Remote Australia Online

Sustainable use of the northern grazing lands is a long-standing issue for management and policy, heightened by projections of increased climatic variability, uncertainty on forage supplies, vegetation complexes, and weeds and diseases. Meat and Livestock Australia has supported a large study to explore sustainable grazing management strategies and increase the capacity of the sector to address climate change. Potential options were explored by bio-economic modeling of ‘representative’ beef enterprises defined bypastoralists and supported by regional research and extension specialists. Typical options include diversification, infrastructure, flexible stocking rates, wet season resting, and prescribed fire. Concurrent activities by another team included regional impact assessments and surveys of pastoralists’ understanding and attitudes towards climate change and adaptive capacity. The results have been widely canvassed and a program of on-ground demonstrations of various options implemented. The paper describes the structure of this program and highlights key results indicating considerable scope to address sustainability challenges.

The state of Queensland, Australia, is large (1.85 million km2). The provision of bariatric care across the state is difficult as most major hospitals are concentrated in the capital city of Brisbane. We implemented a state-wide telehealth service to improve access for rural patients in a public bariatric service. We report our early experiences with this service.

In remote and very remote Australia, young people engage youth workers in sexual health discussions, often out of necessity due to low access to health services. Youth workers? and youth service managers? perspectives on these interactions and the sexual health training they receive are poorly understood. In this study, youth workers and youth service managers working in the Pilbara, a remote region in Western Australia, participated in semi-structured online video interviews. Participants (n = 10) were asked about their experiences and the impact of sexual health training on their work. Data were thematically analysed. Four themes were developed: Pilbara youth workers and youth service managers need sexual health training; locally delivered sexual health training is preferable; online sexual health training may augment knowledge; and strategies to optimise sexual health training are needed. The results of this study suggest current training is not meeting the needs of youth workers and youth service managers in the Pilbara, and they feel under equipped to address sexual health topics with young people. Suggestions are made to improve youth workers? and youth service managers? access to effective sexual health training.

In Australia, significant recent reforms reposition Indigenous housing provision and management in remote and town camp communities under the mainstream public housing model. Two competing discourses surround this shift: a federal discourse of standardisation and state discourses of local responsiveness centred on the introduction of new community engagement processes into Indigenous public housing. This paper reports on qualitative research into the micro-scale of policy implementation to highlight policy-to-practice translation on the frontlines of Indigenous housing. Based on interviews with Indigenous housing stakeholders, this paper argues the capacity to support locally responsive housing management is problematic under the current arrangements. The analytical framework of realist governmentality reveals frontline housing professionals' role in the local resolution of tensions between federal and state policy levers. A focus on agent reflexivity and resistance on the frontline assists in capturing the dynamic (hybrid) identity of Indigenous public housing, as an atypical Australian example of hybridity in social housing.

Rainfall variability is a major challenge to sustainable grazing management in northern Australia, with management often complicated further by large, spatially heterogeneous paddocks. This paper presents the latest grazing research and associated bio-economic modeling from northern Australia and assesses the extent to which current recommendations to manage for these issues are supported. Overall, stocking at around the safe long term carrying capacity will maintain land condition and maximize long term profitability. However, stocking rates should be varied in a risk-averse manner as pasture availability varies between years. Periodic wet season spelling is also essential to maintain pasture condition and allow recovery of overgrazed areas. Uneven grazing distributions can be partially managed through fencing, providing additional waters and in some cases patch burning, although the economics of infrastructure development are extremely context dependent. Overall, multipaddock grazing systems do not appear justified in northern Australia. Provided the key management principles outlined above are applied in an active, adaptive manner, acceptable economic and environmental outcomes will be achieved irrespective of the grazing system applied.

With a focus on Australian Aboriginal students, in this article we argue that translanguaging provides a useful resource for multilingual learners. We point out that although translanguaging is a relatively recent term, in Indigenous Australia is has been used consistently throughout the ages as people from different languages communicated with each other. We argue that through the use of translanguaging in the classroom, children can be supported to draw on the wide range of linguistic resources they bring with them to school. Using data collected from an Aboriginal school in the Northern Territory and one in Western Australia, we illustrate the ways in which this perspective can inform approaches to teaching which will both enhance these learners? communication skills in Standard Australian English (SAE) in the classroom, and, importantly, at the same time demonstrate that the languages the children come to school with are valued.

