East Arnhem Land Research Articles

Beyond mining: transitioning indigenous communities to sustainable tourism in Australia’s Northern Territory

Mining is a significant contributor to the Australian economy and the largest sector in remote areas and neighbouring Indigenous communities. Many mines will close within the next decade due to economic, geological, and/or social pressures, leaving these communities without viable or sustainable economic alternatives. Indigenous tourism is viewed by some Indigenous communities and landowners as an opportunity for financial, social, and environmental development, and when developed appropriately, could support Indigenous communities to leverage traditional lands and natural assets. Through a case study of East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, this research explores opportunities and barriers for Indigenous communities transitioning from mining to tourism and the viability of tourism as an economic alternative. The study addresses the challenges of breaking institutional “lock-in” and path dependence by applying evolutionary economic geography theory to explore this transition. It was found that while stakeholders strongly support tourism development in the region, mining transitions are more complex and require two-way, long-term planning to develop growth strategies and promote community-led initiatives. This paper explores tourism’s future post-mining, the reuse of mining infrastructure, and land access issues to support sustainable economic development.

Using public health nutrition to help reduce table sugar consumption in East Arnhem Land

Between 2015 and 2017, East Arnhem Land recorded the highest rates of avoidable deaths in Australia.(1) In 2018, coronary heart disease emerged as the leading cause of avoidable death among First Nations people, with poor diet contributing to 50% of the total burden.(2) Yolŋŋu people in East Arnhem Land are aware of the health challenges and actively seek community-led support from organisations to create health-promoting food environments. The Arnhem Land Aboriginal Progress Corporation (ALPA), governed by a Yolŋu Board of directors, operate six grocery stores in East Arnhem Land. Through analysis of store sales data more than half of total sugar sales are attributed to table sugar. Despite the successful implementation of strong nutrition policies across their retail stores, which have significantly reduced the sale of sugary products like soft drinks, lollies, and cordial, there has been limited success with reducing purchasing of table sugar. Overall, free sugars from all sugar products purchased remains above the World Health Organization’s recommendations. To tackle this public health issue, the Heart Foundation, in collaboration with ALPA and Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, have embarked on a project aimed at reducing table sugar consumption in East Arnhem Land. Consultations with community members and health professionals in Galiwin ‘ku and Milingimbi were held from July 15 to 19, 2024, to assist in the co-design of culturally relevant nutrition resources. Microsoft Teams was utilised for recording and transcription, and artificial intelligence software for thematic analysis. The consultations explored community perceptions of table sugar, its use, and its health impacts. It was identified that sugar consumption is deeply ingrained, particularly in tea drinking, where large quantities of sugar are consumed daily. The addictive nature of sugar was acknowledged, making it challenging to reduce intake. Thematic analysis revealed that while there is an awareness of sugar’s harmful effects, such as its links to heart disease and diabetes, challenges like food insecurity, addiction, and ingrained consumption habits persist. Community members preferred resources that are culturally sensitive, employ positive storytelling methods, and use both modern (Youtube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook) and traditional (posters in stores and clinics) media. Suggested strategies included emphasising gradual reduction techniques and involving community to enhance the authenticity of resources. Draft resources will be further refined through a second round of community consultations in late October 2024, with final versions distributed by the end of the year and accessible on the Heart Foundation’s website. Success will be measured through ALPA store sales data on table sugar, website engagement, and social media metrics. This initiative seeks to promote sustainable behaviour change and improve health outcomes in East Arnhem Land.

Understanding Australian Aboriginal Experiences of Giftedness through the Lens of a Case Study

Little research has been undertaken into high achieving (school-based) gifted Aboriginal students. This is particularly true for those gifted students that reside in remote Aboriginal communities, where there is often a need for the young person to navigate the demands of their educational aspirations with their desire to remain culturally connected. This article will present a case study that aimed to shed light on the experience of being a gifted Yolŋu (a remote Aboriginal group in East Arnhem Land) young person. This case study includes the perspective of a gifted Yolŋu student, a member of their family, as well as one of their teachers. Findings emphasised the student’s love of learning, and tensions between their educational aspirations and cultural life.

