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Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis traces NSW Aboriginal political activity and demands from 1909 to 1939. In examining the background to the situations of Aboriginal communities in the early 1900's, two factors appear to have been of major importance. One was the degree of compatibility between Aboriginal and rural capitalist land use. The other was the labour requirements of rural industries. There are clear indications of internal colonial economic relations continuing until at least the late 1930's. As European land use intensified regionally, Aborigines attempted to secure their position by demanding tenure over land of significance to them. Initially, the creation of reserves was as much a result of this Aboriginal demand as of white settler desires to segregate Aborigines.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2007. / "Including the plays Positive expectations and Waiting for ships." Title from web document (viewed 7/4/08). Includes bibliographical references: leaf 249-267.

This postmodern feminist ethnographies research aimed to explore the everyday meanings of primary health care (PHC) held by rural community nurses. Secondly, the research aimed to explore the everyday meanings of care held by the clients of the rural community nurses who participated in the study. The representation of this research is written in four voices which converse with each other to varying degrees in each chapter. This writing strategy is a deliberate one aimed at destabilising the usual approach to representation of research. It is also a strategy which seeks methodological coherence. The third aim therefore is to deliberately trouble the acceptable grounds concerning how nursing research is represented. The research utilised dialogical (conversational)and participant observation methods concerning the everyday meanings of nurses and their clients.The meanings I made of the information were created from a deconstruction of the texts. These texts included fieldnotes of participant observations and transcripts of conversations with nurses and their clients. The form of deconstruction utilised was informed from multiple sources and involved three levels of analysis. A realist interpretation was followed by an oppositional interpretation and then a reconstructive movement. The results revealed that rural community nurses practice is both spatio-temporally contextualised and metaphorically situated in an in-between space. This in-between space is situated between margin and the centre. Rural community nurses working on the margins traverse this space in order to overcome further marginalisation whilst working with Indigenous Australians and the aged. Moreover, the in-between space encompasses and creates opportunities to mutually exchange the gift of desire that being - empowering and compassionate relationships with clients and colleagues. Futhermore, whilst rural community nurses are strongly committed to the philosophy of PHC, their evryday working life is discursively constructed by powerful discourses which result in oppositional tensions. The tensions and the 'in-between' space allow the rhetoric of PHC to be resisted and reframed. Consequently, the oppositional constructs of their practice were displaced. Moreover, this necessitated the negotiation of space and place, and required the reconstruction of subjectivity, intersubjectivity and becoming / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This is a story of a cross-cultural dance exchange conceptualising myth as a living art through traditional Kathak dance form in collaboration with contemporary Aboriginal dance form, weaving and celebrating the reconciliation and independence of all people through male and female energy to evoke an ancient universal serpent energy. It continues the poetic traditions of interpretation which accompany the arts in both Indian and Aboriginal cultures. / Master of Arts (Hons)

This thesis incorporates social history and consultative action research to analyse the development of cross-cultural nutrition services for Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory from 1974-2000 and promote the development of stronger partnerships in 1999-2001.The historical development of nutrition services is analysed against current theory and a model of capacity building for health promotion. Nutrition infrastructure and services have developed systematically, incrementally and substantially. Strengths include the development of enduring and successful inter-cultural partnerships and leadership.Two facilitative narratives which aim to improve inter-cultural knowledge sharing, strengthen capacity and promote participatory action in community based projects were developed, implemented and partially evaluated. Services can be further strengthened by long-term commitments to examining power issues, promoting improved Indigenous control and problem solving and comprehensive bi cultural evaluation that identifies significant indicators to improving outcomes. Participatory action research, facilitative story telling, capacity building, Indigenous education theory and critical social science can inform and guide these efforts in complementary ways. / Master of Arts (Hons) (Critical Social Science)

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

Aboriginal Australian heritage forms a significant and celebrated part of Australian heritage. Set within the institutional frameworks of a predominantly ??white?? European Australian heritage practice, Aboriginal heritage has been promoted as the heritage of a people who belonged to the distant, pre-colonial past and who were an integral and sustainable part of the natural environment. These controlled and carefully packaged meanings of Aboriginal heritage have underwritten aspects of urban Aboriginal presence and history that prevail in the (previously) colonial city. In the midst of the city which seeks to cling to selected images of its colonial past urban Aboriginal heritage emerges as a significant challenge to a largely ??white??, (post)colonial Australian heritage practice. The distinctively Aboriginal sense of anti-colonialism that underlines claims to urban sites of Aboriginal significance unsettles the colonial stereotypes that are associated with Aboriginal heritage and disrupts the ??purity?? of the city by penetrating the stronghold of colonial heritage. However, despite the challenge to the colonising imperatives of heritage practice, the fact that urban Aboriginal heritage continues to be a deeply contested reality indicates that heritage practice has failed to move beyond its predominantly colonial legacy. It knowingly or unwittingly maintains the stronghold of colonial heritage in the city by selectively and often with reluctance, recognising a few sites of contested Aboriginal heritage such as the Old Swan Brewery and Bennett House in Perth. Furthermore, the listing of these sites according to very narrow and largely Eurocentric perceptions of Aboriginal heritage makes it quite difficult for other sites which fall outside these considerations to be included as part of the urban built environment. Importantly this thesis demonstrates that it is most often in the case of Aboriginal sites of political resistance such as The Block in Redfern, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra and Australian Hall in Sydney, that heritage practice tends to maintain its hegemony as these sites are a reminder of the continuing disenfranchised condition of Aboriginal peoples, in a nation which considers itself to be postcolonial.