The risks for extensive cattle properties in the rangelands of northern Australia arising from high inter-annual rainfall variability are predominantly managed through adjustments in stocking rates (SR). This modelling study compared the performance of SR strategies that varied considerably in the extent that they adjusted SR annually at three locations in northern Australia. At all locations, land types and pasture condition states, the SR strategies that achieved the best pasture condition were those that least increased and most decreased SR annually in response to changes in forage availability. At Donors Hill (Qld), these conservative strategies also achieved the highest cattle live-weight gains per hectare (LWG/ha). While conservative strategies produced the highest percent perennials at Fitzroy Crossing (WA), strategies which allowed larger increases and decreases in SR also performed well, enabling them to also achieve high LWG/ha with little deterioration of pasture condition. A similar trend occurred at Alice Springs (NT), although at this location the strategies with even larger annual increases and decreases in SR achieved relatively high percent perennials and the highest LWG/ha. While systematic management of SR appears to perform better than a constant SR strategy when rainfall variability is high, it is unclear if the magnitude of annual adjustments in SR needs to increase with increasing rainfall variability.

Keith and Karen Anderson and family run a breeder operation on Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs in the Fitzroy Valley of Western Australia (18°21' S, 125°18'E) . These adjacent pastoral leases are in the shire ofDerby/West Kimberley. The Andersons have been managing Jubilee Downs station since 1985. Quanbun Downs station was purchased in 2002, and a farm in the northern agricultural region of WA has been recently added for use as a finishing block. The current combined herd for Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs is around 8,000 head. Keith believes in selling close to his branding percentage and that the secret to improving production is selling females. A declining trend in range condition on the high potential black soil country (WA Department of Agriculture 1981) was the catalyst for a producer demonstration trial on Jubilee Downs station that commenced in 1988. The main aspects of the demonstration were using DAFWA recommended stocking rates according to land type and range condition, introduction of Brahman bulls from a predominantly shorthorn herd, pregnancy diagnosis, early weaning and botulism vaccinations (Beurle 1992). The demonstration also included an exclosure on the degraded Gogo land system which yielded positive results. Reducing cattle numbers and improving grazing distribution has maximised the recovery of the country during the run of above average rainfall years from the mid-1990s to 2010. Range Condition Survey data and satellite imagery clearly demonstrate an improvement in range condition and the productive potential. Herd production data show that the benefits of improved productivity to the business outweigh the costs.

Community engagement is often cited as a critical component of working with Indigenous communities in both Australia and other countries. Ideally, this involves engaging in ‘bottom-up’ approaches that scope, identify and subsequently respond to community needs and aspirations. Community engagement is usually participatory and developmental in nature. It is often used as a means to shape policy and program development, scope research approaches and support enhanced service delivery in a range of settings, including the education sector. However, the physical, social, cultural, economic and political contexts in which community engagement occurs can be different. As such, there is no definitive approach to what community engagement both ‘looks’ and ‘feels’ like within different Indigenous education contexts. This chapter systematically explores what we already know about Indigenous community engagement, and how this relates to Indigenous education, and more specifically, Indigenous higher education contexts in Australia. We argue that there are four key factors that can impact on pathways into higher education for Indigenous students, which include ‘redefining community engagement from Indigenous standpoints’; ‘appropriately resourcing Indigenous community engagement activities’; ‘continuing to build an evidence base to learn from recent Indigenous community engagement investments’ and the need to ‘move beyond the rhetorical language used in many policy documents and frameworks.’ We conclude by suggesting that improvements in the quality and quantum of Indigenous community engagement work occurring in higher education in Australia will ultimately enhance opportunities for successful Indigenous pathways and transitions into university.