Where self-determination and equity meet: homelands education systems and the forgotten schools

Abstract This paper presents a case study of homelands education in North East Arnhem Land. It explores how structural inequities in education systems mitigate against schools which do not align with mainstream norms. In particular, it looks at a hub-and-spoke system of micro schools—officially designated as homeland learning centres (HLCs)—serving some of the most remote, linguistically diverse and traditionally oriented students in Australia. The authors question why governments have persistently overlooked or failed to support homelands education delivered through a hub-and-spoke school model, even when it has strong community support, a track record of producing positive outcomes and articulates effectively with post-school employment opportunities. More generally, they argue that supporting self-determination requires greater recognition of non-mainstream schooling models to support students and communities in remote Australia.

A political epistemology for extinction studies? On the ideas of preservation and replenishment.

This perspective article takes up the challenge of articulating a political epistemology for extinction studies, centered around how both the systematic-scientific and mythopoetic traditions conceive of the idea of preservation. Political epistemology offers a solution to this for impasse because it asks the question of the social orientation or "end" of knowledge formations, thereby questioning what the larger goal of preservation might be. By focusing on the example of the thylacine, I outline one strand of what a political epistemology for contemporary justifications of preservation in the Museum might look like. Then I discuss how the mode of storytelling in extinction studies also conceives of preservation. Finally, I introduce the idea of replenishment as contrary to the preservation, focused on the cultural practices of Indigenous peoples in North East Arnhem Land, and ask whether new developments in the techno-scientific tradition will begin to turn to replenishment as well.

Can Exclusion of Feral Ecosystem Engineers Improve Coastal Floodplain Resilience to Climate Change? Insight from a Case Study in North East Arnhem Land, Australia

Global climate change can interact with local drivers, such as ecosystem engineers, to exacerbate changes in ecosystem structure and function, with socio-ecological consequences. For regions of Indigenous interest, there may also be cultural consequences if species and areas affected are culturally significant. Here we describe a participatory approach between the Indigenous (Yolngu) Yirralka Rangers and non-Indigenous researchers that explored the interaction between sea level rise and feral ungulate ecosystem engineers on culturally significant floodplains in the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), northern Australia. A feral ungulate exclusion fence array (12 fenced and 12 unfenced plots) was stratified by elevation/salinity to disentangle the effects of salinity and ungulates on floodplain soil and vegetation. We found that exclusion of feral ungulates improved ground cover vegetation, which, according to our literature-derived ecosystem process model, may enhance soil trapping and reduce evapotranspiration to provide the antecedent conditions needed to improve floodplain resilience to sea level rise. The mid-zone of the supratidal floodplain study site was suggested as the region where the benefits of fencing were most pronounced after two years and ground cover species diversity was highest. Ongoing monitoring is required to investigate whether removal of feral ungulates can increase resilience against sea level rise and recruitment of eco-culturally significant Melaleuca species. An interview with a key Yolngu Traditional Owner of the study site demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of the partnership. Yolngu land owners and rangers were active co-researchers and will decide if, when and how to integrate results into feral ungulate management and climate adaptation responses, highlighting the importance of industry-university partnerships in maximising biocultural conservation outcomes.

