Menu Close

Articles on Aboriginal life

Displaying 1 - 20 of 28 articles

courtneyk/Getty

‘Care is in everything we do and everything we are’: the work of Indigenous women needs to be valued

To First Nations women, ‘care’ is more broad and all-encompassing than traditional definitions. We need a new approach to capturing, and appreciating, their work, paid and unpaid.
Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos, by Joseph Lycett. New research suggests the assumption Aboriginal people lived in open vegetation sustained by fire is misplaced. National Library of Australia

New research turns Tasmanian Aboriginal history on its head. The results will help care for the land

History has told us Aboriginal people in Tasmania almost exclusively occupied open plains. Revelations to the contrary could transform modern conservation.
Sunset looking across Port Warrender to the Mitchell Plateau on the Kimberley coast. It is in Wunambal Gaambera country. Mark Jones Films (with permission)

How to get to Australia … more than 50,000 years ago

The first people to make it to Australia could have navigated their way by sea crossing, reaching the north-west coastline of the island continent more than 50,000 years ago.
On expedition with Norman Tindale and local Aboriginal group at a rock shelter at Bathurst Head (Thartali) in eastern Cape York Peninsula, 1927. Photo by Herbert Hale/South Australian Museum, Archives Norman Tindale Collection (AA 338/5/4/41)

DNA reveals Aboriginal people had a long and settled connection to country

Aboriginal people stayed settled in places across Australia for 50,000 years until Europeans arrived, showing a strong connection with the land.
We still have so much to learn about Aboriginal history and culture. Shutterstock/John Austin

Aboriginal people – how to misunderstand their science

Just one generation ago Australian schoolkids were taught that Aboriginal people couldn’t count beyond five, wandered the desert scavenging for food, had no civilisation, couldn’t navigate and peacefully…
After the Gonski review of school funding, the government has been given a new challenge to help preserve Indigenous languages in education. AAP

Action needed to help preserve Indigenous languages

Language and Indigenous experts have welcomed a government report that recommends bilingual school education programs for Indigenous communities, saying it will benefit all Australians and help get some…
Terry Mills has been sworn in as new chief minister of the Northern Territory. AAP Image

Was the NT election outcome a shockwave or a regional ripple?

The recent Northern Territory election attracted an unusual amount of media attention amongst the “politically informed public”, especially in the south-eastern states of Australia. Media reporting saw…
The High Court decision against Palm Island rioter, Lex Wotton highlights concerns about how little our constitution does to protect us. AAP Image/Ian Hitchcock

Silencing Lex Wotton: Palm Island riot decision a blow for freedom of speech

When a prisoner has served their time, it’s difficult to understand why they would be stopped from engaging in public debate or communicating with the media. But a new precedent has been set by the High…
Many Aboriginal people, like boxer Anthony Mundine, look to Islam as a way of re-connecting with their roots. AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy

Long history with Islam gives Indigenous Australians pride

Muslim conversion is growing in Indigenous communities. In the 2001 national census, 641 Indigenous people identified as Muslim. By the 2006 census the number had climbed by more than 60% to 1014 people…
Government data shows Aboriginal people are twice as likely to have a core activity limitation as non-Aboriginal people. AAP Image/Karen Michelmore

Changes needed to close the gap for Indigenous Australians with disabilities

Alongside high rates of incarceration, unemployment, homelessness and some of the poorest health outcomes in Australia, Indigenous people’s access and use of disability services is under-representative…
There are health benefits for indigenous Australians when they live in smaller homeland communities. Flickr/Rusty Stewart

Homeland communities destroyed to save a bit of cash

Government efforts to “close the gap” between indigenous and white Australians ignore the needs of nearly 1000 homeland communities on the Indigenous estate. Australian citizens living at the most remote…

Top contributors

More