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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Torres Strait Islanders'
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1
Arthur, William Stewart. "Torres Strait Islanders and autonomy : a borderline case /." View thesis entry in Australian Digital Theses, 2005. http://thesis.anu.edu.au/public/adt-ANU20070612.114556/index.html.
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Arthur, William Stewart, and William Arthur@anu edu au. "Torres Strait Islanders and Autonomy: a Borderline Case." The Australian National University. Crawford School of Economics and Government, 2006. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20070612.114556.
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During 1996 and 1997 an Australian parliamentary committee conducted an inquiry into greater autonomy for Torres Strait Islanders, but by 2000 the future of the issue seemed unclear. This thesis explores what the notion of autonomy has meant for Torres Strait and for Torres Strait Islanders in the past, and what it might mean in the future. The thesis uses material from the period before European contact to just after the end of the parliamentary inquiry.
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Several analytical tools were utilised to explore the concept of autonomy. Major among these to propose and then analyse the relationship between autonomys economic and political components. The thesis also introduces the paired concepts of negative and positive autonomy to provide a counterpoint to ideas of welfare colonialism. Cross cutting these economic and political elements is a consideration of both regional and corporate forms of autonomy. The thesis argues that it is necessary to consider the factors which people can use to legitimise a case for autonomy and these are identified and discussed.
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Although previous research and historical material are utilised, unique parts of the thesis include an analysis of: the formal submissions and hearings associated with the parliamentary inquiry; the Torres Straits location between Australia and Papua New Guinea; and the Straits small-island make-up. In this latter regard, comparisons are made with models and examples of autonomy found in small island states and territories in the Pacific.
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The findings include that we must consider two groups of Torres Strait Islanders, those in Torres Strait and those on mainland Australia. Whereas those in the Strait have been able to legitimise a case for a form of autonomy those on the mainland have not. Islanders in the Strait have achieved a degree of regional autonomy; those on the mainland are unable to make a case to be part of this regional autonomy, or to achieve a form of corporate autonomy. The status of Islanders in the Strait is influenced by several factors including the Straits location on the border with Papua New Guinea, the associated Treaty with that country, and the nature and the accessibility of the in-shore fishery. A major finding however is that although Islanders have achieved a degree of regional political autonomy, which may be progressed yet further, they have been unable to embrace non-Indigenous people within this. Their present aspiration for regional political autonomy therefore is limited to one that would apply only to Indigenous-specific affairs. This stands in some conflict with their aspiration for regional economic autonomy which would include their control over the entire regional fishery which they presently share with non-Islanders.
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Though Islanders have achieved some degree of political autonomy, they depend on substantial government financial transfers to the region. Despite this they have also achieved some economic autonomy, particularly through being involved in the regions fishery. Juxtaposing negative and positive autonomy with political and economic autonomy shows that a dependence on government economic transfers does not preclude gains in political autonomy. This can be contrasted with the notion of welfare colonialism.
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Sharp, Nonie. "Stars of Tagai : the Torres Strait islanders /." Canberra : Aboriginal studies press, 1993. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb374246858.
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Th. Ph. D., 1984. Titre de soutenance : Springs of originality among the Torres Strait islanders : after the storm-winds the leafing of the wongai tree.Bibliogr. p. 283-300. Notes bibliogr. Glossaire. Index.
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Rieländer, Klaus. "Fernsehen der australischen Aborigines und Torres Strait Islanders /." Bonn : Holos, 1993. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb374501668.
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Hodes, Jeremy. "Torres Strait Islander migration to Cairns before World War II." [S.l. : s.n.], 1998. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/44839600.html.
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Thesis (Master of Letters)--Central Queensland University, 1998."A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Letters in History. Central Queensland University." Cover title.
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Pitt, George Henry. "The Indigenous history and colonial politics of Torres Strait: contesting culture and resources from 1867 to 1990." Thesis, Curtin University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/1165.
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The aim of my study is to comprehend why there is a significant gap in the economic development of Torres Strait. It questions why it is that Torres Strait Islanders as a whole remain largely economically unproductive in their present situation in contrast to the political beliefs of Islanders and their struggles for self-determination. It questions why Island leaders continue to accept policies of external control even though the guidelines for self development maintain the situation, rather than transforming it. Thus this thesis examines contemporary and traditional history of the Torres Strait in order to analyse and evaluate the development of the political structures of the Islands and how colonialism has influenced the politics of Torres Strait Islanders. I shift through the recorded layers of myths and legends for my interpretation and analyse the ethnographic accounts about Torres Strait from past archival reports, academic literature and the oral accounts from interviews. From the local media, I have examined the recent views of both the contented and discontented Islanders and other people reported in the local Torres News. From these records, I bring into perspective the historical processes of a capitalist economic system which has so deeply penetrated Islander culture.Commencing in the 1860s, at the onset of the Torres Strait beche-de-mer and pearl shell industry, the system has so failed Torres Strait Islanders' social development that it moved Islander leaders in the 1980s to push for cessation from Australia and, in the mid 1900s to seek "autonomy and self government" to remain within the Australian political system. In this thesis, I use this evidence to bring into perspective the concept of development with awareness to the colonial history of Torres Strait in comparison with oral history interpreted as the culture of my people. The theme my thesis implicates the contestation between Torres Strait Islanders and governments who impose administrative policies through the Islander system of political representation (regarding Islander culture and resources).
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Norman, Karma C. "Grasping Adubad : Badulgal management, tenure, knowledge and harvest within the marine environment of the Torres Strait /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6547.
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Nakata, Martin N. "The cultural interface: an exploration of the intersection of Western knowledge systems and Torres Strait Islanders positions and experiences." Thesis, Online version, 1997. https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11908/11/JCU_11908_Nakata_1997_thesis.pdf.
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This thesis is a study of the intersection of Western knowledge systems and Islander positions and experiences as they are inscribed in the literature on Torres Strait Islanders. By exploring and charting processes in the production of knowledges on Torres Strait Islanders over the last Century, this thesis has sought to understand what conditions the possibilities for Islanders in a Western order of things and to learn about whether historical relations between us, as formed discursively in the literature between Islanders and non-Islanders, constrain educational possibilities for Islanders.
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Nakata, Martin N. "The cultural interface : an exploration of the intersection of Western knowledge systems and Torres Strait Islanders positions and experiences /." Online version, 1997. http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/22615.
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Pitt, George Henry. "The Indigenous history and colonial politics of Torres Strait: contesting culture and resources from 1867 to 1990." Curtin University of Technology, Dept. of Social Sciences, Division of Humanities, 2005. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=18528.
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The aim of my study is to comprehend why there is a significant gap in the economic development of Torres Strait. It questions why it is that Torres Strait Islanders as a whole remain largely economically unproductive in their present situation in contrast to the political beliefs of Islanders and their struggles for self-determination. It questions why Island leaders continue to accept policies of external control even though the guidelines for self development maintain the situation, rather than transforming it. Thus this thesis examines contemporary and traditional history of the Torres Strait in order to analyse and evaluate the development of the political structures of the Islands and how colonialism has influenced the politics of Torres Strait Islanders. I shift through the recorded layers of myths and legends for my interpretation and analyse the ethnographic accounts about Torres Strait from past archival reports, academic literature and the oral accounts from interviews. From the local media, I have examined the recent views of both the contented and discontented Islanders and other people reported in the local Torres News. From these records, I bring into perspective the historical processes of a capitalist economic system which has so deeply penetrated Islander culture.Commencing in the 1860s, at the onset of the Torres Strait beche-de-mer and pearl shell industry, the system has so failed Torres Strait Islanders' social development that it moved Islander leaders in the 1980s to push for cessation from Australia and, in the mid 1900s to seek "autonomy and self government" to remain within the Australian political system. In this thesis, I use this evidence to bring into perspective the concept of development with awareness to the colonial history of Torres Strait in comparison with oral history interpreted as the culture of my people. The theme my thesis implicates the contestation between Torres Strait Islanders and governments who impose administrative policies through the Islander system of political representation (regarding Islander culture and resources).
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Grootjans, John. "Both ways and beyond : in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker education /." View thesis, 1999. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030725.103057/index.html.
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Ewing, Bronwyn. "Recognising Torres Strait Islander Women’s Knowledges in their Children’s Mathematics Education." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2012. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-79697.
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This paper discusses women’s involvement in their children’s mathematics education. It does, where possible, focus Torres Strait Islander women who share the aspirations of Aborginal communities around Australia. That is, they are keen for their children to receive an education that provides them with opportunities for their present and future lives. They are also keen to have their cultures’ child learning practices recognised and respected within mainstream education. This recognition has some way to go with the language of instruction in schools written to English conventions, decontextualised and disconnected to the students’ culture, Community and home language.
