut-off score of 2/3 out of a possible 16 was determined, with a sensitivity of 0.76 and specificity of 0.84 and AUC of 0.91. Using the validated KICA, the prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND) was determined in a semi-purposive sample consisting of 363 Indigenous Australians aged over 45 years from 6 Aboriginal communities and one town in the Kimberley region. Participants were screened with the full KICA and 165 participants had an independent specialist review with consensus diagnoses. The prevalence of dementia was 12.4%, 5.2 times greater than the Australian prevalence of 2.4%, after age adjustment. The prevalence of CIND was 8.0%. Characteristics associated with dementia included older age, male gender (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.4, 6.8), no formal education (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.1, 6.7), smoking (OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.1, 18.6), previous stroke (OR 17.9, 95% CI 5.9, 49.7), epilepsy (OR 33.5, 95% CI 4.8, 232.3) and head injury (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.7, 9.4). Other factors associated with dementia included incontinence, falls and poor mobility. The KICA is a valid assessment tool for rural and remote Indigenous Australians. The prevalence of dementia amongst Indigenous Australians is substantially higher than generally found in non - Indigenous Australians and other populations in the developed and developing world.

The hypothesis central to this study is that distinctly Aboriginal patterns of relationship between humans and dogs are still evident in contemporary Aboriginal groups. The relationship's sociological characteristics in traditional and contemporary settings and its implications for canine and human health are also investigated. Field research employing survey, quantitative observation and specimen analysis techniques was conducted in 9 Western Australian Aboriginal groups of various backgrounds and settings. Results were compared to historic-traditional accounts and dog ownership studies in non-Aboriginal groups. Traditionally dogs served Aboriginals most importantly for supernatural protection and to assist the collection of small game by women. In non-isolated groups, traditional utilitarian motives were superseded by the Western concept of dogs as companions. Demographically, the Aboriginal dog populations surveyed were relatively large, and most dogs were classified as medium sized non-descript cross-breds. Dogs were more commonly owned by adult and aged individuals, rather than by family units as is the Western cultural norm. Most dogs remained with their original owner and retained their original name for life. Traditional values of respect towards dogs were compromised to the discriminatory care of higher status animals only, effecting selection pressure against undesirable dogs, particularly females. Similarly, while many aged people were opposed to culling, most respondents regarded community pup production as excessive and accepted culling as necessary. Nevertheless prevention was the preferred option, with strong support for the previously unfamiliar concept of ovariohysterectomy. Pups were raised in some respects like children in the traditional manner, indulgence giving way in adulthood to expectations of self-reliance rather than obedience. Most dogs were in good physical and psychological condition, though more likely to be afflicted by sarcoptic mange than other Australian dogs. Other parasites occurred at or below expected frequencies. Close physical contact with dogs coupled with favourable microclimates allowed ample opportunity for transmission of canine zoonoses, but the actual risk to human health remains poorly documented.

"December 2006".
Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Sciences, Department of Human Geography, 2007.
Bibliography: p. 284-307.
Introduction -- Case-study area profile and methodology -- A walkabout race?: contemporary Aboriginal mobilities in Yamatji country -- State service provision and Aboriginal mobilities -- Security and belonging: re-conceptualising Aboriginal mobilities -- Security and belonging and the mainstream economy -- The ties that bind: negotiating security and belonging through family -- Conclusion.
This dissertation explores contemporary Aboriginal spatial practices in Yamatji country, Western Australia, within the context of rural service provision by the State government. The central themes with which it engages are a) historical and contemporary conceptualisations of Aboriginal spatialities; b) the lived experiences of Aboriginal mobilities in the region; and c) the dialectical, and often contentious, relationship between Aboriginal spatial practices and public health, housing, and education services. Drawing primarily on a range of field interviews, the thesis opens up a discursive space for examining the cultural content and hidden assumptions in constructions of 'appropriate' models of spatial mobility. In taking a policy-oriented focus, it argues that the appropriate provision of basic government services requires a shift away from overly simplistic assumptions and discourses of Aboriginal mobility. Until the often subtle practices of rendering particular Aboriginal mobilities as irrational, deviant, and/or mysterious are challenged and replaced, deep-colonising practices in rural and remote Australia will persist. --The thesis reconceptualises contemporary Aboriginal spatial practices in Yamatji country based upon an examination of dynamics and circumstances that undergird Aboriginal mobilities in the region. With this empirical focus, it argues that Aboriginal spatial practices are fashioned by the processes of procuring, cultivating and contesting a sense of security and belonging. Case study material presented suggests that two primary considerations inform these processes. A post-settlement history of contested alienation from family and country (both sources from which belonging and security were traditionally derived), and a changing engagement with mainstream social and economic institutions, have produced a context in which security and belonging are iteratively derived from a number of sources. Contemporary Aboriginal spatial practices therefore take a complex variety of forms. The thesis concludes that adopting the framework of security and belonging for interpreting contemporary Aboriginal mobilities provides a starting point for engaging more effectively and intentionally with dynamic Aboriginal spatial practices in service delivery policy and practice.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
x, 320 p. ill., maps

