Remote Australia Online

Objectives: The present study aimed to explore whether regionality is associated with differing stress levels, coping, QOL and daily routines for parents and families of a child with ASD (aged 2–18 years) in Western Australia using validated outcome measures and compare the stress levels and QOL of this group to population norms. Methods: A sample of 278 families living in Western Australia who have a child or adolescent (2–18 years old) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD participated in a cross-sectional survey. Multivariate logistic regression modelling was conducted to determine key factors associated between regionality and demographic variables, quality of life, coping styles, time use, and stress levels. Results: Parents living in low densely populated areas were more likely to adopt avoidant coping mechanisms, compared to those living in densely populated areas. Fathers with children on the autism spectrum were less likely to be educated above diploma level in regional and remote areas. Stress, QOL or daily routines did not differ by regionality; however, the total sample (i.e., parents from both LDP and DP areas) experienced significantly higher levels of stress and lower QOL when compared to the general population. Conclusions: The findings suggest that despite having higher levels of stress and lower QOL compared to the general population, residing in a geographically LDP area in Western Australia has a small association on preferred coping style preference and has no association on stress levels, QOL or daily routines for parents who have a child with ASD.

Isolation, large distances and geophysical adversities have influenced common perceptions, and with this have reinforced Northern Australia’s (aka Capricornia’s) image as a difficult and unattractive environment. This representation of ‘otherness’ often is contradicted by the fascination of tourists during their temporary encounter with the ‘North’ and its atmosphere. They appreciate its natural beauty and culture, which in their imagination represents the ‘real’ Australia. Thus, the region’s atmosphere is constructed by aesthetic values defined through social and cultural sensemaking of the place. This chapter explores the atmosphere of northern regions of Australia by adopting a historical, geographical and imaginative perspective to better understand the perceptions that define and distinguish the region from the rest of Australia. Through an auto-ethnographic account of travelling along the Gibb River Road in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, the authors accentuate the atmospheric dichotomy and inbuilt contradictions of tourists’ contemporary quest for ‘otherness’.

The Rainbow Snake is a universal Indigenous Australian living creature responsible for the creation and protection of waterways. Countless generations of traditional owners have cared for the sacred ancestral being; it is a spiritual guardian. The ancient creation songs and stories shared across the continent create meaning and purpose for our collective responsibility in managing the health and survival of the rivers, wetlands, springs, billabongs, floodplains and soaks. This chapter presents an insider view about how to promote remote Aboriginal people’s wellbeing through a co-operative regional earth-centred governance model. The story reveals a powerful policy and investment approach to the planning and development of regional governance and showcases the unique cultural and environmental values of the Fitzroy River, and its Indigenous people as having local, national and international significance. The central theme is the responsibility of Indigenous leaders to facilitate knowledge building, which requires sharing a deeper understanding of continuing colonisation and the collective responsibility, as Australians, for managing water.

The Ngaanyatjarra Lands, deep in Western Australia, are home to the country’s most remote Aboriginal communities. Beset by social problems, the communities and their residents are detached from mainstream Australia by factors of distance and culture. But the Ngaanyatjarra region remains obscure for other reasons. Its peculiar operational culture, which arises from the curious relationship between community members and whitefella staff, has become almost impossible for mainstream Australians – including bureaucrats and academics – to understand. This study, written by a former community manager, is the first of its kind. It lays bare the strange ways of the Ngaanyatjarra region. It takes in psychological, economic, political and anthropological aspects of the community system, and reveals a self-sustaining and possibly unreformable situation. The region, the author claims, has surpassed the merely ‘dysfunctional’: it has become a disturbing independent society, characterised by a negative coherency and a dystopian functionality. This is an in-depth look at the odd and alternative world of Australia’s Western Desert.