Implementing CARE Principles to Link Noongar Language and Knowledge to Western Science through the Atlas of Living Australia

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), Australia's national online biodiversity database, is partnering with the Noongar Boodjar Language Centre (NBALC) to promote Indigenous language and knowledge by including Noongar names for plants and animals in the ALA. Names are included in the ALA species page for each plant and animal and knowledge is built into the Noongar Plant and Animal online Encyclopedia, hosted in the ALA. We demonstrate the use of CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics (Carroll et al. 2020)) to engage, support, and deliver the project and outcomes to the Noongar people and communities working with us. The ALA addresses the FAIR principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016) for data management and stewardship ensuring data are findable, accessable, interoperable, and reusable. The ALA is partnering with NBALC in Perth to ensure all sharing of Noongar data is on Noongar terms. NBALC and ALA have been working with Noongar-Wadjari, a southern clan from the Fitzgerald River area in Western Australia, to collect, protect and share their language and traditional knowledge for local species.* ‡ § 1

Keepers of the flame: songspirals are a university for us

Abstract“Songspirals are a university for us, they are a map of understandings” (Gay’wu Group of Women, 2019, p. 33).This paper is authored by Bawaka Country, acknowledging Country’s ability to teach and share. Country is homeland and place. Country is everything and the relationships that bring everything to life. Country is knowledge. This paper is shaped and enabled by songspirals. Songspirals are sung and cried by Yolŋu people in north east Arnhem Land, Australia, to awaken Country, to make and remake the life-giving connections between people and place.The Goŋ-gurtha songspiral leads this paper, showing us how a Yolŋu Country-led pedagogy centres Country’s active agency by learning through, with, and as Country. This pedagogy shares with us the ongoing connections within and between generations to ensure that knowledge remains strong and that sharing is done the right way, according to Yolŋu Rom, Law/Lore. This learning is predicated on relationality and responsibility. It is a more-than-human learning in which human knowing is decentred and Country is knowledgeable. It is a learning which recognises and respects its limits and it is a learning in which the ongoing sovereignty of Yolŋu people is front and centre.

Mepimbat tedul proujek: Indigenous knowledge of culturally significant freshwater turtles addresses species knowledge gaps in Northern Australia

Abstract Indigenous biocultural knowledge offers valuable insights for species conservation; however, like biological diversity, associated cultural knowledge is also often threatened. This paper demonstrates how Indigenous biocultural knowledge of species can contribute to addressing gaps in species occurrence data and conservation knowledge using a case study from the South East Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area (SEAL IPA), northern Australia. Using a series of mapping workshops and interviews this collaborative project recorded Indigenous biocultural knowledge of the distribution, ecology, cultural significance and threats to freshwater turtles (freshwoda teduls in the local Indigenous language, Roper River Kriol). Based on past freshwoda tedul hunting experiences, 74 Indigenous knowledge holders identified 753 past freshwoda tedul occurrences, significantly adding to the 12 occurrences previously listed for the SEAL IPA in Australia's online species database, the Atlas of Living Australia. Importantly, these were the first ‘memory’ records of past species sightings by Indigenous people to be recognized and added to Australia's national species database. In addition, a blog summarizing this research was promoted through the Atlas of Living Australia, raising awareness of the Indigenous biocultural knowledge associated with these species. The Mepimbat tedul proujek revealed the cultural significance of freshwoda teduls and reported declines in abundance since the turn of the century, implicating invasive hard‐hooved ungulates (buffalo, pig) and reduced rainfall. The addition of non‐sacred Indigenous knowledge to free online species databases may offer innovative solutions for storage, interaction and sharing of indigenous knowledge, with opportunities for intergenerational and cross‐cultural learning and broader application in conservation management and decision‐making.

The Whole of Community Engagement initiative: Interculturality in remote Aboriginal education

It is generally accepted by researchers, policy-makers and practitioners that progress in Indigenous education depends on working in partnership with Indigenous people, and that programs and services are best provided in partnership. The 2014–2016 Whole of Community Engagement initiative built a partnership of non-Indigenous researchers with researchers, teachers, education leaders and elders from six remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. In this paper we describe the features that led us to characterise the initiative and the remote community and school context as intercultural and complex. The former included methodology, staffing, meeting procedure and interpersonal communication, negotiation of meaning and decision-making. On the basis of this approach, we found that intercultural complexity was strongly evident in schooling in Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island, North East Arnhem Land, which was the community most closely studied by the authors. The paper contributes to the recognition of intercultural complexity in remote Aboriginal schooling, and the potential benefit that its recognition can have for educational outcomes in those contexts.