The hypothesis central to this study is that the implementation of a canine breeding and parasite control program in Aboriginal communities results in a reduction in the reservoir of zoonotic parasites within communities. The effect of the parasite and breeding control program on the health status of dogs as well as the population characteristics of dogs in communities was also investigated. The study was conducted in 17 Aboriginal communities of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, divided into three regions according to cultural and geographical attributes. All dogs from each community were permanently identified using a microchip system. Owners of dogs were asked the usual location of their animals, the origins of their dogs and the whereabouts of any missing animals at subsequent visits. Every three months dogs were treated with 200ygikg iverrnectin (a potent endo- and ecto-parasiticide) subcutaneously and adult female dogs were treated with an injectable contraceptive (10-30mgkg proligestone) at the request of their owners. At the time of treatment, dogs were assessed for ecto-parasites and photographs taken for later comparison and diagnosis of alopecic skin conditions. Faecal and blood samples were collected every three to six months and skin scrapings were collected from dogs that were refractory to treatment. The samples were used to determine internal parasite prevalence (using formal ethyl acetate sedimentation), blood parameters (for anaemia status) and evidence of scabies or Demodex infestation. A pilot study at one group of communities, involving weekly assessment of dogs after one iverrnectin treatment, showed that the treatment was effective in reducing the prevalence of scabies (as determined by clinical evaluation), hookworm and ticks. The treatment resulted in improvement in animal health as evidenced by a reduction in the number of dogs with anaemia. The long-term use of the ivermectin treatments at the other communities showed that over a period of three years, the prevalence of scabies and hookworm had reduced at most areas. The initial scabies prevalence varied from 17 to 52% and reduced to below 10% for all communities. The hookworm infection rates were affected by seasonal factors, as was evidenced by a seasonal variance in prevalence. Animals that were treated with ivermectin, though, had lower prevalences of hookworm than those that were not. There was a reasonable compliance rate for contraceptive treatments for female dogs (greater than 60% at each visit) and fewer puppies were born within communities when compared with rates before and after the establishment of the treatment program. High rates of acquisition of puppies from other communities continued to maintain the dog population numbers despite the reduction in breeding within communities. The dog population was young, biased towards male dogs, and very unstable (almost 50% of dogs died or went missing in a one year period). The rate of dog ownership across the Kimberley varied according to the region investigated and always remained higher or equal to ownership rates at the town centres of the Kimberley Region (as determined by a survey conducted during the study). Overall the canine parasite and breeding control program resulted in a reduction in scabies and hookworm prevalence in dogs (and hence a reduction in the potential zoonotic transmission), a reduction in dog breeding within communities, an improvement in dog health, and an understanding in the dynamics and health status of dogs within communities.

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Sciences, Department of Human Geography, 2007.
"November 2006".
Bibliography: p. 352-398.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
xvi, 399 p. ill., maps

