As part of an investigation into traditional Australian Aboriginal bush medicine a range of Acacia species have been examined. Several species have been reported to be utilised for the preparation of antimicrobial washes and lotions by Aboriginal tribes. Initial bioactivity screening focussed on antimicrobial activity of the polar/and or non-polar extracts of air dried plant material, and a range of interesting activity has been found. Specifically, of the 94 extracts of Acacia species screened, five showed activity against the fungus C.albicans, 47 showed activity showed activity against the gram positive bacteria S.aureus and five showed activity against the gram negative bacteria E.coli. A retrosynthetic analysis and total synthesis of the novel anisidine alkaloid isolated from Acacia trineura was attempted. A variety of methodologies to generate the lithiate of anisidine and subsequently trap with an appropriate electrophile were attempted. While the results only indicated which methods were appropriate, they did give strong leads for future work in this direction / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

When Captain James Cook sailed into Botany Bay in Australia for the first time in 1770, his botanist Joseph Banks described the behaviour of the Aboriginals to be 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd'.During this same few days Cook named the place Stingray Bay. Within eight days the name was changed by Cook to Botany Bay. Banks' phrases generate oscillating perceptions and Cook's name change poses questions. The perceptions documented in Banks' journal, refer to an invisibility of the Aboriginals themselves. The name 'Stingray' and its change to 'Botany' raises political questions about the necessity for the change. The change also sheds light on a viewpoint at odds with its subject. The events that occurred during the eight days Cook was anchored in Botany Bay will be discussed firstly in the framework of an analysis of the implications of the terms 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd' in Banks' journal, and secondly in a discussion about the various historical notions concerning the name change. Did these curly histories and viewpoints render the indigenous culture invisible? Can these inscriptions made by Cook and Banks and the subsequent mythologies surrounding them, including those about the actual place, be a metaphor for 'further understanding'? / Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)

During 1987 my essential beliefs about the nature of the world were challenged by a chance event which led to my arrival in Arnhemland. Working with Aboriginal people allowed me to see first hand the failings of Western ideas in Aboriginal education and health. This is how a 12 year collaboration with Aboriginal people began. The aim was to search for answers to the question, 'Why so many ideas that had been successfully used in the Western world, fail to meet the needs of aboriginal people? My experiences prior to 1995 had led me to believe that Both Ways, an education pedagogy developed in teacher education, was the best approach for empowering Aboriginal Health Workers. I believed Both Ways gave Aboriginal Health Workers a means to develop solutions to aboriginal health issues which valued and respected their aboriginal knowledge. I needed to describe and evaluate the practice of both ways with Aboriginal Health workers for the purpose of proving the benefit of this pedagogy for other educators in this field. This thesis describes how I came to think Both Ways was a good idea; how I defined Both ways; and how I put it into practice. It also provides a description of the issues raised in my critique of Both Ways and in my attempts to provide answers to these issues. Several years of collecting data, including records from action research group discussions, participant observation, interviews with peers and students, and formal evaluations left me with many concerns about Both Ways. As educators follow my journey of discovery I hope that they will recognise experiences and insights that they themselves have shared. The descriptions and discussions in this thesis will add significantly to the overall discourse about health worker education. Similarly, the exploration of ideas beyond Both Ways will add significantly to the overall body knowledge about the power relationships involved in teaching in a cross cultural setting / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This is a narrative of the Sugarman Project, a community project in Central Australia concerned with research into ancient Mediterranean and Greek traditions of alcohol use and abuse. The project was initiated as a response to a request from an Aboriginal man for a ‘story about alcohol’ which would fill a missing link in traditional Aboriginal conceptualisation of alcohol. The ‘story’ would have a role in indigenous treatment of alcohol abuse, put in a symbolic form consistent with oral teaching methods of indigenous custom. The project is centred around the development of an original performance script. The thesis describes the origin, context, development, rationale and implications of the project, especially with a view to considering the potential of the mythologem of Dionysos as a therapeutic paradigm in intercultural substance abuse work. Particular attention is given to the relationship between Aboriginal and European therapeutic practitioners and the use of myth, metaphor, symbolic function and specific Aboriginal ‘dreaming stories’ as a source and backup to therapeutic practice. Principal themes include the role of mythopoetic symbol formation in the development of thinking; reflections on the presence of theriomorphic serpentine imagery in the work; the role of stories as mental containers of therapeutic theory; reflections on the ‘milieu’ needed for implementing intercultural therapeutic procedures; examples of positive indigenous responses to alcohol work; preliminary notions on cross cultural transference communications; and reflections on primal states associated with alcohol intoxication. The conclusion is that the experience of developing a Western myth in concert with Aboriginal colleagues confirms the value of the initial, seminal suggestion that ‘dreaming stories’ have an authentic place in the repertoire of alcohol treatment and education / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