Co‐creation of a student‐implemented allied health service in a First Nations remote community of East Arnhem Land, Australia

ObjectivesTo co‐create a culturally responsive student‐implemented allied health service in a First Nations remote community and to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the service.DesignCo‐creation involved a pragmatic iterative process, based on participatory action research approaches. Feasibility and acceptability were determined using a mixed‐method pre/postdesign.SettingThe service was in Nhulunbuy, Yirrkala and surrounding remote First Nations communities of East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.ParticipantsCo‐creation of the service was facilitated by the Northern Australia Research Network, guided by Indigenous Allied Health Australia leadership, with East Arnhem local community organisations and community members. Co‐creation of the day‐to‐day service model involved local cultural consultants, service users and their families, staff of community organisations, students, supervisors, placement coordinators and a site administrator.FindingsA reciprocal learning service model was co‐created in which culturally responsive practice was embedded. The service was feasible and acceptable: it was delivered as intended; resources were adequate; the service management system was workable; and the service was acceptable. Health outcome measures, however, were not appropriate to demonstrate impact, particularly through the lens of the people of East Arnhem. Recommendations for the service included: continuing the reciprocal learning service model in the long term; expanding to include all age groups; and connecting with visiting and community‐based services.ConclusionThe co‐created service was feasible and acceptable. To demonstrate the impact of the service, measures of health service impact that are important to First Nations people living in remote communities of northern Australia are required.

Holocene climate–fire–vegetation feedbacks in tropical savannas: Insights from the Marura sinkhole, East Arnhem Land, northern Australia

Abstract AimsInformed management of savanna systems depends on understanding determinates of composition, structure and function, particularly in relation to woody‐plant components. This understanding needs to be regionally based, both past and present. In this study, Holocene plant patterns are explored at a site within the eucalypt savannas of northern Australia. Australian savannas are the least developed globally and uniquely placed to track ecological change.LocationNorthern Territory, Australia.MethodsPalynological analyses were undertaken on a 5‐m sediment core, spanning the last 10,700 calendar years. Pollen was categorised to capture vegetation type, classified further according to plant function and/or environmental response. Detrended Correspondence Analysis was used to quantify ecological dissimilarities through time.ResultsAt the Pleistocene transition, grasses were abundant then declined and remained low relative to increased woody cover from the mid‐late Holocene. Savanna composition gradually transitioned from Corymbia to Eucalyptus dominance until significantly disturbed by a phase of repeated, extreme climate events. Highest non‐savanna variability in terrestrial and wetland plant types formed mixed vegetation communities through the mid‐Holocene.ConclusionsSavannas are not homogeneous but the product of plant changes in multiple dimensions. In the Northern Territory, dynamic though restricted non‐eucalypt shifts are embedded within larger, slower eucalypt change processes. Primary climate–vegetation relationships determine the long‐term fire regime. The role of large but infrequent disturbance events in maintaining savanna diversity are significant, in degrees of impact on tree–grass turnover, its form and the extent of vegetation recovery. People's landscape interactions were found to be interwoven within this feedback hierarchy.

YArnhem: Co-designing a model of social and emotional wellbeing stepped care for young people of the north east Arnhem region: A development study protocol.