INTRODUCTION: The optimum supply of an allied health workforce in rural and remote communities is a persistent challenge. Despite previous indicative research and government investment, the primary focus for rural and remote recruitment has been on the medical profession. The consequent shortage of allied health professionals leaves these communities less able to receive appropriate health care. This comprehensive review incorporates a literature analysis while articulating policy and further research implications. METHODS: The objective was to identify drivers to recruitment and retention of an allied health workforce in rural and remote communities. This issue was observed in two parts: identification of barriers and enablers for students accessing allied health undergraduate tertiary education, and barriers and enablers to clinical placement experience in rural and remote communities. A search of empirical literature was conducted together with review of theoretical publications, including public health strategies and policy documents. Database searches of CINAHL, Medline, ERIC, PsychInfo and Scopus were performed. Selection criteria included Australian research in English, full text online, keywords in title or abstract, year of publication 1990 to 2012 and research inclusive of rural and remote context by application of the Australian Standard Geographical Classication (ASGC) Remoteness Structure. Theoretical publications, or grey literature, were identified by broad Google searches utilising a variety of search terms relevant to the review objective. Allied health professions were defined as including audiology, dietetics, occupational therapy, optometry, orthoptics, orthotics and prosthetics, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, radiography, social work, speech pathology and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers. RESULTS: A total of 28 empirical publications met the selection criteria with a further 22 grey literature texts identified with relevance to the research objective. Patterns of barriers and enablers for rural and remote student transition in the allied health professions were identified in the literature. Recruitment pathways to allied health tertiary studies in rural and remote communities are vague and often interrupted, and the return of graduates is haphazard. Students from rural and remote communities face an assembly of barriers. They often experience secondary education disadvantage with inadequate subject choices, pathways and opportunities. Programs designed to facilitate transition to tertiary study are often limited in their capacity to address cumulative concerns. Students also face financial imposts and are confronted by daunting social isolation, and separation from families and support systems. In regard to clinical placement, the disincentives weigh heavily. The financial burdens of a rural placement offer little inducement. Social isolation associated with a placement far from home is more acutely felt by students when there is inadequate administrative support and consequent disillusionment. Students also lack a frame of reference to pursue a rural placement option, and are often discouraged by the cumulative commitments involved. CONCLUSIONS: Clear and accessible pathways to allied health training for students from rural and remote communities are pivotal to a stronger representation of this cohort among graduates. Similarly, greater representation of rural and remote clinical placements for allied health undergraduate students is an important facilitator. Despite regional coordination and strategies designed to promote a broader range of placement opportunities, the problems remain. This review has consequences for policy and program development for growth of the rural allied health workforce in Australia, as well as identifying knowledge deficits to guide future research endeavours.

Objectives Expanded pharmacy service delivery for rural and remote Australia has potential to address the rural health disparity. Pharmacists practising to their full scope are recognised as being most beneficial in rural and regional communities, where access to health professionals (HPs) is not comparable to those in metropolitan areas. However, research on HP perspectives on expanded pharmacy practice is limited. This study aims to determine rural and remote HP (doctors, nurses, allied health and other HPs) perspectives of expanded services to be delivered through community pharmacy. Methods Australian rural and remote HPs participated in a questionnaire survey which explored views on expanded pharmacy services in their local communities. Potential expanded pharmacy services were provided, and participants were asked to indicate what expanded pharmacy would benefit their local community and their level of support for the services. Analysis of the data included frequency analyses and one-way ANOVA tests with post hoc Tukey?s HSD tests using IBM SPSS Statistic 25. Results Health professionals (N = 121) from rural and remote locations participated. Sexually transmitted disease testing, vaccinations, diabetes and asthma management were the most frequently chosen services that HPs agreed would improve the health of people in their community. Doctors chose the least number of services (mean = 1 services) compared with all other HPs (mean => 5 services). Sixty-eight per cent of participants agreed/strongly agreed that providing these additional services would improve health, with participants (73%) agreeing/strongly agreeing that they would support the implementation of these additional services, not otherwise available in their community. Comparing professional groups, doctors were only half as supportive of expanded pharmacy services, when compared with all other HPs. Conclusion This study confirms the importance of a collaborative, local model to deliver expanded pharmacy services for rural communities. Health professionals were found to largely support expanding pharmacy practice, agreeing about the improved access to health care that would be provided for people living in rural and remote Australia.