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Environmental & Life Sciences, Graduate School of the Environment, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references: p. 228-232.
Geomorphology, archaeology and geoarchaeology: introduction and background -- Surface stone artefact scatters: why can we see them? -- Geomorphic controls on spatial patterning of the surface stone artefact record -- A temporal framework for interpreting surface artefact scatters in Western NSW -- Synthesis: stone artefact scatters in a dynamic landscape.
Surface scatters of stone artefacts are the most ubiquitous feature of the Australian Aboriginal archaeological record, yet the most underutilized by archaeologists in developing models of Aboriginal prehistory. Among the many reasons for this are the lack of understanding of geomorphic processes that have exposed them, and the lack of a suitable chronological framework for investigating Aboriginal 'use of place'. This thesis addresses both of these issues. -- In arid western NSW, erosion and deposition accelerated as a result of the introduction of sheep grazing in the mid 1800s has resulted in exposure of artefact scatters in some areas, burial in others, and complete removal in those parts of the landscape subject to concentrated flood flows. The result is a patchwork of artefact scatters exhibiting various degrees of preservation, exposure and visibility. My research at Stud Creek, in Sturt National Park in far western NSW, develops artefact and landscape survey protocols to accommodate this dynamic geomorphic setting. A sampling strategy stratified on the basis of landscape morphodynamics is presented that allows archaeologists to target areas of maximum artefact exposure and minimum post-discard disturbance. Differential artefact visibility at the time of the survey is accommodated by incorporating measures of surface cover which quantify the effects of various ephemeral environmental processes, such as deposition of sediments, vegetation growth, and bioturbation, on artefact count. -- While surface stone artefact scatters lack the stratigraphy usually considered necessary for establishing the timing of Aboriginal occupation, a combination of radiocarbon determinations on associated heat-retainer ovens, and stratigraphic analysis and dating of the valley fills which underlie the scatters, allows a two-stage chronology for huntergatherer activity to be developed. In the Stud Creek study area, dating of the valley fill by OSL established a maximum age of 2,040±100 y for surface artefact scatters. The heatretainer ovens ranged in age from 1630±30 y BP to 220±55 y BP. Bayesian statistical analysis of the sample of 28 radiocarbon determinations supported the notion, already established from analysis of the artefacts, that the Stud Creek valley was occupied intermittently for short durations over a relatively long period of time, rather than intensively occupied at any one time. Furthermore, a gap in oven building between about 800 and 1100 years ago was evident. Environmental explanations for this gap are explored, but the paiaeoenvironmental record for this part of the Australian arid zone is too sparse and too coarse to provide explanations of human behaviour on time scales of just a few hundred years. -- Having established a model for Stud Creek of episodic landscape change throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene, right up to European contact, its veracity was evaluated in a pilot study at another location within the region. The length of the archaeological record preserved in three geomorphically distinct locations at Fowlers Gap, 250 km south of Stud Creek, is a function of geomorphic dynamics, with a record of a few hundred years from sites located on channel margins and low terraces, and the longest record thus far of around 5,000 years from high terrace surfaces more remote from active channel incision. But even here, the record is not continuous, and like Stud Creek, the gaps are interpreted to indicate that Aboriginal people moved into and out of these places intermittently throughout the mid to late Holocene. -- I conclude that episodic nonequilibrium characterizes the geomorphic history of these arid landscapes, with impacts on the preservation of the archaeological record. Dating of both archaeological and landform features shows that the landscape, and the archaeological record it preserves, are both spatially and temporally disjointed. Models of Aboriginal hunter-gatherer behaviour and settlement patterns must take account of these discontinuities in an archaeological record that is controlled by geomorphic activity. -- I propose a new geoarchaeological framework for landscape-based studies of surface artefact scatters that incorporates geomorphic analysis and dating of landscapes, as well as tool typology, into the interpretation of spatial and temporal patterns of Aboriginal huntergatherer 'use of place'.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
vii, 232 p. ill., maps

In this research, I explore my belief that one the reasons for the continuing poor outcomes for Indigenous people was that State-wide and national programs ignored unique local Indigenous culture and did not actively involve local Indigenous people in the development of programs for their area. I chose to examine this perception through investigation of the tension between Indigenous culture and worldview and the dominant White values of the child welfare system (broadly defined), through description of Martu child rearing practices and beliefs in the remote Western Australian town of Wiluna. The Martu live in a remote environment of material poverty, high levels of unemployment, low levels of educational achievement and poor health outcomes. The research sponsored by the Ngangganawili Aboriginal Health Service and located in its Early Childhood Centre, uses an Indigenous research approach based on Brayboy's (2005) TribalCrit to explore Martu child rearing practices, beliefs and values. It uses the stories told by the Martu in Wiluna about the way they and their families were brought up and observations of Martu families to answer research questions around Martu definitions of children and families, their concerns for their children, ways of ensuring the well being of their children, and whether there is a Martu child welfare approach. The research then considers the implications of these Martu practices for the broadly defined child welfare system. The stories told by the Martu show that they have a unique way of bringing up their children that is different to those in the dominant White culture. This uniqueness is derived from a combination of the recent colonisation of the Martu, their culture and their post colonisation experiences. The implications of Martu child rearing for the child welfare system are based on the assumption that Martu are wholly dependent on poorly designed and targeted government provided or funded services, and the current ways of delivering these services is failing the Martu. The research concludes that the key to improving outcomes for Martu children and their families is for the agencies delivering these services to form close working relationships with the Martu; operate within, understand, appreciate, and respect Martu Law and culture; understand their (personal and agency) and Martu post colonisation histories; and allow for Martu control, definition of priorities and development of strategies to address the problems.