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Grootjans, John. "Both ways and beyond : in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker education." Thesis, View thesis, 1999. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/445.
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During 1987 my essential beliefs about the nature of the world were challenged by a chance event which led to my arrival in Arnhemland. Working with Aboriginal people allowed me to see first hand the failings of Western ideas in Aboriginal education and health. This is how a 12 year collaboration with Aboriginal people began. The aim was to search for answers to the question, 'Why so many ideas that had been successfully used in the Western world, fail to meet the needs of aboriginal people? My experiences prior to 1995 had led me to believe that Both Ways, an education pedagogy developed in teacher education, was the best approach for empowering Aboriginal Health Workers. I believed Both Ways gave Aboriginal Health Workers a means to develop solutions to aboriginal health issues which valued and respected their aboriginal knowledge. I needed to describe and evaluate the practice of both ways with Aboriginal Health workers for the purpose of proving the benefit of this pedagogy for other educators in this field. This thesis describes how I came to think Both Ways was a good idea; how I defined Both ways; and how I put it into practice. It also provides a description of the issues raised in my critique of Both Ways and in my attempts to provide answers to these issues. Several years of collecting data, including records from action research group discussions, participant observation, interviews with peers and students, and formal evaluations left me with many concerns about Both Ways. As educators follow my journey of discovery I hope that they will recognise experiences and insights that they themselves have shared. The descriptions and discussions in this thesis will add significantly to the overall discourse about health worker education. Similarly, the exploration of ideas beyond Both Ways will add significantly to the overall body knowledge about the power relationships involved in teaching in a cross cultural setting
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Aldrich, Rosemary Public Health & Community Medicine Faculty of Medicine UNSW. "Flesh-coloured bandaids: politics, discourse, policy and the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1972-2001." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Public Health and Community Medicine, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/27276.
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This thesis concerns the relationship between ideology, values, beliefs, politics, language, discourses, public policy and health outcomes. By examining the origins of federal health policy concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1972-2001 I have explored the idea that the way a problem is constructed through language determines solutions enacted to solve that problem, and subsequent outcomes. Despite three decades of federal policy activity Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children born at the start of the 21st Century could expect to live almost 20 years less than non-Indigenous Australians. Explanations for the gap include that the colonial legacy of dispossession and disease continues to wreak social havoc and that both health policy and structures for health services have been fundamentally flawed. The research described in this thesis focuses on the role of senior Federal politicians in the health policy process. The research is grounded in theory which suggests that the values and beliefs of decision makers are perpetuated through language. Using critical discourse analysis the following hypotheses were tested: 1. That an examination of the language of Federal politicians responsible for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples over three decades would reveal their beliefs, values and discourses concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their health 2. That the discourses of the Federal politicians contributed to policy discourses and frames in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy environment, and 3. That there is a relationship between the policy discourses of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy environment and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The hypotheses were proven. I concluded that there was a relationship between the publicly-expressed values and beliefs of politicians responsible for health, subsequent health policy and resulting health outcomes. However, a model in which theories of discourse, social constructions of people and problems, policy development and organisational decision-making were integrated did not adequately explain the findings. I developed the concept of "policy imagination" to explain the discrete mechanism by which ideology, politics, policy and health were related. My research suggests that the ideology and values which drove decision-making by Federal politicians responsible for the health of all Australians contributed to the lack of population-wide improvement in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the late 20th Century.
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Hall, Robert Anthony. "The relationship between Aborigines, Islanders and armed forces in the Second World War." Phd thesis, University of New South Wales, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/267261.
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Burridge, Nina. "The implementation of the policy of Reconciliation in NSW schools." Phd thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/25954.
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"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
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Ewing, Bronwyn. "Meeting under the "Omei" Tree in the Torres Strait Islands: Networks and Funds of Knowledge of Mathematical Ideas." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2012. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-82480.
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Taffe, Sue (Sue Elizabeth) 1945. "The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders : the politics of inter-racial coalition in Australia, 1958-1973." Monash University, School of Historical Studies, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8964.
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Oxenford, Alison. "Visual profile of aboriginal & Torres strait islander school children in urban Queensland and their associated vision and reading problems." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2000. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36752/1/36752_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.
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The reading and school performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (A & TSI) children has been reported to be poorer than that of the wider community. The known association between reading and vision formed the basis of the principal hypothesis tested in this thesis that the poor reading performance of these children has a visual basis. Two experiments made up the main study which examined the visual characteristics and reading performance of children attending two different urban schools; the Holy Rosary school, which catered for children from many ("mixed") cultural backgrounds and the St Francis school, whose students were predominantly of A & TSI culture.
In experiment I, the visual characteristics of 41 A & TSI children (13 from the Holy Rosary school, 28 from the St Francis school), aged between 8 and 11 years were measured. In general, A & TSI children exhibited low hyperopic refractive errors and other optometric findings were similarly within normal limits. Agematched data for 13 A & TSI children from each of the two schools was also compared. Horizontal eye movement ability and reading comprehension skills were significantly poorer in the A & TSI children attending the "mixed" (Holy Rosary) school, while the perceptual skills of the A & TSI students attending the "A & TSI" (St Francis) school were significantly worse.
The second experiment investigated the vision and reading performance of A & TSI and non-A & TSI children attending the same school. Age-matched data of 13 A & TSI and 13 non-A & TSI students were analysed. While the visual profiles of the A & TSI and non-A & TSI students were not significantly different, the reading accuracy and comprehension scores were significantly worse in the A & TSI children when compared with the non-A & TSI group. The results from both experiments are consistent with previous reports of poor reading performance in A & TSI children but argue against poor vision being the cause of this reduced reading performance.
As an adjunct to this study, the Turtle chart, designed specifically for use with A & TSI children, was evaluated. The vision of 97 students, 60 A & TSI and 37 non-A & TSI students, aged between 6 and 12 years, was measured using both a standard Bailey-Lovie chart and a Turtle chart. The results obtained with the two charts were highly correlated, indicating that the Turtle chart is a culturally appropriate alternative for the measurement of vision in A & TSI children.
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Nicholls, Ruth M. "Ethics of trust and resistance participation in indigenous research /." View abstract, 2009. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/46639.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2009.A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.
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Lee, Vanessa Sharon. "Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services: Controlled or Controlling their own Destinies?" Thesis, Griffith University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367501.
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The Indigenous people in Australia are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Since colonisation in 1788 this population has diminished significantly. Following years of advocacy addressing inequitable government policies towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the first Aboriginal Medical Service was established in Redfern, New South Wales, in 1971. From this one Aboriginal Medical Service there grew many more across Australia; in some jurisdictions they are referred to as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS). This study was designed to examine the bureaucratic and organisational structures, functions and operations of these ACCHS, and how these services meet both the organisation’s requirements and the community’s expectations when delivering a culturally-appropriate health service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
This research applies a case study method within a qualitative paradigm for the depth needed to explore the research aims. Following discussions with the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council, the sites for this research were identified in central and southern Queensland. The three sites were vastly separated by distance but at the same time subjected to similar historical abuse. The participants drawn from these sites were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the research attempted to capture their perceptions. Each case was subjected to a conceptual and thematic analysis to draw out the key themes and concepts and thence to develop a theoretical model of how the ACCHS balance their organisational requirements and community expectations.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Medical Science
Griffith Health
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Cannon, Jonathan. "Reading between the crimes: Online media’s representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interaction with the criminal justice system in post-apology Australia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2018. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2140.
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Australian research confirms that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience high levels of social inequality, racism and injustice. Evidence of discrimination and inequality is most obvious within the criminal justice system where they are seriously over-represented. The Australian news media plays a large part in reinforcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality, stereotypes and racist ideology within specific situations such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the Redfern riots. This study widens the scope from how the media reports a single criminal justice event to how the media reports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interaction with the criminal justice system. The study relies on Norman Fairclough’s (2003) theory of critical discourse analysis to analyse critically 25 Australian online news media articles featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Specifically, the study applies Fairclough’s (2003) three assumptive categories (existential, propositional and value). It identifies discourse reinforcing dominance and inequality within those media articles and reveals two major findings. The first significant finding is the unwillingness of any article to challenge or question the power structures that reinforce or lead to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality. The second major finding involves three ideologies within the text communicating racism and inequality: neo-colonial, neo-liberal assimilation and paternalistic ideologies. The concern is that although the twenty-five news media articles appear neutral, the critical analysis reveals racist ideologies being communicated and an unwillingness to challenge the power structures that create these. This position suggests that racism is not just a problem of a bygone era—it is a contemporary issue continuing at a deeper level nestled in the underlying assumptions and ideologies found within news media discourse. These findings would bring awareness to the media’s discursive practices and generate further discussion and research to address the discursive structures responsible for perpetuating the systemic harm to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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Nicholls, Ruth M. "Ethics of trust and resistance : participation in indigenous research." Thesis, View abstract, 2009. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/46639.