The 14-month project was completed in June 2005 and included a review of the literature and relevant legislation, consultations, and a web-based survey of police in the Northern Territory (NT), Queensland (Qld), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA). The questionnaire was piloted among 35 Western Australian police and was modified slightly for police in South Australia and Queensland. There were 792 responses, including 493 from police in non-urban areas (regional and rural towns, and remote settlements). A minority of the non-urban police (58) worked in remote Indigenous communities. The research team visited a number of locations, meeting with local community representatives and service providers to gain insights into drug use and its consequences in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY) (SA), in the Goldfields and Ngaanyatjarra Lands (WA), the Tiwi Islands (NT), Rockhampton and Woorabinda (Qld) and Queanbeyan (New South Wales).

Purpose While one-third of Australians live outside major cities, there are ongoing challenges in providing accessible, sustainable, and appropriate primary health care services in rural and remote communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore a partnership approach to understanding and addressing complex primary health workforce issues in the western region of New South Wales (NSW), Australia.Design/methodology/approach The authors describe how a collaboration of five organisations worked together to engage a broader group of stakeholders and secure commitment and resources for a regional approach to address workforce challenges in Western NSW. A literature review and formal interviews with stakeholders gathered knowledge, identified issues and informed the overarching approach, including the development of the Western NSW Partnership Model and Primary Health Workforce Planning Framework. A stakeholder forum tested the proposed approach and gained endorsement for a collaborative priority action plan.Findings The Western NSW Partnership Model successfully engaged regional stakeholders and guided the development of a collaborative approach to building a sustainable primary health workforce for the future.Originality/value Given the scarcity of literature about effective partnerships approaches to address rural health workforce challenges, this paper contributes to an understanding of how to build sustainable partnerships to positively impact on the rural health workforce. This approach is replicable and potentially valuable elsewhere in NSW, other parts of Australia and internationally.

his paper presents an account of a new place-based education initiative using both the mathematical construct of hypothetical learning trajectory and the 3D printing technology or Projection Augmented Landscape Models (PALM), as a tool for learning. The goal of the pilot study is to create bridges between Aboriginal and Western ways of knowing and learning to enable academic success in the challenging area of mathematics. The project explores powerful ways to construct cultural learning trajectory in which Tiwi preservice teachers can apply their prior traditional knowledge to their learning and teaching of Western mathematical constructs, within the Australian curriculum strand of geometry/measurement. The outcomes of this unique Tiwi project are significant because itis an applied research project using 3D PALM technology for educational purposes, particularly knowledge exchange in Aboriginal contexts. This application is unique as such technology to date has been used largely in applications related to land management.

This paper presents a Both-Ways place-based science education initiative, which situates Indigenous and western science knowledge traditions together as official curriculum knowledge, within a Bachelor of Education science education unit. This program is delivered in-situ to preservice teachers who work as Aboriginal Teaching Assistants in school classrooms. The program, known as Growing Our Own, is established in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (NT). This initiative has engaged Indigenous preservice teachers in border-crossing pedagogical practices as a way to recognise the legitimate use of the Indigenous concepts of place. It has also contextualised the teaching of school science as described in the Australian curriculum. This Both-Ways approach privileges the voices and knowledge of local Indigenous peoples and creates a bridge to the curriculum of science in a place- based contextually relevant methodological manner. Such modifications realise a meaningful cultural and place contextualization, which values and enables border-crossing between local Indigenous science knowledge, language and western science. The paper presents pedagogical discourses of place-based and contextual approaches in five NT Indigenous communities to demonstrate how the teaching of science has been reconceptualised. The authors and the preservice teachers use Indigenous perspectives intertwined with the science of the Australian curriculum. Such approaches have provided meaningful border-crossing opportunities for preservice teachers in the Growing Our Own program.

OBJECTIVE: To inform smoking interventions by clinicians, particularly doctors, in primary healthcare settings in remote Aboriginal communities, we describe the results of tobacco surveys in remote Northern Territory communities. METHODS: During 2008-09 in three remote communities in the Northern Territory, 400 people (aged >/=16 years) were asked about their tobacco use. RESULTS: Extremely high rates of smoking persist: 71%, 78% and 82% of those interviewed in the three communities. More than half the smokers were either thinking about or actively trying to quit, despite limited access to appropriate support. Among former smokers, the most common motivator for quitting was 'health concerns'. Of those citing 'health concerns', 22% specifically mentioned receiving advice from a clinician, usually a 'doctor'. CONCLUSION: General practitioners, and their colleagues in similar primary healthcare settings, are well placed and are strongly encouraged to take every opportunity to make what could be a significant impact on reducing harms related to smoking and environmental smoke.