This study was designed to identify the spiritual needs of multicultural Australians with a health problem, in order to understand the educational implications for health care professionals. The rationale for the research was supported by the Australian Council for Health Service (1997) requirement that health care professionals meet the spiritual needs of their patients and clients'. At the commencement of this study, no research had been published on what these spiritual needs might be. To discover what health care professionals needed to be taught in order to meet the spiritual needs of their patients, I required a suitable group of patients. Then, after identify their spiritual needs, I wanted to explore ways in which these needs could be met. For this to occur, I also needed to identify factors that would fulfill patients' spiritual needs or prevent them from being met. This research proceeded in two stages. The first involved collecting data from all spiritual groups in Western Australia. The second involved the recruitment and interviewing a small number of ex-patients to gain their perspective of health care related spirituality and needs. To gain data about the various spiritual groups in Western Australia, I wrote to all organisations and associations, asking for information and reference material. This data was analysed using HyperResearch (1995), and themes common to all spiritual groups were developed. The inter-relationship between these themes provided the framework for an emergent model of spirituality.
For the second part of the research which involved a case study of health care patients, a qualitative methodology was used. This approach enabled me to explore the phenomenon of spirituality from the perspective of eight participants, which involved identifying their spiritual needs, the care they desired, and the rite of passage they underwent when receiving health care. The qualitative methodology enabled me to explore the subject from a sensitive holistic perspective, and to protect the integrity of the participants. I wanted to know what patients understood about their spirituality and how spiritual care could be implemented not only in clinical practice but also into health care education programs. The participants' detailed subjective experience was especially important, because I wanted to know how they identified their spiritual needs, how they had requested their needs be met by health care professionals, and the extent to which health care professionals had reacted to those cues. I formulated an 'interpretive phenomenology research' design based on the philosophical writings of Heidegger and Bakhtin. Heidegger argued that people gain knowledge of a subject from their own subjective experience, and of the person being in their world (simultaneous past, present and future thoughts). Bakhtin stated that to bring about social change, the researcher needed to understand the social context of the people's language including their culture, politics, government-provided amenities (such as education and health care), employment and social interaction, both within and outside their communities in which they live. The eight participants were interviewed a number of times in order to explore the phenomenon of spirituality beyond the notions already published in the literature (i.e. from multicultural Australian's perspective).
They told of hospital or health care experiences that included: health care for childbirth, mental and psychiatric illnesses (depression, manic-depression, and anxiety), immunology (lymphoma), stroke, detoxification of alcohol, arthritis, coronary occlusion, hypertension, and peritonitis; surgical procedured/s such as repair of hernia, bowel obstruction, eye surgery, orchiopexy (removal of testes from inguinal canal into the scrotal sac), caesarian birth, appendectomy, and oophorectomy (removal of ovaries); treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and physiotherapy; and hospital experiences in both large and small public and private acute hospitals, private and public mental health/psychiatric hospitals, intensive care and coronary care units. These situations demonstrate the diversity of contexts which people want their spiritual needs met. The study revealed that it is not only dying patients who have spiritual need; spiritual needs exist in widespread ordinary conditions and across a wide range of health care services. The eight participants - Ann, Athika, Garry, Red, Rosie, Scarlet, Sophie, and Tom (pseudonyms) - were drawn from many of the multicultural groups resident in Western Australia including Aboriginal, Chinese, English, European, Indian, and Irish peoples. Their spiritualities encompassed Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Pagan Romany, Society of Friends (Quaker), Humanist, Socialist, and Communist values and beliefs. The results of the research give insight into the eight participants' perspectives on being a person, their understanding of spirituality, perceived spiritual needs, their desired levels of spiritual care, and the rite of passage they experienced when undergoing health care treatment in hospital.
The participants' spiritual needs comprised of four categories: 'mutual trust', 'hope', 'peace' and 'love'. The levels of spiritual care spoke of desiring were: 'acknowledgement', 'empathy', and 'valuing'. Recommendations are given for health care professionals to provide spiritual care for the eight participants, and implications are considered for the spiritual education of future health care professionals in order to sensitise them to the wide range of healthcare related spiritual needs they might encounter in local multicultural communities. It is recognised that the scope of the implications is contingent on further research establishing the incidence of health-care related spiritual needs among the broader population of multi-cultural Western Australians. The richness and depth of the data and the very sensitive nature of the material that came from the eight people who shared their experiences with me has rendered this thesis an important document. The nature of the various incidents and situations they shared with me, I believe, demonstrated their preparedness to tell their story so that health care can be improved. On many occasions, I felt honoured that they had sufficient trust in me to enable them to report such deep and personal suffering. For example, Rosie told me of her mental torment and of not knowing if she was alive or dead; of how she burnt her legs to try to feel pain in order to see if she was alive. It was stories such as this that gave me the passion to write this thesis well in order to do justice to all people who want spirituality included in health care treatment.