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In negotiating research relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the question of colonisation runs deep. Often, as a gesture to counter the colonising effects of the research gaze, ‘participation’ is hailed as a methodological solution, as a means of healing and transforming power relations. In practice however, the ethical implications of research activities remain complex and contested (Cornwall, 2008, p.276). Much is written about why participatory methods offer remedial qualities of empowerment to counter colonialism in research, but there is little discussion of what happens when participatory research with Indigenous Australians does not operate as a smooth process of reclamation. Often, researchers avoid accounting for resistance to participation because this is viewed as a personal ‘failure’ to accurately represent the interests of a colonised group. The basis of these assumptions comes from a moral compulsion to alter power relations towards social justice: such logic cannot accept that ‘oppressed’ peoples would reject opportunities for empowerment. Yet, international literature (Kothari, 2001) shows that subjectivities comprising participatory research must be carefully considered when constructing research relationships. Drawing from a case study of my own participatory research experience with an Aboriginal community development organisation in Western Sydney, I consider how a non–Indigenous researcher might approach an understanding of their ethics when attempting to ‘decolonise’ their research. I reflexively investigate my own practice to offer a discussion of the ways in which researchers can understand how they come to determine what is ethical and what is not. My account begins with a description of a case study involving multiple forms of participation over a three–year period, which I explore as a series of ‘invited spaces’ (Cornwall, 2004). Drawing from my case study, I incorporate Foucault’s ethics (2005) by discussing how ethics codes create subjectivities, which not only shape the participants in the research, but also shape the kind of ‘selves’ researchers seek to become through participatory research. I consider the contingencies that have led to the construction of a remedial role for participatory methods in research involving Indigenous Australians by critically analysing the discourses within the National Health and Medical Research Council’s ethics guidelines. This research offers a multi–layered approach to reflexivity, by attending to transparency, interpersonal relationships, and a collective evaluation of the process with participants (Nicholls, 2009). Collective reflection about (re)presenting research findings to a variety of audiences highlights the importance of examining one’s own motives as crucial to ‘ethical’ practice. Researchers seeking to achieve a form of participation without resistance set themselves an impossible task. Resistance is not to be feared, but is to be expected within the mechanics of power relations amongst subjectivities within ‘communities’. Incorporating resistance into accounts of participatory research enables an ability to acknowledge ‘internal conflicts and contradictions’ (Fawcett and Hearn, 2004, p. 211) without deeming participation a failure. I argue that participation is a liminal space between trust and resistance, containing tensions and productive possibilities. By attending to one's ethics (Foucault, 2005), participatory researchers might now understand fluidity, uncertainty, and dynamism within research relationships as a rich source of reflexive work towards countering the colonising gaze.
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Robinson, Raymond Stanley. "Dreaming tracks : history of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme, 1972-1979 : its place in the continuum of Australian indigenous dance and the contribution of its African American founder, Carole Y. Johnson /." View thesis View thesis, 2000. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030604.085603/index.html.
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Thesis (M.A.) (Honours) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 2000.A thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Honours) - (Performance), School of Applied Social and Human Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 2000. Bibliography : Vol. 1, leaves 202-209.
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De, Costa Ravindra Noel John. "New relationships, old certainties Australia's reconciliation and treaty-making in British Columbia /." Connect to this title online, 2002. http://adt.lib.swin.edu.au/public/adt-VSWT20050627.092937/.
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Latino, Steven. "Social Media Portrayals of Three Extractives Companies’ Funding of Sport for Development in Indigenous Communities in Canada and Australia." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/40682.
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The extractives industry (mining, oil, and gas) engages in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to reinforce its organizational legitimacy and enhance its public image. One such approach to CSR that is popular in the industry is through funding sport initiatives aimed at Indigenous peoples (often termed Sport for Development; SFD). On the surface, such funding may seem commendable and innocuous; however, questions have been raised about the ways in which such funding may obfuscate the harmful impacts that the extractives industry has had and continues to have on Indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. Through the adoption of a postcolonial theoretical perspective and in conjunction with netnographic methods and discourse analysis, this project involved a consideration of how extractives companies portray their funding of sport programs in Indigenous communities on social media. Given the research focus on Indigenous communities in the countries known as Canada and Australia, between country differences were also examined. Three discourses related to the extractives industry’s funding of SFD in Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia were developed. These discourses included the following: 1) Extractives companies are proud “partners” of Indigenous communities; 2) Extractives companies are committed to helping Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia; and 3) Canadian extractives companies are future focused and past-blind, while Australian extractives companies are advocates for reconciliation. Overall, extractives companies in Canada and Australia were found to use social media to portray themselves as responsible and committed partners of Indigenous communities, while obscuring the ongoing histories of colonialism through discourses of empowerment and development through sport. Suggestions are made regarding ongoing interrogation of the ways in which the extractives industry perpetuates colonialism.
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Robinson, Raymond Stanley. "Dreaming tracks : history of the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme, 1972-1979 : its place in the continuum." Thesis, View thesis View thesis, 2000. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/76.
Full textAbstract:
Dreaming Tracks was chosen for the title of this history because of its reference to the journeys and routes taken by the ancestral founders of each of the extended family clans. As they travelled they recorded the events and situations they encountered along the way , which they left in story, painting, song lines and dances for the future survival of their people. The history of the Aboriginal/Islander Skills Development Scheme also pertains to a journey. This journey records the events that brought about the establishment of the longest surviving, urban Indigenous dance organization. It's a voyage that identifies the obstacles and accomplishments of its founding members, who dedicated themselves to the hard work to ensure the continuum of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance. It was their dream, to have an Australian Black Dance Company that would create a link between past and present, traditional and urban. The pathways they created equipped urban Indigenous Australians with a unique dance identity of their own, and established the path to continued contact with the traditional owners. Dreaming Tracks is contemporary Dreaming lore that begins with the contention for land rights in the early 1970's and follows the progress of the Aboriginal/Islander Skills Development Scheme to the end of the decade. It records the desires, dreams and conflicts that brought this organization into being. In parallel, the concerns of the founder, Carole Y. Johnson, sets the path for the journey, which by the end of the twentieth-century witnessed the establishment of an accredited dance course, two dance companies (The Aboriginal/Islander Dance Theatre and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia) and students who are key participants in the artistic design of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney Australia
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Knight, Michele Therese. "Growing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/13789.
Full textAbstract:
The current study consisted of two initiatives. The first initiative was to qualitatively explore the perceptions and attitudes of Career Advisers in New South Wales secondary schools regarding health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students. The second initiative was to explore strategies for raising awareness and stimulating interest in health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students. Fifteen Career Advisers from fifteen secondary schools across metropolitan and regional New South Wales participated in the study. At three separate data collection sites, and at the express request of the participant, the school Aboriginal Education Assistant also contributed primary data to the study. It was the express wish of Career Advisers at these schools that an Indigenous perspective be included in the study. At one data collection site, the Deputy School Principal also expressed the wish to be included in the study. In total nineteen participants contributed toward the study. Findings from the current study suggest that Career Advisers work within a challenging world-of-work context which is constantly changing in order to meet the demands of globalisation. Furthermore, it is evident that within this world-of-work context Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students face significant barriers and socio-economic disadvantage. This disadvantage severely impacts upon and restricts these students’ access to career education within the schooling environment. Additionally, the opportunity to engage with and foster lifelong learning in conjunction with ongoing career development is also negatively impacted upon. Other than with medicine and nursing, Career Advisers were found to have limited knowledge regarding both the diversity and range of allied health careers that are currently available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Career Advisers noted they work collaboratively with Aboriginal Education Assistants, who are a core component of the learning and teaching environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. In spite of the critical role they play in holistically integrating the schooling environment and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, it was noted that of those schools that did employ Aboriginal Education Assistants, did so on a part-time or casual basis. It was also noted by some participants that despite the necessity for Aboriginal Education Assistants to be on staff in their school, and to be available to themselves and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, there was no Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person employed in that capacity. Notwithstanding these significant challenges, research outcomes from the current study will recommend that Career Advisers and Aboriginal Education Assistants be supported in their roles. This is particularly important if they are to raise awareness and stimulate interest in health career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Furthermore, it is recommended that additional research be conducted in order to determine how the Commonwealth Department of of Education Science and Training can best provide this support.