The northern beef industry is a major component of the regional economies of Queensland, Northern Territory and northern Western Australia, and has contributed an estimated $5 billion to Australia’s economy in 2009-10. Projected climate change will have an adverse impact on Australia’s agricultural production (McKeon et al. 2008) with an expected 3.5% decline in beef production in northern Australia by 2030 (Heyhoe et al. 2008). The GRASP pasture production model (McKeon et al. 2000) has been used to evaluate impacts of climate change in Australia’s rangelands (Crimp et al. 2002, McKeon et al.2008), with the positive effects of higher carbon dioxide (CO2)on pasture growth likely to be offset by reductions in pasture productivity and digestibility due to lower rainfall and higher temperatures (Crimp et al. 2002). The impacts of three projected future climates on livestock carrying capacity of grazing lands in Fitzroy, Maranoa-Balonne and Victoria River District regions were assessed using GRASP.

The health problems of Aboriginal Australians, like those of many indigenous peoples, resemble those of the developing world, yet they are dealt with using the tools, techniques, and high-technology medical solutions of first-world health. Such approaches ignore the social components of health and illness, including the need for preventive and educative programs at the primary health care level. The example of end-stage renal disease provides a poignant example of the inadequacies of this approach. Central Australian Aboriginal people suffer from a high incidence of kidney disease from numerous causes including non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and glomerulonephritis. The high incidence has led to numbers of people developing end-stage renal disease and moving into the Northern Territory-South Australia renal failure program for dialysis and/or transplantation. In requiring patients to leave their lands, communities and families, this program removes people from the religious and social support network that could ensure a reasonable quality of life in their final years, while offering only marginal extensions of those years. Expensive technology programs are of little benefit and of considerable cost to Aboriginal patients and draw attention away from efforts to reduce the exposure of at-risk Aboriginal people to the factors that facilitate the development of end-stage renal disease.

Destinations across the globe face severe and potentially irreversible consequences from tourism growth and development. Contemporary approaches such as reducing access or site closures have been identified to increase demand, potentially exacerbating negative impacts. Despite acknowledgement of the impacts of tourism, limited studies have considered the ?night sky? as a tourism destination, nor the implications for regional sustainability. Consequently, the aim of this research is to explore the intersection between Dark sky tourism (DST) and sustainability within regional tourism. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Murweh Shire, in outback Australia. The analysis revealed sustainability, ethics and education as critical to achieving sustainable DST in a regional setting. A core contribution of this research is a conceptual model for sustainable DST. Future research is required to further explore ethics as a critical, yet often neglected, component of sustainable tourism.

Aboriginal young people from rural areas in Australia are significantly over-represented in the youth justice system, and yet there is little evidence to indicate that current programs are having measurable success on rates of re-offending, suggesting alternative approaches are required. Drawing on new directions in human service policy that emphasise the importance of involving community in program design, this study reports the findings of a consultation with Aboriginal community members from one rural community to identify how the ecological validity of youth justice programs may be increased to be more responsive to local need. Eighteen Aboriginal community members from a town in Western New South Wales participated in semi-structured interviews, guided by a culturally informed research methodology. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify key themes that the community saw as important in program design, highlighting the need for consistent levels of support for local and community-driven solutions. Proposed conditions to enhance the ecological validity of programs are discussed.

