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Dreaming Tracks was chosen for the title of this history because of its reference to the journeys and routes taken by the ancestral founders of each of the extended family clans. As they travelled they recorded the events and situations they encountered along the way , which they left in story, painting, song lines and dances for the future survival of their people. The history of the Aboriginal/Islander Skills Development Scheme also pertains to a journey. This journey records the events that brought about the establishment of the longest surviving, urban Indigenous dance organization. It's a voyage that identifies the obstacles and accomplishments of its founding members, who dedicated themselves to the hard work to ensure the continuum of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance. It was their dream, to have an Australian Black Dance Company that would create a link between past and present, traditional and urban. The pathways they created equipped urban Indigenous Australians with a unique dance identity of their own, and established the path to continued contact with the traditional owners. Dreaming Tracks is contemporary Dreaming lore that begins with the contention for land rights in the early 1970's and follows the progress of the Aboriginal/Islander Skills Development Scheme to the end of the decade. It records the desires, dreams and conflicts that brought this organization into being. In parallel, the concerns of the founder, Carole Y. Johnson, sets the path for the journey, which by the end of the twentieth-century witnessed the establishment of an accredited dance course, two dance companies (The Aboriginal/Islander Dance Theatre and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia) and students who are key participants in the artistic design of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney Australia / Master of Arts (Hons) (Performance)

The present study focussed on the information needs of the academic staff of Batchelor College.* It examined their access to and the provision of adequate and appropriate resources for the implementation of the Diploma and Associate Diploma level courses offered through the College. Batchelor College, an institute of tertiary education, is situated 100 kilometres south of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The content and the modes of delivery of Batchelor College courses are specifically designed to be culturally and socially appropriate to Aboriginal people, particularly those from traditionally oriented and 'remote' communities. It can only be within this framework that informed and sensitive research can be conducted. The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the information needs of staff delivering higher education courses to 'remote' Aboriginal students of Northern Australia. Six distinct areas of study emerged: 1, to identify the information needs; 2, to analyse the information-seeking behaviour; 3, to assess the level of satisfaction with current information sources; 4, to identify inadequacies in the existing information seeking processes; 5, to identify constraints experienced; and 6, to explore how future information needs may be catered for. A mailed survey instrument was specifically designed and implemented, and it attracted a response rate of eighty-seven percent. The population under investigation was the academic staff of Batchelor College, and the variables of: 1, location; 2, sex; 3, academic school; 4, designation; 5, tenure; 6, length of service; and 7, educational background were studied in relation to the questions asked. Results of the survey were analysed using 'Mystat: Statistical Applications', (1990). Frequency distributions were computed to determine the number of respondents who selected each option. A number of questions that elicited a written response were analysed, as were the many extra comments staff members made throughout the survey. The study found that the academic staff of Batchelor College are most affected by the location variable. It appears that how staff members use, regard and value the information sources used to inform their academic practice is affected by where a staff member is located. That is, the more isolated a staff member was, both geographically and professionally, the more significant were the findings of use of information sources. The study concludes with considerations of future planning strategies that could improve the access to and use of information. The study also identifies areas for further research. * Batchelor College, an institute of tertiary education, is situated 100 kilometres south of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (see Appendix 3).

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