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Williamson, Alan. "Schooling the Torres Strait Islander, 1873-1941." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1990. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/26312.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the role of schooling in the implementation and achievement of the respective religious and secular policies of the London Missionary Society (L.M.S.) and the Queensland Government in the Reserve Islands of Torres Strait. It sets out to analyse the educational policies of mission and government, the practices and processes by which attempts were made to implement them in the schools, and the outcomes of schooling for the L.M.S., the Queensland government, and Torres Strait Islanders. Particular attention is paid to policies, styles of administration, the curriculum, roles of teachers, indigenous teacher training, and Islanders' responses to schooling. The various historical, socio-cultural, geographical, and community contexts in which schooling was set are woven into the analysis as important considerations.
The thesis reviews arguments for considering the Reserve Islands as a colony of Queensland. Further, it attempts to go beyond conventional theorising on colonial education by using holistic, qualitative and interpretive approaches. These approaches allow for interactive analysis of an array of elements in the Reserve Islands which shaped the policies, practices, and outcomes of schooling. It provides for an eclectic historiography, which, it is argued, allows for Islander and European viewpoints to be considered, and relevant contextual features to be included.
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McLeod, Abby. "Towards an understanding of musical variation in Torres Strait : an analysis of songs performed by two Torres Strait Islander singers /." Title page, contents and conclusion only, 1996. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09MUB/09mubm165.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (B. Mus.(Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Music Studies, 1996.A loose leaved appendix of Transcriptions in back pocket (31 leaves). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).
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Macniven, Rona Margaret. "Physical activity and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/17811.
Full textAbstract:
Background Globally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes represent an issue of epidemic proportion, responsible for tens of millions of premature deaths annually. NCDs are also responsible for reducing quality of life and causing detrimental social and economic effects. Disparities across population groups are evident. In Australia, NCDs were a leading cause of the total burden of disease in 2011. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a shorter life expectancy and poorer health risk factors and outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians. Much of this gap in life expectancy has been attributed to preventable NCDs. Physical activity is a key modifiable cause of the excess burden of disease and mortality. Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, there is a lack of evidence around the associations between physical activity and health and demographic factors and the impact of strategies to increase physical activity, compared to mainstream evidence. Aims This thesis aims to contribute towards building an evidence base around the association of physical activity on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The first aim is to examine cross-sectional associations between physical activity and a range of lifestyle, environmental and social factors among adults. Subsequently, the thesis identifies and describes physical activity patterns and influencing factors among adolescents. The third aim is to describe characteristics of physical activity programs targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Lastly, the thesis aims to measure the effects of a community-based physical activity program. Methods The series of studies used a range of methods. The first study examined whether achievement of national physical activity recommendations was associated with healthy lifestyle behaviours, neighbourhood environmental characteristics and social support among Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal adults in New South Wales (NSW) (Chapter 2). The second study examined cross-sectional demographic, social, psychosocial and health correlates of physical activity among Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal adolescents in NSW (Chapter 3). The third study examined age related declines in physical activity among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people and their variation by season, setting and type among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from between 2007/8 and 2011/12 (Chapter 4). The fourth study reviewed the scientific and grey literature for physical activity programs targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders operating between 2012 and 2015, described their characteristics and engaged with program coordinators to verify sourced information (Chapter 5). The final study examined the health and community impacts of the Indigenous Marathon Program (IMP) in a remote Torres Strait island community, using questionnaire and semi-structured interview mixed methods (Chapter 6). Results In Chapter 2, a similar proportion of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults achieved national physical activity recommendations and factors relating to achieving recommendations were similar in both groups. However, neighbourhood features and social support were less favourable among Aboriginal adults. Among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adolescents, physical activity levels were similarly low but some correlates differed by Aboriginality (Chapter 3). Aboriginal girls were less active than boys, as were those whose mothers were unemployed. In Chapter 4, serial physical activity declines were found in a population of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people over five years, but not across all seasons, settings and types. Chapter 5, identifies 110 programs that aimed to increase physical activity for health or broader social outcomes. Around half were found to collect process or impact evaluation data but this is underrepresented in the scientific literature. In Chapter 6, impacts of Indigenous Marathon Program were the adoption of running and broader healthy lifestyle factors in a remote community with a high initial level of community readiness. Barriers to running were both personal, cultural and environmental. Conclusion The findings from this thesis make a novel contribution to building an evidence base of associations between physical activity and the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. A number of factors associated with physical activity in adults and children are unique to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders populations; other factors are similar to those experienced by mainstream populations. It is vitally important that physical activity programs that aim to improve health or social outcomes can determine their value through evaluation.
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Hall, Kerry K. "Acute respiratory illness in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2017. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/110528/1/Kerry_Hall_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is the first to comprehensively evaluate Acute Respiratory Illness with Cough (ARIwC) in urban, predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, children. It identified a community experiencing significant disadvantage and a concerning burden of ARIwC. Positive findings include the frequent presentation to primary health care, continuity of primary health care provider, and knowledge of when cough is abnormal; factors that are all critical to the success of interventions and further research to reduce the burden of disease.
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McMaster, John. "Yumi pedagogy: pedagogy with cultural integrity in the Torres Strait." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Education, 2006. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00006230/.
Full textAbstract:
[The Mariner's Chart]I've chosen to use the metaphor of the mariners chart to highlight the characteristics that are the essential elements of this study. This metaphor also sits comfortably with the Torres Strait Islander people, both historically and contemporaneously. The document '(IN) THE BEGINNING: The mariner’s chart to the folio’, represents the chart which enables readers ofthis study to 'navigate' their individual progress through the study in ways that reflect the reader's motivation/s. As with most maritime voyages, destinations can be reached via a number of different routes. These routes will be partially determined by motivations including tides, winds, directness, the skill of the navigator and the whim of the skipper. These motivations also apply to any reading of this study. The essential starting point will bedetermined initially by reference to the chart. Being made aware of the elements of the folio (logs of the various voyages) will influence where the reader goes from there; in other words, what folio elements (logs of the voyages) the reader will go to first and the order they chooseto follow, subsequent to that. There is no necessary order in which the logs of the various voyages should be read, following the initial reference to the 'chart'.The mariner's chart identifies low water marks, channel markers, reefs, sandbanks, and unseen obstacles. These represent only a handful of the dangers the reader (mariner) will face on the voyage. Likewise the study has its share of 'dangers', both seen and unseen. Thewhole nature of the study is in a sense, dangerous. I anticipate that any reading of the study will necessarily reflect the idiosyncrasies of the reader, so that the conclusions that I have reached, represent only one view of the data. The identification of the data itself reflects a level of interpretation that is also very personal, highlighting the reality that others(readers/mariners) may see greater significance in aspects of the recorded data that the author has not. The log of the voyage, My Journey An Autobiographical Narrative, clearly identifies a very personal journey or series of journeys, all of which reflect a range of reefs and sandbars that the author has sometimes been stranded on, between tides, giving time for reflection on actions that have either proven unsuccessful or are cause for quietcontemplation. Each of the folio elements reflects this metaphoric mix of danger and clear passage, in many different ways and at many different levels, inviting the individual and equally legitimate reactions of each reader.Whilst Torres Strait Islanders historically navigated by the stars and the seasons today, electronic navigation charts have tended to replace these important and culturally significant practices. Torres Strait people have metaphorically experienced being stranded on reefs andshoals and being wrecked, especially in terms of the education processes they have been exposed to, by virtue of this cultural shift. The process, educationally, of replacing the reliable historic (navigation) practices of Torres Strait Islanders with contemporary, western(navigation charts) practices has frequently resulted in confusion, frustration and a failure to produce successful educational outcomes for Torres Strait Islanders - clear passage to the future. The reasons for this situation are explored in greater depth in this study.With these explanations in mind then, the reader is invited to engage on their own voyage through this study.