Since the 1970s there has been a growing interest in Indigenous cultures globally. In Australia, the recognition that Aboriginal art and culture represents a distinct component of Australian identity has resulted in increased promotion of Aboriginal cultures and heritage sites as unique tourist attractions, mainly since the 1990s. Research indicates that there is a significant international interest in Australian Indigenous cultures. In particular, it has been suggested that tourists want to experience ‘real’ Aboriginal culture and that they desire ‘authentic and genuine’ Aboriginal cultural experiences. Despite the fact that the concept of authenticity remains important to the different stakeholder groups of Aboriginal tourism, including tourists, tour operators and promoters as well as State/Territorial Governments, limited understanding exists as to what ‘authentic’ Aboriginal culture and, in particular, ‘authentic’ Aboriginal tourism experiences constitute in the minds of these stakeholders. Whilst an abundance of research exists that has addressed the issue of authenticity in different tourism settings, the majority of studies have treated the concept of authenticity as something given and have used quantitative tools to analyse the authentic-inauthentic binary. However, research utilising such methods has failed to uncover the different perspectives and meanings respondents may hold of the notion of authenticity. Notably, the perceptions of authenticity in Indigenous tourism have received little attention. The few existing studies on authenticity in Indigenous tourism settings have given emphasis to differing agendas, and have therefore provided only a piecemeal understanding of how authenticity is perceived and interpreted by the different stakeholders of Indigenous tourism. More importantly, research on Aboriginal hosts’ perceptions of authenticity is virtually non-existent. Yet, clarification of how tourists and hosts perceive authenticity in Aboriginal tourism is essential when addressing issues of accreditation and branding as well as key marketing objectives that aim to promote ‘authentic’ Aboriginal tourism experiences. This study seeks to address the gaps within the tourism literature surrounding authenticity in Aboriginal tourism. The aim is to understand the concept of authenticity in Aboriginal tourism from a stakeholder perspective. The study is guided by two main research questions: What are the perceptions of authenticity of tourists as well as tour providers and their employees? and Are theoretical perspectives of the notion of authenticity shared by those stakeholders? More specifically, this study investigated five important issues: 1) tourists’ perceptions of authenticity at three different Aboriginal cultural tours; 2) the perceptions of three Aboriginal cultural tour operators and their employees in regard to authenticity; 3) whether there were any discrepancies and/or similarities between the perceptions of tour operators/employees and tourists about what constitutes an authentic Aboriginal tourism experience; 4) whether any of the different theoretical perspectives of authenticity were shared by tourists and tour operators/employees; and 5) whether a conceptual framework could be developed that provides an overview of salient elements explaining the formation of perceptions of authenticity within Aboriginal cultural tourism experiences. In order to examine the research questions a qualitative research methodology grounded in the constructivist paradigm was adopted. This paradigm was chosen as it reflects the exploratory nature of the research and allows for flexibility throughout the research process. This study utilised qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection method together with participant observation. Data was collected from 92 interviews, consisting of 72 tourists and 20 employees, within three Aboriginal cultural tour companies in the Northern Territory. The three different Aboriginal cultural tours chosen for the purpose of this study were: Tiwi Tours at Bathurst Island, Manyallaluk Aboriginal Cultural Tours near Katherine and Anangu Tours at the Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park. The results of this research revealed that respondents hold multiple constructions of the notion of authenticity. In general, however, most respondents associated an authentic Aboriginal cultural tour experience with a genuine experience which does not feel contrived, staged or ‘plastic’. In particular, the study found that respondents’ perceptions of authenticity can be grouped into four elements. The first element consisted of the background and role of the Aboriginal tour guide, which was found to be a major factor influencing respondents’ perceptions on whether the tour was offering an authentic experience. The second element is characterised by the tourists’ search for ‘real’ and ‘genuine’ Aboriginal people. Here, respondents equated authenticity with the opportunity to visit a ‘real’ Aboriginal working community and to be able to experience Aboriginal people in an everyday setting. Respondents were found to hold preconceived notions and images in their minds as to who ‘real’ Aboriginal people are and what their ‘authentic’ lifestyle should involve. In addition, the majority of respondents defined authentic Aboriginal culture as the contemporary culture of Aboriginal people. Consequently, an authentic Aboriginal cultural tour experience was conceived in terms of gaining an insight into the contemporary lifestyle of Aboriginal people. The third element that contributed to the experience of authenticity is associated with having the opportunity to see and/or purchase authentic Aboriginal arts and crafts. Respondents perceived a product as authentic if it conformed to specific criteria, such as reflecting uniqueness and originality and being handmade by a local artist. Verification of authenticity was also generated by the shopping experience itself, for example meeting the artist and watching how the craft is produced. Finally, the fourth element in the construction of authenticity is related to tourists’ perceptions of the dance performance. Some respondents recognised this as a contrived experience that lacked ‘traditional’ authenticity, while some respondents wanted to see an authentically contrived or staged cultural performance as this was regarded as an occasion for entertainment and enjoyment. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggested that respondents generally referred to the authenticity of toured objects (object authenticity) when describing their perceptions of an authentic experience. The majority of tourists and employees employed a constructivist approach within their conceptualisation of the notion of authenticity. Only a small number of tourists appeared to hold attitudes similar to the objectivist and postmodern perspectives. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis analyses language shift in a Sicilian-Australian family, from the parents' use of three languages: Sicilian, Italian and English, to the children's almost exclusive use of English.