Objective: To calculate the minimum prevalence of malnutrition among rural Aboriginal children under two years of age in the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT) using World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Methods: We calculated weight-for-height and height-for-age Z-scores (WHO-endorsed references) for all children under two years who were admitted to hospital with diarrhoeal disease between May 1990 and April 1991. Weights recorded 48 hours after admission were used to allow for acute dehydration. Malnutrition was defined in terms of ?wasting? and ?stunting? when weight-for-height and height-forage were more than two standard deviations below the median of the WHO reference population. The denominator population was calculated from NT Department of Health and Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Results: From an average population of no more than 480 children under two years, 34% were admitted to hospital at least once with diarrhoeal disease in the 12 months; 59% were malnourished (wasting alone, 36%; stunting alone, 10%; both, 13%). In the study period an estimated minimum of 20% of all Aboriginal children in the Top End were malnourished (wasted, 12%; stunted, 3%; both, 5%). Conclusions: The 20% prevalence of malnutrition is many times higher than would be expected statistically and higher than in many underdeveloped countries. International relief agencies regard a prevalence of wasting in children of more than 8% as a nutritional emergency. We urge that programs to alleviate the poor socioeconomic conditions, and mechanisms for early detection and intervention in childhood malnutrition, be offered to Aboriginal communities.

The maintenance of connections to traditional clan lands, or country, is synonymous with the continuation of Indigenous cultural practices across Australia. The most basic need for human inhabitation on these lands is access to safe and potable drinking water. Although access to safe drinking water is a basic human right, many remote Indigenous homeland and outstation communities, which are located on country, remain at risk to detrimental water related health impacts. Some states have reported fewer than 19% of homeland community water sources that meet microbial and chemical compliance standards. This is the result of a range of compounding institutional, infrastructural and biophysical factors which obfuscate water resource management approaches and servicing outcomes. Using a socio-ecological research approach, this paper discusses the historical policy settings, data collection, system and infrastructure conditions that have contributed to poor access to and availability of safe drinking water on homelands. We discuss the implications of these outcomes for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of achieving universal access to safe drinking water by 2030.

Diabetes is a leading cause of lower extremity amputation in Australia. Identifying patients 'at-risk' and preventing first diabetic foot ulcer are paramount. This mixed methods study delivered a multifaceted intervention in rural Western Australia to implement national guidelines for the diabetic foot. Interventions were based on the WHO Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions framework and included education and training for rural practitioners, decision support and telehealth support. Identified barriers and facilitators show that high level commitment is needed to resource systematic efforts to align and coordinate the necessary components to prevent and manage diabetic foot disease across the health system.

Background: Suicide amongst Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities occurs at twice the rate of the general population and, with significant barriers to treatment, help-seeking prior to a suicide attempt is low. This trial aims to test the effectiveness of an app (iBobbly) designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for reducing suicidal ideation. Methods/design: This is a two-arm randomised controlled trial that will compare iBobbly to a wait-list control condition. The trial aims to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants aged 16 years and over to test iBobbly, which is a self-help app delivering content based on acceptance and commitment therapy. The primary outcome for the study is suicidal ideation, and secondary outcomes include depression, hopelessness, distress tolerance, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belonging, and help-seeking intentions. Data will be collected for both groups at baseline, post-intervention (after 6 weeks of app use), and at 6 months post-baseline (with a final 12-month follow-up for the iBobbly group). Primary analysis will compare changes in suicidal ideation for the intervention condition relative to the wait-list control condition using mixed models. An examination of the cost-effectiveness of the intervention compared to the control condition will be conducted. Discussion: If effective, iBobbly could overcome many barriers to help-seeking amongst a group of people who are at increased risk of suicide. It may provide a low-cost, accessible intervention that can reach more people. This trial will add to a sparse literature on indigenous suicide prevention and will increase our knowledge about the effectiveness of e-health interventions for suicide prevention.