More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people experience high or very high levels of psychological distress compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. This may be partly attributed to systemic barriers resulting in lower rates of help-seeking, sub-optimal identification of psychological challenges, and undertreatment. Reducing these barriers within health systems is an important factor in reducing the Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) health burden on young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In partnership with Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation (Miwatj), this project will co-design an integrated youth Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) and mental health stepped care model for remote Aboriginal communities in the north east Arnhem region of the Northern Territory. A collaborative research approach using co-design methods will underpin a community-centric stepped care allocation method, to which culturally appropriate SEWB and mental health interventions and treatments are assigned. These components of the project will inform a digital platform which will facilitate access to SEWB care for young people in north east Arnhem land. This concept was co-developed in a partnership between researchers and Miwatj and builds on Miwatj's previous work to map the stepped needs of young people. The co-design of the content and features of these outputs will be facilitated through community participation and overseen by community, health, and cultural governance structures. This will ensure the solutions developed by the project are culturally responsive, fit for purpose, and will enhance self-determination while reducing systemic barriers to care.

Decolonisation, Indigenisation and Digital Returns: Two Case Studies from Australia

This article centres on two digital return projects led by Yolngu community stakeholders from North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Both projects illustrate how concepts of decolonisation and Indigenisation have been mobilised by Yolngu people within an affirmative action framework to overcome past malpractices, and to bring about a transformative environment of cultural reclamation and sovereignty. Both projects have served as pioneering models for digital return initiatives in Australia and internationally. The discussion begins by briefly addressing some of the critical differences between repatriation and the return of documentary heritage in the form of digital ‘archives’ (including collection images and provenance data, photographs, film and sound recordings). It then outlines two different but related pathways taken by Yolngu stakeholders in establishing cultural archiving projects, each centred on decolonising and indigenising museum collections through collaborative partnerships with museums and universities. Inherent in these discussions is the idea that decolonisation is complex, multi-sited and multifocal. The article concludes by arguing that museums need to be more proactive in reconnecting communities with collections. Working collaboratively with First Nations and formerly colonised peoples to restore cultural knowledge lost as a direct result of colonisation is a vital step for moving forward.

Future flavours from the past: Sensory and nutritional profiles of green plum (Buchanania obovata), red bush apple (Syzygium suborbiculare) and wild peach (Terminalia carpentariae) from East Arnhem Land, Australia

The green plum (Buchanania obovata), red bush apple (Syzygium suborbiculare) and wild peach (Terminalia carpentariae) all grow in remote East Arnhem Land, Australia and are eaten by the Yolŋu Aboriginal people who live there. These three fruits have had very little study at present by western food science and there is interest in their use as foods or food products to create sustainable Indigenous agribusinesses. The purpose of this study was to create a nutritional and sensory profile of each fruit. Results show that wild peach is a very good source of vitamin C with 2041 ± 192 mg/100g FW (fresh weight) and green plum is a very good source of folate, containing 118 ± 8 µg/100g FW as folic acid equivalents. All three fruit are good sources of dietary fibre, (green plum 9.5 ± 1.4, red bush apple 6.5 ± 1.0 and wild peach 8.6 ± 1.3 g/100g FW) and minerals and the green plum is a particularly valuable source of potassium (511 ± 22 mg/100g FW). Descriptive analysis of the fruit as whole or pieces of fruit, as a puree and as an ingredient (freeze-dried powder) in semolina and yoghurt describe the green plums flavour as sweet, tart and stewed apple and red bush apple as sour, raspberry, citrus, apple, sweet, floral, herbaceous and spiced tea. The unique sensory profiles and high nutrient levels indicate they could be used as future smart foods for diet diversity and future flavours in novel food products.

Homeland Story: Friendship and filmmaking in Donydji homeland, North East Arnhem Land

This is the edited transcript of Session 5 of the Symposium on Creative Collaborations in Intercultural and Intermedial Spaces, convened by Creative Arts and English, La Trobe University, 7-9 July 2020. This session, chaired by Hester Joyce, began with an online screening of the documentary film, Homeland story. The screening was followed by a Q&A on Zoom with filmmaker, Glenda Hambly, and anthropologist, Neville White. This edited transcript of the post-screening discussion concludes with an afterword by Glenda Hambly: At the end came the script.

