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Articles on Indigenous Australia

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Researchers May Nango, Djaykuk Djandjomerr and S. Anna Florin collecting plants in Kakadu National Park. Reproduced with permission of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation. Elspeth Hayes

65,000-year-old plant remains show the earliest Australians spent plenty of time cooking

Charred plant remains from one of the oldest archaeological sites reveal that the first Australians ate a varied - and sometimes labour-intensive - diet.
Professor Megan Davis is an independent expert member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. AAP/RICHARD WAINWRIGHT

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Megan Davis on a First Nations Voice in the Constitution

Megan Davis on a First Nations Voice in the Constitution The Conversation, CC BY31.4 MB (download)
Megan Davis says the idea of including an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution is being rejected on an understanding that "simply isn't true" but believes Australia has the "capacity to correct this".
The Indigenous flag flies above Victorian Parliament in 2017. Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Explainer: our copyright laws and the Australian Aboriginal flag

As the flag’s copyright owner, Luritja artist Harold Thomas has the right to grant licences to whomever he pleases. Asking the government to buy back his copyright licence could be seen as an appropriation of Aboriginal property rights.
Rupert O’Flynn with Rudolf Marcuse’s bronze bust of Douglas Grant, December 2016. Photograph courtesy Tom Murray.

How we tracked down the only known sculpture of a WWI Indigenous soldier

In 1918, in Wünsdorf prisoner-of-war camp, a German sculptor created a bust of Indigenous soldier Douglas Grant. For decades, the whereabouts of this nationally significant sculpture were unknown - until now.
Composer William Barton in 2013. Indigenous composers have long been working in the field, but the contribution of Indigenous music and culture to Australian composition deserves greater recognition. David Crosling/AAP

It’s time to properly acknowledge - and celebrate - Indigenous composers

Australian composers have long referenced Indigenous music and culture in their works. A new platform paper suggests a more collaborative way forward.
A Motu trading ship with its characteristic crab claw shaped sails. Taken in the period 1903-1904. Trustees of The British Museum

Archaeology is unravelling new stories about Indigenous seagoing trade on Australia’s doorstep

It has often been assumed that Australia was essentially isolated until 1788. But research into the seagoing trade on the south coast of Papua New Guinea suggests otherwise.
Peta Clancy, Undercurrent 1, from the series Undercurrent, 2018-19, inkjet pigment print, W120 x H85cm each image approx. Courtesy the artist

Peta Clancy brings a hidden Victorian massacre to the surface with Undercurrent

There is a long history of cultural silence on the frontier wars that characterised Australia’s colonisation. Peta Clancy’s exhibition invites us to see this history in the Victorian landscape.
Mary Jane Cain (centre) with granddaughters Miley Barker and Molly Chatfield and her great niece Josephine. The sun dancin' : people and place Coonabarabran (Aboriginal Studies Press, 1994)

Hidden women of history: Mary Jane Cain, land rights activist, matriarch and community builder

In the late 1880s, Gomeroi woman Mary Jane Cain began petitioning Britain for land rights. A matriarch and Queen to her people, she recovered 600 acres that became home to displaced Aboriginal families.
Harley Windsor’s visibility before, during and after these Winter Olympics may just be the catalyst to inspire future generations of Indigenous athletes. AAP/Brendan Esposito

In Harley Windsor, Australia has its first Indigenous Winter Olympian – why has it taken so long?

While Harley Windsor’s selection deserves celebration, it’s surprising that it has taken until now for an Indigenous Australian to compete at a Winter Olympics.
The targets relating to Year 12 attainment, preschool enrolment, and childhood mortality are on track to be closed, according to the 2018 Closing the Gap report. AAP/Marianna Massey

Three reasons why the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aren’t closing

Care needs to be taken in interpreting progress on closing the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and ascribing it to actual policy change.

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