In 1977, Jones (in Bryson and Mowbray, 1981: 255) described the term ?community? as ?the aerosol word of the 1970s because of the hopeful way it is sprayed over deteriorating institutions.? They argued that the term is used to give the impression of community ownership over policymaking processes and outputs when the reality can be far different. This article discusses one of Australia?s current workfare programs, the Community Development Programme (CDP), which operates in remote parts of the country as new welfare conditionality architecture for moving (mainly Indigenous) remote unemployed people off welfare and into work. It argues that, despite political rhetoric to the contrary, 'community' is marginalised in the program?s design and implementation. Instead, CDP can be best conceptualised as a manifestation of neoliberal paternalism, whereby the governance practices of the state work through community organisations to enforce market principles and ?train? unemployed and poor people into pursuing ?freedom? within the bounds of market rationality. Through these modes of governing, Indigenous communities are instead strategically disempowered.

The overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system has been thoroughly documented over a number of decades. However, studies tend to adopt homogenising discourses that fail to acknowledge or deeply examine the diversity of Indigenous Australian experiences of crime, including across geographic and cultural contexts. This has prompted calls for a more thorough investigation of how experiences of crime differ across Australia’s Indigenous communities, including between remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This paper forms part of a larger study, examining crime and justice in the Torres Strait Region, situated off the far northern tip of the State of Queensland. Here, we examine and compare reported crime trends in the Torres Straits with those in Queensland’s remote Aboriginal communities and Queensland State on the whole. We then draw upon existing anthropological, historical and other literature to explore possible explanations for differences in these crime rates. We find that crime rates are generally lower in the Torres Strait Region and that the different historical experiences of colonisation and policing may provide a partial explanation for this, particularly through the lens of social disorganisation theory.

This article considers what successful working relationships between fly-in professionals and Aboriginal community workers involve. Interviews with six Aboriginal workers and the experience of the jointly delivered Let?s Start parent?child programme in remote north Australian Indigenous communities confirm the importance of developing positive relationships within a both-ways learning approach, drawing on each other?s strengths, and the significance of reflection on practice. Working cooperatively enables effective programme implementation, supports incorporation of new learning into practice, and benefits local Aboriginal community members through employment and development opportunities. This model has relevance for health and community programmes delivered in remote Aboriginal communities.

Becoming a teacher involves much more than building an effective collection of professional knowledge and practice. Establishing a satisfying and meaningful teacher identity is the foundation of teacher development and has implications for teacher retention and for reclaiming the profession from its current domination by policy discourses. Much can be learned by teacher educators, education leaders and teachers themselves from narratives of identity development. Such stories offer an embodied picture of the complex inter-relationship between the different elements of a teacher’s identity and how a teacher’s experiences, relationships and socio-cultural context shape the meaning they make of their teacher-self. This paper draws on arts-based, narrative and dialogic methods to share Author 2’s story of his professional identity formation before, during and after his participation in the Growing Our Own (GOO) program at Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa). The story emerges from data collected over six years of the eight-year working relationship between Author 2 and Author 1, a lecturer on the program. It casts light on the people, places and experiences that shaped his professional identity, on the challenges he encountered, and the impact becoming a teacher had on his identity as an Indigenous man and a member of his community. This story contests the notion of professional identity development as a straightforward journey towards a known destination and offers a rich embodiment of the complex nature of teacher identity as ecological, transactional and relative to time and place.

A growing net loss of Indigenous residents of the Northern Territory to other jurisdictions in Australia has been observed in successive Censuses. In this brief we examine Northern Territory Indigenous migration trends from 2001 to 2016 to identify patterns, flows and the characteristics of Indigenous migrants arriving to and departing from the Territory for interstate. The aim is to inform considerations by policy-makers on ways to enhance the retention of Indigenous people in the Territory and to increase attraction rates for those outside of the Territory. We also provide insights about return migration rates and characteristics for Indigenous residents compared to others. While the aim is primarily to outline migration trends, as context we provide baseline data on Territory Indigenous population characteristics and trends which are important to understanding recent and future Indigenous population growth and change in the Territory. THREE KEY FINDINGS 1.Territory migration flows are concentrated to and from Darwin and interstate which has comparatively higher rates of in and out migration for those originating from interstate. 2.Within the Territory, migration and other factors are leading to growth in Darwin (in particular) and Katherine while other regions are either growing slowly or in decline. 3.The Territory’s Indigenous population is changing, including through significant population ageing.