[Truncated abstract] This ethnoecological study examines land uses by modern Martu Aboriginal people on their country. They occupy very remote settlements—Parnngurr, Punmu and Kunawarritji—in the Great and Little Sandy Deserts. In 1990, their country included Crown Lands and Rudall River National Park. The study investigated the proposition that the knowledge and practices of Martu were of direct relevance to ecosystem processes and national park management. This research commenced in the wider Australian research context of the late 1980s – early 90s when prevailing questions were about the role of customary harvest within contemporary Aboriginal society (Altman 1987; Devitt 1988) and the sustainability of species-specific harvests by Australian indigenous people (Bomford & Caughley 1996). Separately, there was a national line of enquiry into Aboriginal roles in natural resource and protected area management (Williams & Hunn 1986; Birckhead et al. 1992). The field work underpinning this study was done in 1986–1988 and quantitative data collected in 1990 whilst the researcher lived on Martu settlements. Ethnographic information was gathered from informal discussions, semi-structured interviews and participant observation on trips undertaken by Martu. A variety of parameters was recorded for each trip in 1990. On trips accompanied by the researcher, details on the plant and animal species collected were quantified. Martu knowledge and observations of Martu behaviour are interpreted in terms of the variety of land uses conducted and transport strategies including vehicle use; the significance of different species collected; socio-economic features of bush food collection; spatio-temporal patterns of foraging; and, the 'management' of species and lands by Martu. The research found that in 1990, hunting and gathering were major activities within the suite of land uses practiced by Martu. At least 40% of trips from the settlements were principally to hunt. More than 43 animal species and 37 plant food species were reported to be collected during the study; additionally, species were gathered for firewood, medicines and timber artefacts. Customary harvesting persisted because of the need for sustenance, particularly when there were low store supplies, as well as other reasons. The weight of bush meats hunted at least equalled and, occasionally, was three times greater than the weights of store meats available to Parnngurr residents. ... Paradoxically, hunting was a subject of significant difference despite it being the principal activity driving Martu expertise and practice. There is potential for comanagement in the National Park but it remains contingent on many factors between both Martu and DEC as well as external to them. The dissertation suggests practical strategies to enhance co-management.