A transdisciplinary engagement with Australian Aboriginal water and the hydrology of a small bedrock island

ABSTRACT Yolŋu Aboriginal people’s knowledge about water (“gapu”) and its governance has strong cultural significance and meaning in East Arnhem Land Aboriginal worlds in northern Australia. This study used transdisciplinary research methods to explore the ways in which Yolŋu Aboriginal gapu and Western science hydrological knowledge can work together and contribute towards water management on Milingimbi Island, a small, resource-constrained, bedrock island. Transcending disciplinary boundaries is distinctly different to an interdisciplinary, socio-hydrological perspective, which can pose a risk to hybridizing Aboriginal knowledge and Western science. Community engagement activities and workshops were conducted as part of a three-year research project to bring together the incommensurable knowledge communities. A participatory three-dimensional mapping exercise created a shared space, facilitating an open-dialogue exchange of insight and knowledge among Aboriginal knowledge authorities, hydrologists, public servants, and academic researchers. This paper prompts readers to reconsider the ways water can be perceived and conserved in a decolonizing way.

Review Essay on Illustrated Handbook of Yolŋu Sign Language of North East Arnhem Land by BentleyJames, A.C.D.Adone, and E.L.Mypliama (eds). (Australian Book Connection. 2020)

Review Essay on Illustrated Handbook of Yolŋu Sign Language of North East Arnhem Land by BentleyJames, A.C.D.Adone, and E.L.Mypliama (eds). (Australian Book Connection. 2020)

Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Development of an Early Literacy App in Dhuwaya

Phonological awareness is a skill which is crucial in learning to read. In this paper, we report on the challenges encountered while developing a digital application (app) for teaching phonological awareness and early literacy skills in Dhuwaya. Dhuwaya is a Yolŋu language variety spoken in Yirrkala and surrounding areas in East Arnhem Land. Dhuwaya is the first language of the children who attend a bilingual school in which Dhuwaya and English are the languages of instruction. Dhuwaya and English have different phonemic inventories and different alphabets. The Dhuwaya alphabet is based on Roman alphabet symbols and has 31 graphemes (compared to 26 in English). The app was designed to teach children how to segment and blend syllables and phonemes and to identify common words as well as suffixes used in the language. However, the development was not straightforward, and the impact of the linguistic, cultural and educational challenges could not have been predicted. Amongst these was the inherent variation in the language, including glottal stops, the pronunciation of stops, the focus on syllables as a decoding strategy for literacy development and challenges of finding one-syllable words such as those initially used with English-speaking children. Another challenge was identifying culturally appropriate images which the children could relate to and which were not copyrighted. In this paper, we discuss these plus a range of other issues that emerged, identifying how these problems were addressed and resolved by the interdisciplinary and intercultural team.

'Now it’s not a billabong': eco-cultural assessment of billabong condition in remote northern Australia

Globally, the value of integrating multiple knowledge systems is being recognised in ecosystem assessments, monitoring and management. This paper describes a participatory eco-cultural assessment of freshwater billabongs in the South East Arnhem Land Indigenous Protected Area, northern Australia, that drew on Indigenous ecological knowledge (IEK) and Western science using social and natural science research methods. IEK holders were concerned about feral ungulates trampling and consuming traditional bush food resources and reducing water quality, affecting eco-cultural values of billabongs. We recorded qualitative IEK and conducted a multivariate snapshot assessment of billabong physiochemical water quality, ground condition, yarlbun (water lily) cover and macroinvertebrate assemblage that showed distinct seasonal variation. Although both knowledge systems revealed indicators of seasonal change over 1 year, IEK also revealed longer-term changes and that degradation of billabongs in the late dry season was exacerbated by feral ungulates. This participatory research illustrates how the condition of freshwater systems can be assessed using cross-cultural techniques, how these techniques can reveal more nuanced understandings of eco-cultural condition and the value of including IEK for setting ecological baselines and recording long-term change.