This paper examines the experiences of a small group of socio-economically disadvantaged people and their attempts to access disability welfare under Australia?s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We interviewed 32 individuals with some form of disability who were potentially eligible to apply for the NDIS. Our research revealed that only a small proportion of a sample successfully applied to the NDIS, with our interviewees characterised as ?hard-to-reach? because of their socio-economic disadvantage, social isolation, and lack of adequate support. Reflecting on the many and varied experiences of this group, we consider our interviewees to be at risk of further marginalisation in the absence of effective measures to engage and support them. We recommend ways to bring the hard-to-reach group within the ambit of the NDIS, as well as possibilities for future research.Points of interestThis article reports on the experiences of people who have attempted to engage with Australia?s national disability support scheme.Only a few people within our sample had successfully applied for support under the national scheme, with others either unaware of it or unsuccessful in their applicationsMany in our sample were effectively excluded from the scheme due to the complexities of disability, social exclusion, and financial hardship.Further research in this area is critical so that the problems faced by people in the hard-to-reach group, with respect to accessing the national disability support scheme, can be addressed.

The phenomenon of grey nomads travelling in rural and remote regions of Australia is on the increase, and as this cohort is an older age group, they are often travelling with chronic conditions, such as diabetes. Seven rural and remote diabetes educators were interviewed about their experiences of grey nomad travellers with diabetes, to whom they provided services. The findings revealed problems associated with grey nomads with diabetes, including maintenance of equipment, medications, self-management, glycaemic control and unpredictable events. The problems highlighted by the participants were exacerbated when travelling long distances for extended periods, often with changes to their usual regime of self-management. The isolation and remoteness of some areas was a factor for the travellers who were often not prepared and often turned to pharmacists for help. The participants were able to enhance the care and self-management of the travellers with diabetes and identified several pathways travellers may undertake if they needed services related to their diabetes. The diabetes educators’ capacity to provide services for travellers was stretched at times; however, this was viewed as positive in that it added diversity to their normal practice. Recommendations included a preparation checklist and information for travellers with diabetes and further education for pharmacists.

Uluru is the more famous of the two namesake inselbergs found in Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park (UKTNP). Uluru is roughly 10 km around its base, stands nearly 350 m tall, and can cast a shadow more than a kilometre long during the early morning and late afternoon hours. Additionally, there are many areas near the base of Uluru that receive nearly continuous shade throughout the day, which may also mean that these places could be buffered against extreme temperatures. This study investigated Uluru's influence on the climate at various distances from its base, and simultaneously assessed if the structure of the reptile community was related to the observed climatic variation. We used iButton data loggers to record the temperature and relative humidity at 26 sample locations surrounding Uluru. We used ArcGIS to map the path of Uluru's shadow and to determine when and how long data loggers recorded in and out of Uluru's shading influence. We found that the temperature and relative humidity were strongly influenced by Uluru's shadow, and that reptile assemblages were strongly correlated with the amount of time a sampled site was influenced by Uluru's shadow.

Introduction: Rural, remote, and Indigenous stroke patients have worse stroke outcomes than urban Australians. This may be due to lack of timely access to expert facilities. Objectives: We aimed to describe the characteristics of patients who underwent aeromedical retrieval for stroke, estimate transfer times, and investigate if flight paths corresponded with the locations of stroke units (SUs) throughout Australia. Methods: Prospective review of routinely collected Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) data. Patients who underwent an RFDS aeromedical retrieval for stroke, July 2014–June 2018 (ICD-10 codes: I60–I69), were included. To define the locations of SUs throughout Australia, we accessed data from the 2017 National Stroke Audit. The main outcome measures included determining the characteristics of patients with an in-flight diagnosis of stroke, their subsequent pickup and transfer locations, and corresponding SU and imaging capacity. Results: The RFDS conducted 1,773 stroke aeromedical retrievals, consisting of 1,028 (58%) male and 1,481 (83.5%) non-Indigenous and 292 (16.5%) Indigenous patients. Indigenous patients were a decade younger, 56.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 45.0–64.0), than non-Indigenous patients, 66.0 (IQR 54.0–76.0). The most common diagnosis was “stroke not specified,” reflecting retrieval locations without imaging capability. The estimated median time for aeromedical retrieval was 238 min (95% confidence interval: 231–244). Patients were more likely to be transferred to an area with SU and imaging capability (both p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Stroke patients living in rural areas were younger than those living in major cities (75 years, Stroke Audit Data), with aeromedically retrieved Indigenous patients being a decade younger than non-Indigenous patients. The current transfer times are largely outside the time windows for reperfusion methods. Future research should aim to facilitate more timely diagnosis and treatment of stroke.