"November 2003".
Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2004.
Bibliography: leaves 243-267.
Introduction -- Literature review -- Meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation in the Australian socio-political context -- An explanation of the research method -- Meanings of Reconciliation in the school context -- Survey results -- The role of education in the Reconciliation process -- Obstacles and barriers to Reconciliation -- Teaching for Reconciliation: best practice in teaching resources -- Conclusion.
The research detailed in this thesis investigated how schools in NSW responded to the social and political project of Reconciliation at the end of the 1990s. -- The research used a multi-method research approach which included a survey instrument, focus group interviews and key informants interviews with Aboriginal and non Aboriginal teachers, elders and educators, to gather qualitative as well as quantitative data. Differing research methodologies, including Indigenous research paradigms, are presented and discussed within the context of this research. From the initial research questions a number of sub-questions emerged which included: -The exploration of meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation evident in both the school and wider communities contexts and the extent to which these meanings and perspectives were transposed from the community to the school sector. -The perceived level of support for Reconciliation in school communities and what factors impacted on this level of support. -Responses of school communities to Reconciliation in terms of school programs and teaching strategies including factors which enhanced the teaching of Reconciliation issues in the classroom and factors which acted as barriers. -- Firstly in order to provide the context for the research study, the thesis provides a brief historical overview of the creation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. It then builds a framework through which the discourses of Reconciliation are presented and deconstructed. These various meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation are placed within a linear spectrum of typologies, from 'hard', 'genuine' or 'substantive' Reconciliation advocated by the Left, comprising a strong social justice agenda, first nation rights and compensation for past injustices, to the assimiliationist typologies desired by members of the Right which suggest that Reconciliation is best achieved through the total integration of Aboriginal people into the mainstream community, with Aboriginal people accepting the reality of their dispossession. -- In between these two extremes lie degrees of interpretations of what constitutes Reconciliation, including John Howard's current Federal Government interpretation of 'practical' Reconciliation. In this context "Left" and "Right" are defined less by political ideological lines of the Labor and Liberal parties than by attitudes to human rights and social justice. Secondly, and within the socio-political context presented above, the thesis reports on research conducted with Indigenous and non Indigenous educators, students and elders in the context of the NSW school system to decipher meanings and perspectives on Reconciliation as reflected in that sector. It then makes comparisons with research conducted on behalf of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation during the 1990s on attitudes to Reconciliation in the community. Perceived differences are analysed and discussed.
The research further explores how schools approached the teaching of Reconciliation through a series of survey questions designed to document the types of activities undertaken by the schools with Reconciliation as the main aim. -- Research findings indicated that while both the community at large and the education community are overwhelmingly supportive of Reconciliation, both as a concept and as a government policy, when questioned further as to the depth and details of this commitment to Reconciliation and the extent to which they may be supportive of the 'hard' issues of Reconciliation, their views and level of support were more wide ranging and deflective. -- Findings indicated that, in general, educators have a more multi-layered understanding of the issues related to Reconciliation than the general community, and a proportion of them do articulate more clearly those harder, more controversial aspects of the Reconciliation process (eg just compensation, land and sea rights, customary laws). However, they are in the main, unsure of its meaning beyond the 'soft' symbolic acts and gatherings which occur in schools. In the late 1990s, when Reconciliation was at the forefront of the national agenda, research findings indicate that while schools were organising cultural and curriculum activities in their teaching of Indigenous history or Aboriginal studies - they did not specifically focus on Reconciliation in their teaching programs as an issue in the community. Teachers did not have a clearly defined view of what Reconciliation entailed and schools were not teaching about Reconciliation directly within their curriculum programs. -- The research also sought to identify facotrs which acted as enhancers of a Reconciliation program in schools and factors which were seen as barriers. Research findings clearly pointed to community and parental attitudes as important barriers with time and an overcrowded curriculum as further barriers to the implementation of teaching programs. Factors which promoted Reconciliation in schools often related to human agency and human relationships such as supportive executive leadership, the work of committed teachers and a responsive staff and community.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
xvi, 286 leaves ill

This thesis interrogates the relationship of archaeological models and indigenous understandings of origins in the East Kimberley region of Northern Australia and the Aru Islands of Eastern Indonesia. Archaeological models of prehistoric migration construct these places as part of the same landmass in the recent human period and at times of lower sea levels. Yet, the indigenous groups who currently inhabit these places assert and rely upon their localised understandings of autochthony and mythological creationism. The existence of these competing models has led me to examine the degree to which the practice of archaeology in these locations constructs human prehistory in a way that necessarily disempowers the indigenous cosmology there. Below I examine the construction and content of these different stories about the same place to show how it is that they are essentially competing, conflicting and contradictory claims to truth. I show how each of these asserted cosmological positions emerge from the various cultural systems that sponsor and perpetuate them and I pay special attention to the role of institutionally authorised experts within each of the cosmological positions described. I also seek to demonstrate the ways in which the distribution of expert knowledge plays a core role in a naturalised social order and the ongoing construction of cultural identity in their respective communities. I then interrogate the relationships that these differing forms of knowledge have with each other - paying close attention to the specifics of context in which they are evoked. I conclude that the examination of how these competing claims to truth are distributed in space reveals their influence in the ongoing construction of identity in their respective communities.

This thesis explores how Victoria’s early childhood community negotiates colonial constructions of Aboriginality around dualisms such as Indigenous/non Indigenous and intersecting constructions of the child as ignorant or innocent of race and power both in concert and conflict with the non Indigenous early childhood community. It found a need for a reconceptualisation of Aboriginality around complexity and multiplicity as well as continuity and uniformity. Such a reconceptualisation can better address those issues of race, culture, identity and racism that see Indigenous communities marginalised within non Indigenous early childhood programs.
These negotiations around the colonial and the implications for Indigenous inclusion within the early childhood field are framed within post colonial theory which unites and connects major themes across tensions and contradictions. These themes act as a basis for each data chapter.