How and when does music become possible? Is it a matter of biology, or culture, or an interaction between the two? Revolutionizing the way we think about the core values of music and human exceptionalism, Hollis Taylor takes us on an outback road trip to meet the Australian pied butcherbird. Recognized for their distinct timbre, calls, and songs, both sexes of this songbird sing in duos, trios, and even larger choirs, transforming their flute-like songs annually. While birdsong has long inspired artists, writers, musicians, and philosophers, and enthralled listeners from all walks of life, researchers from the sciences have dominated its study. As a field musicologist, Taylor spends months each year in the Australian outback recording the songs of the pied butcherbird and chronicling their musical activities. She argues persuasively in these pages that their inventiveness in song surpasses biological necessity, compelling us to question the foundations of music and confront the remarkably entangled relationship between human and animal worlds. Equal parts nature essay, memoir, and scholarship, Is Birdsong Music? offers vivid portraits of the extreme locations where these avian choristers are found, quirky stories from the field, and an in-depth exploration of the vocalizations of the pied butcherbird.

Australia has a rich array of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, but they face decline along with many valued aspects of culture unless they are passed down to, and used by, younger generations. Prior work on designing technologies for language learning has often taken particular language skills, learning theories, and technologies as their starting point. Our empirical work with a remote Aboriginal community illustrates four ways in which this community's language practices intersect with family relations and are deeply enmeshed with family histories and stories, Indigenous Knowledges, and activities on and about country. Thus, we argue for a relational approach that instead takes family communication and social activities as the basis for designing technologies that foster everyday language use. We outline the guiding principles of this design orientation, and illustrate how they have been taken up in the co-design of a talking soft toy called the 'Crocodile Language Friend.' Finally, we identify opportunities and open issues in taking a relational approach to designing technologies for language communities with similar needs and aspirations.

The proliferation of mental health apps purporting to target and improve psychological wellbeing is ever-growing yet also concerning: few apps have been rigorously evaluated and the safety of most of them has not been determined. Over 10000 self-help apps exist but the majority are not used much after being downloaded. Gathering and analysing usage data and the acceptability of apps is critical to inform consumers, researchers and app developers. This paper presents pilot usage and acceptability data from the ibobbly suicide prevention app, an app distributed through a randomised controlled trial. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants from the Kimberley region of Western Australia completed a survey measuring their technology use in general (n=13) and data on their experiences and views of the ibobbly app were also collected in semi-structured interviews (n=13) and thematically analysed. Finally, engagement with the app, such as the number of completed sessions and time spent on various acceptance-based therapeutic activities were analysed (n=18). Regression analysis indicate that app use improved psychological outcomes although only minimally and effects were not significant. However, results of the thematic analysis indicate that the ibobbly app was deemed effective, acceptable and culturally appropriate by those interviewed.

The Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Project has:Created a forum and a platform from which the Anangu men can position their voice within the dialogue relating to family violence prevention;Enabled a place for consideration and learning about the complex factors and circumstances that contribute to family violence; Provided a safe and creative space for the team members to think, learn, teach, express feelings and ideas and gain clarity to inform and take action; andEnabled the Anangu men to develop their language around trauma and family violence prevention so that they can genuinely and effectively enter into these dialogues at a family, community, regional and national level. The Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Project is: Developing a shared bi-cultural understanding of trauma, trauma behaviour, including violence, and healing from trauma; Promoting positive narratives and pathways for Anangu men; Building on Anangu men’s strengths to develop their confidence and capacity to support young people and develop healthy intergenerational relationships drawing on their cultural knowledge as well as Western knowledge; and Supporting the Anangu men’s personal growth, emotional capacity development and healing. Anangu team members are aware of the learning by the non-Aboriginal team members, which contributes to their willingness to share their knowledge; they want to teach non-Aboriginal people so that there is greater understanding, respect and ability to work together. One of the Anangu team members articulated the essence of the meaning of uti kulintjaku – to listen, think and understand clearly in this way: "So [the non-Aboriginal team members have] already learnt quite a bit, and they can recognise more about us, understand more about us, and they can respect and appreciate what we say, so when they're with us in meetings then they can see, yeah, that person has got a good point, or they've spoken well. And then there's more understanding. So once they've got more of that experience in listening then they can understand what we're actually talking about." Anangu Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Team Member (044), 2019. The Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Project clearly demonstrates an initiative that aligns with current national priorities and principles for family violence prevention practice in Indigenous communities. The Project is taking a long view with regard to family violence prevention; it is not an intervention, it is an Anangu-led community capacity development and resilience strengthening initiative that is aimed at sustainable, transformative change. As such, it sits within an increasing number of innovative initiatives and programs in Indigenous communities that are part of a paradigm shift; these initiatives are community-led, holistic, strengths-based, trauma-informed and grounded in Aboriginal culture and knowledge.·The Project is showing much potential to contribute to transformative systems change in a similar wayto the women’s Uti Kulintjaku Project. This type of systems change is required to shift “the conditions that are holding the problem in place” (Kania et al., 2018:3). However, for the investment in the Uti Kulintjaku Watiku Project to date to achieve its full potential, it requires ongoing funding in the medium term.The challenge is to find funding programs that support the implementation of the current national strategies related to Indigenous family violence prevention.

Age-standardized comparisons of mortality rates from four causes in 14 Aboriginal reserves and communities in Queensland were examined. The 14 reserves were allocated to two groups within 10 socioenvironmental variables. The findings point to an association between Queensland Government Aboriginal policy, the administration of reserves, and the consequent mortality rates of the residents of these reserves.

Aim Gross motor skills are important for children's health and development. Delays in these skills are a concern for healthy developmental trajectories and therefore early identification of delay is important. This study screened for gross motor delay in children from low-income communities and investigated potential risk factors associated with gross motor delay. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 701 pre-schoolers (Mage = 54.1?±?8.6 months, 52.8% boys) from childcare services in low-income and remote communities in Australia. Gross motor delay was assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire ? third edition. Potential risk factors included: sex, age, birthweight, prematurity status, weight status, childcare service, postcode, parent's education, parent's marital status, parent's employment and family income. Results Results showed 4.4% of the children were delayed in gross motor skills and 8.8% were at risk of delay. Logistic regression showed being a boy (odds ratio (OR) 1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12?2.84), underweight (OR 2.72, 95% CI 1.18?6.30) or overweight (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.00?3.33), and parental unemployment (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.01?3.16) were factors associated with a higher odds of children being delayed or at risk of gross motor delay. A higher family income (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13?0.93) was associated with lower odds of delay. Conclusion This unique study demonstrated children in low-income communities, especially boys, underweight and overweight children, have higher odds of being at risk of gross motor delay. Therefore, early screening is vital in this population in order to identify delays and potentially intervene with appropriate motor skill interventions.

In this essay, I reflect on the process of conducting research into an Australian welfare reform experiment that targets Indigenous people: the trial of a cashless debit card. Selectively deployed statistical research has been key to making and contesting the political case regarding the cashless debit card’s effectiveness. However, pursuing narrative research in contradistinction to this preponderance of statistical research does not necessarily salve ongoing questions about power and research ethics, which have been reinvigorated amid renewed calls for anthropology’s decolonisation. I draw on Eve Tuck’s (2009) analysis of ‘pain narratives’ and Sujatha Fernandes’ (2017) critical account of storytelling to probe aspects of my research. When settler anthropologists elicit, listen to, collect, and then disseminate stories gifted by Indigenous interviewees, this demands we take serious ‘responsibility for the decisions we make as writers’ (Birch 2019: 26). Demystifying the particular relations and everyday processes that lie at the heart of our research practice is thus warranted/