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Adams, Michael John. "Sexual and reproductive health problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16599/1/Michael_John_Adams_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Compared to males in almost any social group in all affluent nations, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men suffer from substantially more serious illnesses and early death. To date, research done by or in collaboration with Indigenous communities has revealed the extent of the problems that arise from diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancers, respiratory diseases, psychological disorders, accidental injuries, violence and other causes. Reproductive health, however, rarely has been studied among Indigenous men. To date, research in this field has been limited mainly to studies of sexually transmitted infections. No data has been published on Aboriginal men's symptoms of prostate disease or erectile dysfunction, nor has the clinical screening and treatment of these disorders among these men been assessed. In-depth search of the worldwide web demonstrated that little information on these issues was available from other Indigenous populations. It does appear that Indigenous men in Australia, New Zealand and North America are less likely than European-ancestry men to die from prostate cancer, or for living cases to be recorded on cancer registries. This may arise because Indigenous men genuinely have a lower risk, or because they are not captured by official statistics, or because they do not live long enough to develop severe prostate disease. We also know very little about other reproductive health problems such as sexual dysfunction and specifically erectile difficulties. One reason for our scant knowledge is that research mainly relies on self-report of sensitive information. The aim of the research study was to improve the understanding of sexual and reproductive health problems experienced by Indigenous men. This is best gathered by Aboriginal males who are inside the culture of middleaged and older Indigenous men, but until now this has not been attempted. In this study we adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) definitions for Reproductive and Sexual Health (WHO, 2001). Thus, we consider reproductive system disorders (prostate disease, erectile dysfunction) and related health care-seeking, and also men's perceptions about a "satisfying and safe sexual life". The methodology was framed within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research protocol that advocates respect for cultural, social and community customs. A mixed method design combined qualitative inquiry (4 focus groups and 18 in-depth interviews) and quantitative survey (n=301) involving men living in remote, rural and urban communities (Tiwi Islands, Darwin and north and south-east Queensland). Survey data were compared to recently published self-reports from 5990 randomly selected men aged over 40 years in Australia (Holden et al., 2005, The Lancet, 366, 218-224. The qualitative interviews revealed that most men were silent about reproductive health. They were unwilling to reveal their inner feelings to wives or partners, and they were unwilling to discuss such issues with doctors and other health care workers. Men's reaction to sexual difficulties included shame, denial, substance abuse and occasionally violence. On a positive note many men said they want to learn about it, so they understand how to cope with such problems. The Indigenous men reported symptoms of erectile dysfunction at least as much as non-Indigenous men in other Australian studies. Bivariate analysis showed that erectile dysfunction was correlated with many health and lifestyle variable. However multivariate analysis revealed that only three factors significantly predicted ED: presence of chronic disease, presence of pain when working, and living in a remote geographic location The quantitative survey data indicate that Indigenous men have more symptoms of prostate disease than non-Indigenous men. The syndrome appears to be poorly managed in clinical practice (e.g. rates of PSA testing and digital-rectal examination are only one-third the rate reported by non-Aboriginal men, despite equivalent likelihood of GP visits). The research study adds to the literature by providing better insight and depth into the issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males experiencing reproductive and sexual health difficulties. It also provides a platform to undertake comprehensive research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men to explore a wider spectrum of questions in this important but neglected area. Implications for education of primary healthcare workers and community-based awareness campaigns for Indigenous males are discussed. Most of all, this study revealed "layers" of silence around sexual and reproductive health of Indigenous men. This includes silence in the scientific establishments in health services, and in the community. It is hoped that this study puts the voices of the men forward to help to break down this silence.
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Adams, Michael John. "Sexual and reproductive health problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16599/.
Full textAbstract:
Compared to males in almost any social group in all affluent nations, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men suffer from substantially more serious illnesses and early death. To date, research done by or in collaboration with Indigenous communities has revealed the extent of the problems that arise from diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancers, respiratory diseases, psychological disorders, accidental injuries, violence and other causes. Reproductive health, however, rarely has been studied among Indigenous men. To date, research in this field has been limited mainly to studies of sexually transmitted infections. No data has been published on Aboriginal men's symptoms of prostate disease or erectile dysfunction, nor has the clinical screening and treatment of these disorders among these men been assessed. In-depth search of the worldwide web demonstrated that little information on these issues was available from other Indigenous populations. It does appear that Indigenous men in Australia, New Zealand and North America are less likely than European-ancestry men to die from prostate cancer, or for living cases to be recorded on cancer registries. This may arise because Indigenous men genuinely have a lower risk, or because they are not captured by official statistics, or because they do not live long enough to develop severe prostate disease. We also know very little about other reproductive health problems such as sexual dysfunction and specifically erectile difficulties. One reason for our scant knowledge is that research mainly relies on self-report of sensitive information. The aim of the research study was to improve the understanding of sexual and reproductive health problems experienced by Indigenous men. This is best gathered by Aboriginal males who are inside the culture of middleaged and older Indigenous men, but until now this has not been attempted. In this study we adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) definitions for Reproductive and Sexual Health (WHO, 2001). Thus, we consider reproductive system disorders (prostate disease, erectile dysfunction) and related health care-seeking, and also men's perceptions about a "satisfying and safe sexual life". The methodology was framed within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research protocol that advocates respect for cultural, social and community customs. A mixed method design combined qualitative inquiry (4 focus groups and 18 in-depth interviews) and quantitative survey (n=301) involving men living in remote, rural and urban communities (Tiwi Islands, Darwin and north and south-east Queensland). Survey data were compared to recently published self-reports from 5990 randomly selected men aged over 40 years in Australia (Holden et al., 2005, The Lancet, 366, 218-224. The qualitative interviews revealed that most men were silent about reproductive health. They were unwilling to reveal their inner feelings to wives or partners, and they were unwilling to discuss such issues with doctors and other health care workers. Men's reaction to sexual difficulties included shame, denial, substance abuse and occasionally violence. On a positive note many men said they want to learn about it, so they understand how to cope with such problems. The Indigenous men reported symptoms of erectile dysfunction at least as much as non-Indigenous men in other Australian studies. Bivariate analysis showed that erectile dysfunction was correlated with many health and lifestyle variable. However multivariate analysis revealed that only three factors significantly predicted ED: presence of chronic disease, presence of pain when working, and living in a remote geographic location The quantitative survey data indicate that Indigenous men have more symptoms of prostate disease than non-Indigenous men. The syndrome appears to be poorly managed in clinical practice (e.g. rates of PSA testing and digital-rectal examination are only one-third the rate reported by non-Aboriginal men, despite equivalent likelihood of GP visits). The research study adds to the literature by providing better insight and depth into the issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males experiencing reproductive and sexual health difficulties. It also provides a platform to undertake comprehensive research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men to explore a wider spectrum of questions in this important but neglected area. Implications for education of primary healthcare workers and community-based awareness campaigns for Indigenous males are discussed. Most of all, this study revealed "layers" of silence around sexual and reproductive health of Indigenous men. This includes silence in the scientific establishments in health services, and in the community. It is hoped that this study puts the voices of the men forward to help to break down this silence.
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Grootjans, John, of Western Sydney Hawkesbury University, and of Health Humanities and Social Ecology Faculty. "Both ways and beyond : in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker education." THESIS_FHHSE_SEL_Grootjans_J.xml, 1999. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/445.
Full textAbstract:
During 1987 my essential beliefs about the nature of the world were challenged by a chance event which led to my arrival in Arnhemland. Working with Aboriginal people allowed me to see first hand the failings of Western ideas in Aboriginal education and health. This is how a 12 year collaboration with Aboriginal people began. The aim was to search for answers to the question, 'Why so many ideas that had been successfully used in the Western world, fail to meet the needs of aboriginal people? My experiences prior to 1995 had led me to believe that Both Ways, an education pedagogy developed in teacher education, was the best approach for empowering Aboriginal Health Workers. I believed Both Ways gave Aboriginal Health Workers a means to develop solutions to aboriginal health issues which valued and respected their aboriginal knowledge. I needed to describe and evaluate the practice of both ways with Aboriginal Health workers for the purpose of proving the benefit of this pedagogy for other educators in this field. This thesis describes how I came to think Both Ways was a good idea; how I defined Both ways; and how I put it into practice. It also provides a description of the issues raised in my critique of Both Ways and in my attempts to provide answers to these issues. Several years of collecting data, including records from action research group discussions, participant observation, interviews with peers and students, and formal evaluations left me with many concerns about Both Ways. As educators follow my journey of discovery I hope that they will recognise experiences and insights that they themselves have shared. The descriptions and discussions in this thesis will add significantly to the overall discourse about health worker education. Similarly, the exploration of ideas beyond Both Ways will add significantly to the overall body knowledge about the power relationships involved in teaching in a cross cultural settingDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Hogarth, Melitta Dorn. "A critical analysis of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2015. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/89754/1/Melitta_Hogarth_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This study involves the analysis of one of the most recent Indigenous Education policies, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010-2014 (MCEECDYA, 2011). It examines how the language used within policy positions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Articulating Rigney's (1999) Indigenist Research Principles with Fairclough's (2001) Critical Discourse Analysis provides a platform for critical dialogues about policy decision-making. In doing so, this articulation enables and emphasises the need for potential policy revision to contribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander struggle for self-determination.
