AIATSIS News May 2015

AIATSIS funding boost

Professor Mick Dodson welcomed the announcement of a $5 million injection into AIATSIS’ budget for the 2015-16 financial year.

Minister for Education and Training, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP announced the funding on Wednesday 29 April; acknowledging the culturally, nationally, and internationally significant collection held by AIATSIS, and its importance in communicating an understanding of Australia's Indigenous culture and heritage.

Professor Dodson said the increase in funding and the commitment of the government is testament to the productive working relationship developed under Minister Pyne.

Read the media release.

Leadership, Legacy and Opportunity

Indigenous lawyer and founder of the Cape York Partnerships, Noel Pearson will present the keynote address at the 2015 National Native Title Conference, highlighting reforms for Indigenous social, political, economic and cultural development.

The themes of leadership, legacy and opportunity across the Native Title sector will be addressed by delegates in Port Douglas from 16 - 18 June.

Register for the conference.

Gender and generation in native title

New in the issues paper series, this research publication focuses specifically on the gender and age of directors on the boards of prescribed bodies corporate (PBCs), the corporations established to hold and/or manage native title rights and interests.

In his paper, author Geoff Buchanan argues that PBCs have the potential to both contribute to and benefit from the strengthening of community capacity, but this potential will not be realised until the constraints on the capacity of PBCs to meet their statutory obligations and pursue native title holder aspirations are addressed.

Download a copy of the paper.

Searching for Charles and Clyde

Found pinned to a page in an album that housed an incredible collection of personally signed letters and photographs from former prime ministers and political figures, an MBE and records of military service and sporting achievements, was a small badge which is now revealing its own very big story.

The circular tinplate badge is a photomontage believed to be of three Stafford brothers circa 1918, but collection donor, Michelle Flynn is on a quest to positively identify two of her great-uncles.

Read more about Michelle's search.

What do we want?

‘What do we want?’ was the rallying call for land rights activists in New South Wales in the late 1970s.

In this new book published by Aboriginal Studies Press, Heidi Norman tells the story of the incredible moment in the 1970s where Aboriginal people, armed with new skills, framed their demands for land rights to suit a sympathetic government.

Check out the new book – What do we want?

Ngambri youth illustrate stories of generations past

AIATSIS staff member, Rob Williams discusses illustrating Ngambri stories with his family in this short video. Rob’s family are traditional custodians of the Canberra plains, Ngambri and Ngunnawal country.

The stories include an encounter between his great-great-great-grandfather and a dhalagarr – which is the Australian yowie or hairy man.

Watch Rob in the short video.

Traditional Owner agreement-making in Victoria

AIATSIS Researcher, Toni Bauman and co-authors’ latest publication on traditional owner agreement making in Victoria draws on an approach that is being taken in the south-eastern Australian State of Victoria, through the Right People for Country Program (RPfC).

The paper demonstrates that RPfC performs a unique role by allowing a focus on the processes of agreement-making amongst traditional owners, as a foundation to their reaching agreements with the wider world. This includes a focus not just on the dynamics of Indigenous agreement-making processes, but also on the collaboration of the partners involved in the bigger native title and cultural heritage context within which RPfC sits.

Download a copy of the PDF.

A passion for change

We caught up with newly appointed AIATSIS Council member Geoffrey Winters for National Youth Week. At 26, Geoffrey, a Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri man, is the youngest ever member and is looking forward to making a difference and contributing to the valuable work of the Council.

Geoffrey’s drive for community change was inspired by working as judicial associate to the Hon. Justice Basten of the NSW Court of Appeal, one of the original architects of the Native Title Act 1993 and a central figure in the establishment of the Redfern Legal Centre.

Read what Geoffrey had to say.

A page of Aboriginal Syndey with Chinese translation

ASP to enter Chinese market

Aboriginal Studies Press Director, Rhonda Black travelled to China recently to take part in the Australia-China Publishing Forum, where she met translators and publishers, visited bookstores, as well as wholesalers and distributors, and was business-matched with a range of Chinese publishers.

“The trip provided access to all the people in the Chinese market I needed to meet, as well as giving some salutary advice about doing business there. That’s obviously something I just couldn’t do from my desk,” said Ms Black.