As an applied anthropology study of electronic waste (e-waste) in the remote town of Alice Springs, this dissertation chronicles how e-waste is understood and managed in the arid interior of Australia. What is electronic waste? ‘Electronic’ refers to the presence and movement of electricity throughout an object so that it may perform some expected function. Waste, however, defies simple definition. Waste usually refers to something that has been discarded due to being unwanted or unusable. This dissertation traces and tracks the boundaries of e-waste in Central Australia using ethnographic methods, anthropological theories of waste, and digital garbology. Digital garbology, a synthesis of digital anthropology and garbology, helps to identify and recommend strategies for confronting uneven, and often unjust, distributions of e-waste. Rather than focusing solely on discarded consumer electronics, this dissertation takes a critical look into the different types of waste emerging from the production, use, maintenance, and discard of electronics. Over the course of thirteen months of fieldwork in Alice Springs, it became clear that the label e-waste is not consistently applied to discarded electronics. E-waste is often discarded in out-of-sight locations such as landfills, recycling centers, and illegal dumping grounds. Before being discarded, however, unused electronics are often stored inside homes, sheds, and other living spaces. Rather than simply focusing on electronic objects that have already been thrown away, this dissertation explores how and why some electronics seem to resist being labeled as e-waste. Why Alice Springs? The management of e-waste in Australia has focused on the recovery of valuable metals from the recycling of televisions, computers, and mobile phones at the expense of other discarded electronics such as solar panels and household appliances. And yet, the closest e-waste recycling facility to Alice Springs is over 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) away in Adelaide, South Australia. The remoteness of Alice Springs reduces the ecological benefits of recycling. However, it also creates room to discuss the viability of alternative e-waste management strategies such as reuse and repair.

Objective: A considerable health disparity exists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, including a higher incidence and severity of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The burden of these diseases appears to be greatest in communities located in the remote regions of Australia. Unique environmental challenges in these regions may be a contributing factor; however these are yet to be adequately investigated. We aimed to develop a case to improve our understanding of environmental risk factors in remote Aboriginal communities. Methods: We comprehensively reviewed the literature regarding physical environmental challenges that are likely to be highly prevalent in remote Aboriginal communities, and have been linked with adverse health. We focused on exposure to inhaled geogenic (earth-derived) dust and biomass smoke, bacterial and heavy metal contamination of drinking water and overcrowding. Results: These environmental factors are anecdotally high in remote Aboriginal communities and have been linked, mostly epidemiologically, to cardiovascular, respiratory and other infectious diseases. These challenges are an under-recognised problem and are likely to have a significant impact on Aboriginal community health; increased research focus in this area would be of great benefit. Implications: It is crucial to identify and quantify these physical environmental factors, and to determine the mechanisms through which they impact on health, particularly as these factors are modifiable and may be suppressed using relatively simple, cost-effective changes in community infrastructure. Protection against these exposures is likely to reduce their cumulative negative effects on individuals across the life course and result in significantly improved health in remote Aboriginal Australian communities.

For nearly 70 years scientific techniques have been routinely applied in archaeological research. Yet some artefacts hold such cultural significance that sampling is inappropriate, restricting the methods that can be brought to bear in their analysis. Such restrictions often apply to rock art, especially where research is directed by the indigenous peoples who have stewardship over not only the site fabric, but its inseparable cultural context. Here we report a multi-technique program of in-field and laboratory-based analyses to describe the materiality of a painted rock art site in Nyiyaparli country, in the Central Pilbara region of Western Australia. The relationship between the rock art, nearby potential pigment sources and evidence for ochre processing at the site was investigated using in situ portable X-Ray Fluorescence and optical microscopy, with interpretations aided by field and laboratory-based residue analysis of grinding related stone artefacts and X-Ray Powder Diffraction of potential ochre sources. Our findings provide an example of the nuanced interpretations that scientific analyses can add to rock art investigations. Our work suggests that local materials were used in the production of painted art and that ochre processing was ubiquitous at the site and other nearby rockshelters. Combined with the placement of rock art in a hidden context within the site, we suggest the panels at BBH15-01 were part of in-group events and that art and ochre processing in the Baby Hope study area were part of everyday activities.