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Nalatu, Simone Taraivosa. "'Understanding the Physical Activity Patterns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mothers, Including the Factors that Influence Participation'." Thesis, Griffith University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366930.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores the physical activity experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers from a health promotion viewpoint, in which the determinants of physical activity can be understood. Although regarded as highly inactive subgroup of the population, little is known about the influence the determinants of health have on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers’ physical activity participation. Therefore it is difficult to understand how future interventions could be developed to improve physical activity levels and probably explains why so few exist. The central argument of this thesis was that standardised, ‘one size fits all’ approaches, targeted at the majority are ineffective if they did not address the needs of specific groups and populations.
Physical inactivity is a serious public health issue for all Australians, in particular the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, who suffer the greatest burden of disease. Hence, efforts to close the gap are needed by promoting physical activity, which is noted as the second most modifiable risk factor to chronic disease. In order to do this a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence participation is needed. Whilst limited information that documented the physical activity determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers was available, the influences of the broader determinants were examined. The World Health Organization’s social determinants of health were used as framework to understand the various influences that impacted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s lives. The purpose of this initial investigation was to contextualise physical activity behaviour. At this point however, it was discovered that the evidence base of the broader Australian maternal population was also relatively small. Therefore, pilot work was conducted to strengthen the knowledge and approach that would be taken in the main study.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Public Health
Griffith Health
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Lukaszyk, Caroline. "Falls in older Aboriginal people: risk factors, burden, and development of a culturally appropriate fall prevention intervention." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/18045.
Full textAbstract:
Abstracts – oral conference presentations Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Sherrington, C., Close, J., Coombes, J., Mitchell, R., Moore, R., Ivers, R. Fallrelated injury hospitalisations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50+ in New South Wales, Australia, 15th World Congress on Public Health, April 2017, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Sherrington, C., Close, J., Coombes, J., Ivers, R. Investigating hospitalisations due to fall-related injury for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in New South Wales, Australia, 7th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, November 2016, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Preventing falls amongst older Aboriginal people: development and pilot evaluation of the Ironbark Program, 15th National Conference of Emerging Researchers in Ageing, October 2016, Canberra, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Approaches to preventing falls amongst older Aboriginal people, Travelling Rural Fall Prevention Network Forum, September 2016, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Australia, invited speaker Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Developing and trialling a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people, Australian Health Promotion Association, June 2016, Perth, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Approaches to developing a falls prevention program for older Aboriginal people, Australian Injury Prevention Network, November 2015, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Falls Prevention in Older Aboriginal People: Approaches to Program Development, Championing Falls in April Forum, April 2015, Sydney, Australia, invited speaker Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Falls prevention in older Aboriginal people: service audit and yarning circle discussions, Australian Injury Prevention Network, November 2014, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Mack, H., Ivers, R. The Ironbark Project: Fall Prevention in Older Aboriginal People in NSW, Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, November 2014, Sydney, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Ironbark Project Service Audit on Fall Prevention in Aboriginal People, Emerging Health Policy Research Conference, October 2014, Sydney, Australia Abstracts – poster conference presentations Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Keay, L., Sherrington, C., Tiedemann, A., Turner, NJ., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Hillmann, E., Ivers, R. Working together to develop and trial a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people. Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference, November 2016, Melbourne, Australia Lukaszyk, C., Harvey, L., Close, J., Ivers, R. Investigating fall-related injury hospitalisations for older Indigenous people in Australia, 12th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, September 2016, Tampere, Finland Lukaszyk, C., Coombes, J., Sherrington, C., Keay, L., Tiedemann, A., Cumming, R., Broe, T., Ivers, R. Developing and trialling a culturally appropriate fall prevention program for older Aboriginal people, RICH forum, March 2015, Multiple locations, Australia Workshops “Fall prevention for older Aboriginal people: lessons from the Ironbark Aboriginal Fall Prevention Project”, pre-conference workshop for the 7th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference, Melbourne, November 2016 Awards Cross Cultural Public Health Research Award. May 2017. University of Sydney and University of Western Sydney. Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Travel Grant. October 2017. University of Sydney, School of Public Health. Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Travel Grant. October 2016. University of Sydney, School of Public Health.
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Farnbach, Sara. "Conducting high-quality, culturally-appropriate primary healthcare research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/18850.
Full textAbstract:
Health research should inform culturally-appropriate, evidence-based primary healthcare (PHC), potentially enhancing social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Indigenous) Peoples. When conducting such research, scientific and ethical quality should be forefront. Aim To identify approaches and enablers to conducting high-quality, culturally-appropriate Indigenous-focused SEWB PHC research. Methods This thesis comprises three sections: firstly, two systematic reviews of the Indigenous-focused SEWB PHC research literature; secondly, an in-depth critical and reflective case study of an Indigenous-focused SEWB PHC research project entitled Getting it Right: the validation study (hereafter referred to as Getting it Right); finally, a process evaluation of Getting it Right using a grounded theory approach. Results Twenty-five research projects were included in the systematic reviews. Two were judged as high quality using scientific and ethical criteria. Research projects that were judged as ethical used culturally-sensitive approaches, focused on developing relationships and involved community members. These approaches also appeared to enable this research. Getting it Right had an adaptive protocol (where localised approaches were developed within certain requirements) and PHC services were reimbursed on a per participant basis. The research was evaluated as meeting scientific and ethical quality criteria. The process evaluation showed that the research was acceptable to most participating staff (n=36), community members (n=4) and participants (n=500). Many were willing to participate in research and speak about SEWB. Staff reported that the reimbursement provided to the service sufficiently resourced the research. Conclusion High-quality, culturally-appropriate Indigenous-focused SEWB PHC research can be facilitated by culturally-sensitive, flexible, collaborative and sufficiently-funded approaches.
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Shepherd, Carrington C. J. "The socioeconomic pattern of health and developmental outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children." Thesis, Curtin University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/712.
Full textAbstract:
The pervasive health and social disadvantage faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an acknowledged part of Australian society. The contemporary data reveal striking inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in most measurable aspects of wellbeing across the life cycle. This reflects a postcolonial history of marginalisation and exclusion from mainstream society, dispossession of traditional lands, forced separation from family and kinship networks, and racism. Despite an increased awareness and disapproval of these inequalities in health, the inequalities persist.The lack of progress in the face of public disapproval and progressive government support underscores the fact that we still do not adequately understand the fundamental causes of Indigenous ill health and disease. A small body of research in Australia has highlighted that socioeconomic status (SES) accounts for a portion of the gap in health but this does not imply that they account for health differences within Indigenous population groups. A robust international literature has consistently shown that socioeconomic factors influence population health. These factors reflect the way in which society is ordered according to wealth, prestige, power, social standing or one’s control over economic resources, and their pattern of association with health has almost always depicted better health for those who are better off— that is, the health of population groups normally follows a gradient pattern. Despite the ubiquity of this observation in the empirical literature, there is uncertainty as to whether it applies to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations in Australia.Accordingly, this thesis has aimed to assess the pattern of socioeconomic disparities in the health and development of Indigenous populations in Australia, with a specific focus on children. The three key objectives were to: • Describe the developmental status of Indigenous children and the mechanisms that influence this status; • Determine the pattern of association between socioeconomic factors and physical and mental health outcomes; and • Reveal the significant differences (and similarities) in the socioeconomic pattern of child health between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, and articulate these in terms of their direction, shape and magnitude.The objectives of the study were primarily assessed using a quantitative analytic framework applied to four existing population-representative datasets: the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, the 2000–2002 Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey, the 2004–05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey and 2004–05 National Health Survey. Simple univariate and cross-tabulation data were used to describe population characteristics, while the relationships between socioeconomic indicators and health outcomes were assessed using a range of regression techniques. Multilevel models are an important feature of this study, and have enabled a more accurate estimation of the effects of individual and area-level measures of SES on health. Generalised Additive Models were used to account for the possible non-linear nature of associations between continuous SES variables and physical health outcomes, with results presented as non-parametric spline curves. The mechanisms linking SES and mental health were explored using a stepwise approach to the regression analysis. All data in all chapters were weighted to reflect population benchmarks.The findings highlighted that there were significant socioeconomic disparities in the health of Indigenous children in Australia, although the direction, shape and magnitude varied, by both socioeconomic measure and health outcome. While the socioeconomic patterns of Indigenous child health are not universal, they are more consistent for mental than physical health. In addition, the thesis has shown that both conventional and alternative notions of SES can influence health patterns. The largest disparities in child physical health were observed for area-level SES indicators, while housing characteristics and area-level SES both had a strong direct effect on child mental health.The thesis has demonstrated that the patterns of socioeconomic disparities in child health differ markedly in Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations—at least in non-remote settings. It was not uncommon for the magnitude of disparity to be larger in the Indigenous population. These findings lend support to the notion that socioeconomic factors have a differential impact on the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. The implication of this for policy is that a single approach to stimulating socioeconomic conditions will not have equal benefits to child health outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. While the evidence here underscores the validity of the well-worn edict that “one size does not fit all” in Indigenous health policy, it also reinforces the need to examine health disparities within and across Indigenous and other population groups in order to better inform policy and practiceCollectively, the results have provided clear evidence that socioeconomic factors matter to both the physical and mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The diversity of findings implies that SES factors are one facet of the unique and complex set of factors that influence Aboriginal child health and wellbeing.This thesis has made several original contributions to the literature on social inequalities in Indigenous health in Australia and the broader field of social determinants of health. It is one of the few studies internationally to explicitly look at the socioeconomic patterning of health in an Indigenous population, and the first to examine these patterns among Indigenous children using population-representative data. In doing so, the study has begun to bridge the knowledge gap on social inequalities in Aboriginal health in Australia, and will facilitate a better grasp of the complex underlying mechanisms that determine Aboriginal health.For policy, this knowledge can lead to more effective government decision-making in terms of targeting social determinants of health that are of particular significance for Aboriginal populations. It is hoped that the findings of the thesis can provide directions for future research and insights to policy that will, ultimately, increase the pace of change toward health equity in Australia.