To date, there has been only limited research investigating the musculoskeletal health of Indigenous Australians. Nevertheless, the pain and disability associated with musculoskeletal conditions are thought to be high. This thesis reports on the outcomes of a cross-sectional survey and clinical assessment designed to measure the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions, and uses them to inform the development of a community-based musculoskeletal training program for Indigenous Australians living in one of the largest rural Indigenous communities in Australia. There were three separate community-based studies comprising this thesis: The first describes the development of measures for assessing the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions and the associated risk factors and barriers to managing these conditions for people living in this Community. The development of a screening survey and clinical assessment protocol was based on a literature search, existing validated measures, feedback from Indigenous focus groups and pilot testing with Indigenous people in order to achieve cultural appropriateness. The second study piloted the research tools, then measured and assessed the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions, associated risk factors and barriers to managing these conditions in the Community. The third study describes the development and implementation of a preliminary community-based intervention delivered by AHWs that responded to the outcomes of the prevalence study. It assessed the cultural acceptability of a musculoskeletal training program (MTP), as well as piloting an approach to assessing changes in skills and knowledge of Aboriginal Health Workers (AHWs) who participated in the MTP. The conduct of these studies reiterates the difficulties associated with conducting studies in Indigenous Communities according to mainstream concepts, which rely on randomly selecting participants in order to achieve generalisability to the larger population. Beyond empowering Indigenous people through sustainable, community-based training initiatives, lies the immediate need to improve access to musculoskeletal health services and to remove this current and considerable barrier to improving the musculoskeletal health of Indigenous Australians. The conclusions of this thesis highlight the importance of giving consideration to cultural sensitivity and collaboration in planning health service delivery to Indigenous people. The application of the community-based model used in this study may have the potential to be seeded in Communities throughout the country as a step towards promoting the musculoskeletal health of Indigenous people living in rural Australia and beyond. / PhD Doctorate

The renin¡Vangiotensin system (RAS) plays a role in the pathogenesis of obesity. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), the component of the RAS system, has recently been found to be completely expressed in human adipose tissue. Angiotensin II, the active component of RAS, may affect adipogenesis and adipocyte metabolism. Among ACE polymorphism, the gene DD genotype has shown to be regulated with a higher agiotensin- converting enzyme level in plasma. Hence, the purpose of this research is to investigate the correlation of ACE gene polymorphism to body mass index (BMI) between aborigines and Han non-aborigines. The relationship of race and ACE insertion (I)/ deletion (D) polymorphism was also analyzed.The results showed a higher value of ACE DD genotype appeared in aborigines (35.7 %) than that in Han population (10.8 %)(p < 0.0001). BMI in aborigines was 26.4¡Ó4.6 kg/m2, while in Han population was 24.4¡Ó3.6 kg/m2 (P<0.0001). A higher waist circumference value was also found among females aborigines than that found among female in Han population (86.9¡Ó10.7 vs 84.3¡Ó9.7 cm, P<0.0001). Simple and multiple linear regression analyses showed that both race and ACE gene polymorphism are closely correlated to BMI in all subjects. By discussion on the cases for the Han and aborigines population separately, it was found that the ACE gene polymorphism is associated with BMI in Han population it is not significant in aborigines. In aborigines, life style in culture is associated with BMI. In conclusion, ACE gene polymorphism and race were independent factors correlated to BMI, but differences could be found between race and ACE gene polymorphism.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the multiple intelligence, its distribution among students, the performance of multiple intelligence, and self-concept of Pingtung County¡¦s aborigine students. 689 subjects from fifth- and six-grade students of aborigines and non-aborigines elementary schools were surveyed through ¡§multiple intelligence critical scale¡¨, and ¡§self-concept scale¡¨. The data was ordered and analyzed through descriptive statistics, one-way MANOVA and canonical correlation one. The findings of the study are¡G 1. On multiple intelligence, both aborigines and non-aborigines of Pingtung County gained similar higher scores, with equal performances on the eight intelligences. Spatial intelligence was generally superior, while naturalist intelligence inferior. 2. On the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal, there were significant differences between aborigines and non-aborigines. Meanwhile, they both had significant differences level in Multiple Intelligence Appraisal score including logical - mathematic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intra-personal intelligence with logical-mathematic intelligence of non-aborigines students superior to that of aborigine¡¦s, and the other intelligences of aborigines superior to those of the non-aborigine¡¦s. 3. Among aborigines, both PAIWAN and LUKAI races did not show any significant differences in the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal. 4. With reference to the difference sexes, the aborigines students have showed significant differences in the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal score. Female students were significantly superior to male students on certain kinds of intelligence such as linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intra-personal, and naturalist intelligence in the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal score. 5. Aborigines students who live in different areas also showed significant differences on the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal score. City aborigines were superior to those of mountain and country on logical - mathematic intelligence, linguistic intelligence spatial intelligence musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intra-personal intelligence in the Multiple Intelligence Appraisal score. 6. As to the relation of the Multiple Intelligence and self-concept of aborigines, the higher the interpersonal intelligence and intra-personal intelligence, the stronger of self-esteem and personal competence. And the higher of naturalist intelligence, the better personal competence. Key Words¡Gaborigines, PAIWAN, LUKAI, multiple intelligence, self-concept, self-esteem

"This research project explores the possibility of a relationship between Abstract art and Aboriginal art in Australia from the mid twentieth century to present. [...] The investigation commences with background information on the history and origins of Abstraction, including the influence of 'primitive art' upon leading practitioners in this field during the movement's formation, before moving to Australia and focussing on two Australian painters. [...] The text also reflects on the rise of the perception of Aboriginal art from being seen as cultural curios in the mid 20th century to its current status as an internationally recognised art movement."--p. 2. / Master of Arts (Visual Arts)

Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Leadership))--University of South Australia, 1997

Thesis (MArch)--University of South Australia, 1998