A remote Aboriginal community has adopted the online digital landscape in today?s globalised culture and the free market. At the same time, their lives intertwine with a predominantly white Australian affluent neighbourhood on their traditional lands. The development of their traditional lands by a multinational mining company extends the complexity of their traditional lifestyle into a corporate world of trade, boom and economic crisis. This interaction between the affluent mining community of non-Aboriginal residents and the intersection of the digital world made up of smartphones, and social media has flow-on effects within the community. Aboriginal self-determination persists, supported by mobile and internet technology, and involved members from the higher echelons (traditional owners) to the social outliers. This study looks within the community and between the clans. In this ethnographic study, the authors attempt to discuss the effects of social media and mobile technologies that enable power and agency. Our findings bring to the fore a different perspective, inspired by Aboriginal peoples? use of the digital landscape for collective reflexivity. For collective reflexivity to occur, all relationships, according to our generous study participants, are in a continuous cycle of deconstruction and reconstruction.

This paper discusses key questions of pedagogical hope and courage through non-formal educational activities such as football. We look beyond standard assumptions of sports as a vehicle to stimulate social cohesion and prevent anti-social and criminal behaviour among Aboriginal youth to address core philosophical and pedagogical questions that underpin sporting promotion within underprivileged communities. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, eight young Aboriginal top-footballers from the town of Borroloola in Australia’s Northern Territory, went to the tournament host country, Brazil, to take part in a range of activities, including spending time with local Indigenous communities. This tour was promoted by the John Moriarty Football initiative. Following the tour, the Aboriginal footballers went back to their community to become sporting leaders and also to continue their football careers. With data gathered from interviews with the central participants of the tour, and by using Freire’s concepts of emancipation through dialogic practices, hope, critical consciousness, and untested feasibility, we look at the Borroloola youths’ football educational activities as a dialogic space where autonomy and citizenship can be enhanced. Employing the Freirean critical dialogue method, the paper unveils the significant connections between non-formal sporting activities and the flourishing of the pedagogy of courage.

Author summary Australia is the only high-income nation with endemic trachoma. It is prevalent in remote Indigenous communities, although it was eliminated from wider society in Australia over one hundred years ago. Trachoma elimination across vast areas of remote Australia is an enormous challenge. Community members are highly mobile, English may be the second, third or fourth language in multiple Indigenous language groups, and trachoma is merely one of many complex health and social issues. A small number of trachoma program staff and frequent staff turnover in all work settings also limit progress. Trachoma elimination has focused on the Surgery & Antibiotic elements of the SAFE strategy. However, Facial cleanliness & Environmental improvements are critical for sustained progress towards elimination. Health promotion offers multiple, engaging approaches to help increase awareness that trachoma is simple to treat and that clean faces and improved hygiene practices help children be healthy and strong. In addition, safe and working bathroom (washing) facilities are needed to carry out hygiene practices. The two target groups for trachoma health promotion were staff who work in remote communities, and children and their carers (mothers, aunties, grandmothers, or other family members). The participants in this study, in the early stages of the health promotion program provides evidence that health promotion made a contribution to improved trachoma knowledge, attitudes and to a lesser extent practices in staff who provided education and support to children and families in trachoma endemic communities. This was achieved in a relatively short time despite high levels of staff turnover. Health promotion for hygiene related behaviour change requires multiple-sector support crucial to operationalise clean faces/hygiene practices more widely and to provide safe and working bathroom facilities in homes, schools, clinics and community work settings. This paper adds to the literature by illustrating some success achieved in a trachoma health promotion strategy in the Northern Territory and may support trachoma elimination in Australia and globally.