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Simone, Nicole R. "Teachers perspectives of embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' histories and cultures in mathematics." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2022. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227459/1/Nicole_Simone_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explored how six teachers of mathematics embedded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Histories and Cultures into the core mathematics curriculum. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, then written transcripts were analysed through the use of Bernstein’s Theory of Pedagogic Discourse. Teachers shared their perspectives on how they have developed their cultural capabilities, and how this has informed culturally responsive teaching of mathematics. Recommendations are made for how to support in-service teachers with their personal cultural capabilities to authentically embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Histories and Cultures in mathematics curriculum.
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Arthur, Bill (W S. ). "Torres Strait Islanders and Autonomy: a Borderline Case." Phd thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/45747.
Full textAbstract:
During 1996 and 1997 an Australian parliamentary committee conducted an inquiry into greater autonomy for Torres Strait Islanders, but by 2000 the future of the issue seemed unclear. This thesis explores what the notion of autonomy has meant for Torres Strait and for Torres Strait Islanders in the past, and what it might mean in the future. The thesis uses material from the period before European contact to just after the end of the parliamentary inquiry. Although previous research and historical material are utilised, unique parts of the thesis include an analysis of: the formal submissions and hearings associated with the parliamentary inquiry; the Torres Strait’s location between Australia and Papua New Guinea; and the Strait’s small-island make-up. In this latter regard, comparisons are made with models and examples of autonomy found in small island states and territories in the Pacific. The findings include that we must consider two groups of Torres Strait Islanders, those in Torres Strait and those on mainland Australia. Whereas those in the Strait have been able to legitimise a case for a form of autonomy those on the mainland have not. Islanders in the Strait have achieved a degree of regional autonomy; those on the mainland are unable to make a case to be part of this regional autonomy, or to achieve a form of corporate autonomy. The status of Islanders in the Strait is influenced by several factors including the Strait’s location on the border with Papua New Guinea, the associated Treaty with that country, and the nature and the accessibility of the in-shore fishery. A major finding however is that although Islanders have achieved a degree of regional political autonomy, which may be progressed yet further, they have been unable to embrace non-Indigenous people within this. Their present aspiration for regional political autonomy therefore is limited to one that would apply only to Indigenous-specific affairs. This stands in some conflict with their aspiration for regional economic autonomy which would include their control over the entire regional fishery which they presently share with non-Islanders.
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Ban, Paul Zoltan. "The application of the Queensland Adoption Act 1964-1988 to the traditional adoption practice of Torres Strait Islanders." 1989. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/2361.
Full textAbstract:
The intention of this study is to examine the relevance of applying the Queensland Adoption Act 1964-1988 to the traditional adoption practice of Torres Strait Islanders. The concept of adoption as defined by the Queensland adoption legislation reflects the cultural context of “white Australia” and the intention of the Adoption Act 1964-1988 is to legalise a specific concept of adoption. This study will show that the Queensland Government, through the Department of Family Services, the Department which has the responsibility for implementing adoption legislation, does not make any allowance for differing views of adoption. The accepted definition of adoption is biased toward the dominant white culture in Queensland and the legislation was intended to service the needs of the dominant white culture.
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Schug, Donald M. "The marine realm and a sense of place among the Papua New Guinean communities of the Torres Strait." Thesis, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/9818.
Full text
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Watkin, Lui Felecia. "My island home: a study of identity across different generations of Torres Strait Islanders living outside the Torres Strait." Thesis, 2009. https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11642/2/02whole.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a study of identity across different generations of Torres Strait
Islanders living outside the Torres Strait (also referred to as ‘Mainlanders’). The
research aims, firstly, to examine the representation of identity across different
generations of Islanders living outside the Torres Strait; secondly, to analyse critical
aspects of this identity; and, thirdly, to explore new ways of representing ‘Mainland
Islander’ identity in contemporary society.
Since the end of World War Two, the Torres Strait Islander diaspora, located on
the mainland of Australia, has continued to grow to the extent that it now represents just
over 85 percent (40,367 people) of the total Torres Strait Islander population
(Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2007). The period immediately following World
War Two marked the beginning of mass internal migration of Torres Strait Islanders to
the Australian mainland. There are many different pathways and passages that Islanders
followed in the journey from the Torres Strait to the mainland. Many Islanders,
including my family, made the journey voluntarily as they looked for work and other
life opportunities. Some Islanders were forcibly removed from their islands; the journey
made under duress with circumstances that paralleled the oppressive conditions they
experienced in the Torres Strait. Other Islanders arrived on the mainland because of
environmental or historical circumstances, such as the evacuations required during the
flooding of Saibai Island in the 1930s and later during World War Two.
Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of both Cultural Studies and Indigenous
Studies, this qualitative study focuses on the narratives of twenty-three participant
Storytellers representing first, second and third generation Torres Strait Islanders
(mainly) living outside the Torres Strait. The research sites included the mainland
Islander communites of Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Brisbane and Canberra as well as
Badu and Erub Islands in the Torres Strait.
A review of current government legislation and policies pertaining to Islanders
living outside the Torres Strait reveals a form of identity politics that sees
‘Mainlanders’ positioned in binary oppositions and deficit cultural discourses. In
contrast, this research articulates a story of ‘Mainlander’ relatedness, a multilayered and
complex process of identification across generations of Islanders living outside the
Torres Strait. This story of ‘Mainlander’ relatedness represents a composite counternarrative
to claims of cultural and political dissolution and displacement for a
population (increasingly) born and raised outside the Torres Strait. It is articulated
through a strong sense of place identity, relating and connecting across generations, the
shared experiences and memories of belonging to an Island Home. The relational aspect
of place identity, in turn, informs our knowledge of who we are, our connections with
ourselves, each other and our position in the world. This research presents key insights
into the way Islanders negotiate and contest the contemporary ‘Mainlander’ experience
in the everyday through utilisation of multimedia, the arts and technology in the
creation of systems of representation, cultural expression and interconnectivity between
individuals and the collective.
New political approaches must be open to ‘Mainlander’ representations of
identity that are grounded in the connection to Island Homes but, at the same time,
shaped, influenced and negotiated within the context of our experiences, history and
connection to the mainland. We ‘Mainlanders’ are equally responsible for reviewing
our own institutional systems and practices, critiquing the way we are positioned by
others and ourselves in political and social discourses, and understanding how we might
articulate the spaces from which we speak of our lived realities and experiences as
Ailan Pipel (Islander People).
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Lahn, Julie. "Past visions, present lives: sociality and locality in a Torres Strait community." Thesis, 2003. https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1128/2/02whole.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores dynamics of sociality and local identity on Warraber Island in the
Torres Strait. I argue that Warraber residents' representation of themselves as a
distinctive collectivity needs to be understood in terms of indigenous conceptions of
relatedness and difference and with reference to local moral terms of communal life, in
particular a valorised striving towards the idealised vision of moral relations known as
gud pasin. This value is informed by a dense network of cognatic connections existing
among Warraber residents – encapsulated in the local discourse of “ol wan pamle” (all
one family), in addition to shared identification as a Christian community.
Warraberans envision the past through ideas of temporal rupture, indexed to the arrival
of Christianity in the region and linked to the positive transformation of Warraber life.
This forms a reference point in local thinking about ancestors. Warraberans depict their
ancestors as both 'natives' and 'foreigners' linked respectively to the pre-Christian period
and the marine industries of the post-missionised colonial era. These temporal
associations, and their implicit moral inscriptions, generate poignant areas of ambiguity
concerning personal ancestry, and also prominent pre-Christian sites and dance
performances thought to be associated with head-taking and sorcery. The image of the
sorcerer is itself contentious, appearing partly as a moral Other, and partly as a source of
local power.
Such dynamics of difference appear as integral to contemporary social life on Warraber.
Differing Christian affiliations, ancestral emphasis and perspectives on the past
certainly contain potential for contestation. Productive activities are markedly gendered
and family networks involve strong personalised loyalties that compete with broader
social obligations. However, the value of gud pasin is shown as ultimately valorising
inclusiveness, generosity and a concern with community harmony. Moreover residence
on Warraber Island emerges as an important context for common experiences that help
distinguish the population as a distinctive, emplaced community within the diversity of
Torres Strait populations.
Intense attachments to Warraber Island are communicated in local notions of 'belonging'
to place. This is characterised by knowledge and familiarity and also by birth and
residence. In this context, the marine realm continues to be a central component within
Warraber collective identification and notions of local distinctiveness. Warraberans
represent themselves both in historical and contemporary terms as incomparable marine
workers, hunters and fishers. Transactions in marine products, whether related to
generating income or for consumption, continue to be a focus of Warraber life and are
inextricably woven into the practice of familial relations, whereby marine resources are
transformed by human activity into a ‘currency’ of relatedness shaped by moral
understandings that inflect the landscape as much as the conduct of sociality.
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Lahn, Julie. "Past visions, present lives : sociality and community in a Torres Strait community /." 2003. http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/1128.
Full text
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Taylor, Allan. "Appropriate housing for indigenous people in remote areas the need for a less deterministic approach." 2003. http://arrow.unisa.edu.au:8081/1959.8/25023.
Full textAbstract:
Aboriginal Law and cultures are based on a belief system centred on the 'country' and the creation of its elements. Traditional law provided a firm basis for survival and for the interconnectedness of people, land and their relationship to each other. The communities lived a largely nomadic lifestyle that moved within defined territories, tied together by kinship (tribe, clan, skin group etc), which prescribed the social roles and appropriate behaviours between indivisuals. Relationships were reinforced by systems of obligation between individuals, particularly with regard to provision of goods necessary for survival.thesis (MRegionalUrbanPlanning)--University of South Australia, 2003.
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Kwan, Donna. "Towards a sustainable indigenous fishery for dugongs in Torres Strait : a contribution of empirical data analysis and process." Thesis, 2002. https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1376/25/JCU_1376_Kwan_2002_thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Given the globally threatened status of dugongs and the fact that Torres Strait supports the world's largest
dugong population, there is international, national, regional and local interest in ensuring the sustainability
of the Torres Strait traditional dugong fishery. This fishery is endorsed by the Torres Strait Treafy between
Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
This study investigated, within a biological context, the major factors (i.e., those additional to biological)
that determine sustainability of the traditional dugong fishery in Torres Strait.
My thesis had the following specific aims:
(1) To provide information relevant to the development of community-based management for the dugong
fishery in Torres Strait by:
describing and quantifying the major factors that affect hunting pattern, hunting effort, hunting
success and harvest levels in the major dugong hunting community of Mabuiag Island, and
estimating the life history parameters of Torres Strait dugongs at the time of my study, and (i)
comparing them with parameters obtained from parallel studies of dugong life history and
reproductive biology in order to gain insights into the factors influencing these aspects of dugong
ecology, and (ii) incorporating them into population models to predict the natural rate of change
in the size of the population in the absence of hunting mortality.
(2) To assist in the development of community-based management in Torres Strait through contributing to
capacity building by actively involving Torres Strait Islanders in my research and training them in the
collection of catch statistics and biological samples from dugongs.
The fieldwork for this project was undertaken primarily at Mabuiag Island between September 1997 and
November 1999 inclusive. All data and specimens from 127 female and 51 male dugongs were collected
from animals butchered for food by Torres Strait Islander hunters.
Being able to live and work within the Mabuiag Island community provided me with the rare opportunity to
develop a relationship with Islanders built upon the mutual trust, co-operation and commitment. Involving
Islanders as active participants in my research allowed me to collect the valuable specimens on which my
information is based. The active involvement of hunters and community members enhanced their
development of a sound understanding of and trust in the information I obtained. By training Torres Strait Islanders as research assistants, 1 also increased the capacity of the community to actively participate in
future research, monitoring and management programs for dugongs.
This study provided the opportunity to identify the main factors which impact catch rates of dugongs by
Islanders. Only four to five hunters were responsible for 79% and 75% of the 145 and 170 dugongs taken
at Mabuiag lsland during March to October in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The magnitude of the dugong
catch was influenced by ecological, economic environmental and social factors that affected the temporal
and spatial nature of hunting effort and hunting success.
When my results were compared with those of other studies using similar techniques, I showed that the
age and size at sexual maturity and first reproduction, pregnancy rates of female dugongs and the sex
ratio of their young exhibit considerable variability in both space and time. The age and size at sexual
maturity and first reproduction of male dugongs exhibit similar variability. At Mabuiag lsland in 1997-99,
female dugongs reached sexual maturity between six or seven and fourteen years and at body lengths of
between 2.05 and 2.58 m. Male dugongs reached sexual maturity between four and thirteen years and at
body lengths between 1.90 and 2.57 m. Calving intervals of adult female dugongs from Mabuiag lsland in
1998-99 ranged between 2.4 f s.e. 0.3 to 3.3 f s.e. 0.5 years. The parameters from Mabuiag lsland in
1997-98 are thus the lowest recorded for dugongs. At Mabuiag lsland in 1997-98, almost all sexually
mature nulliparous females were either pregnant andlor lactating and the sex ratio of foetuses was 1:3 in
favour of males.
Variability in life history parameters such as age at sexual maturity and first reproduction, pregnancy rates
and calving intervals in dugongs is likely to result from spatial and temporal variation in seagrass
community composition and biomass. Thus, food quality and availability influence dugong population
dynamics. When their seagrass food disappears as a result of episodic disturbance, some dugongs
suspend breeding. It is likely that the effects of food supply on life history parameters and hence fecundity
in dugongs includes both density dependent and density independent components. The gaps in the age
composition of the catch from Mabuiag in 1997-99 together with the low pregnancy rates of animals
caught in the Daru market at that time suggest that a seagrass dieback in Torres Strait in the late 1970s
had significant effects on dugong recruitment. These links between seagrass food availability and dugong
life history parameters have very important implications for management given the dugong's susceptibility
to large-scale episodic losses of seagrass.
Several findings in this study highlight that a regional approach to management will be required because
the potential for episodic or longer-tern over-harvesting can be exacerbated in the event of a combination
of: low dugong fecundity as a result of extensive seagrass dieback events such as that reported in the 1970s; movements of dugongs close to hunting communities to feed on intertidal seagrass in response to
dieback of deepwater communities exacerbating high hunting pressure; increase in hunting pressure in
response to reduction in important sources of income such as the cray fishery.
Management coordinated at a regional scale must include the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York and
PNG. Management will need to build on established processes which incorporate Ailan Kast'om (the
customary way of life of Torres Strait Islanders) and institutional structures in the Torres Strait region
which include the: Torres Sfraif Treafy, Torres Sfraif Fisheries Acf (1984), Native Title and regional
Islander initiatives such as MaSTERS (Marine Strategy for Torres Strait).
A community-based management approach, which builds on the research processes, and the empirical
information obtained in this study, has considerable potential to ensure that the Torres Strait dugong
fishery is sustainable. The challenge now is to build on information and trust generated by this project by
enabling Islanders to use these results to develop and implement appropriate management plans for their
dugong resources.