Social Engineering and Indigenous Settlement: Policy and demography in remote Australia John Taylor In recent years neo-liberals have argued that government support for remote Aboriginal communities contributes to social pathology and that unhindered market engagement involving labour mobility provides the only solution. This has raised questions about the viability of remote Aboriginal settlements. While the extreme view is to withdraw services altogether, at the very least selective migration should be encouraged. Since the analytical tools are available, one test of the integrity of such ideas is to consider their likely demographic consequences. Accordingly, this paper provides empirically based speculation about the possible implications for Aboriginal population distribution and demographic composition in remote areas had the advice of neo-liberal commentators and initial labour market reforms of the Northern Territory Emergency Response been fully implemented. The scenarios presented are heuristic only but they reveal a potential for substantial demographic and social upheaval. Aspects of the semantics of intellectual subjectivity in Dalabon (south-western Arnhem Land) Ma�a Ponsonnet This paper explores the semantics of subjectivity (views, intentions, the self as a social construct etc.) in Dalabon, a severely endangered language of northern Australia, and in Kriol, the local creole. Considering the status of Dalabon and the importance of Kriol in the region, Dalabon cannot be observed in its original context, as the traditional methods of linguistic anthropology tend to recommend. This paper seeks to rely on this very parameter, reclaiming linguistic work and research as a legitimate conversational context. Analyses are thus based on metalinguistic statements - among which are translations in Kriol. Far from seeking to separate Dalabon from Kriol, I use interactions between them as an analytical tool. The paper concentrates on three Dalabon words: men-no (intentions, views, thoughts), kodj-no (head) and kodj-kulu-no (brain). None of these words strictly matches the concept expressed by the English word mind. On the one hand, men-no is akin to consciousness but is not treated as a container nor as a processor; on the other, kodj-no and kodj-kulu-no are treated respectively as container and processor, but they are clearly physical body parts, while what English speakers usually call the mind is essentially distinct from the body. Interestingly, the body part kodj-no (head) also represents the individual as a social construct - while the Western self does not match physical attributes. Besides, men-no can also translate as idea, but it can never be abstracted from subjectivity - while in English, potential objectivity is a crucial feature of ideas. Hence the semantics of subjectivity in Dalabon does not reproduce classic Western conceptual articulations. I show that these specificities persist in the local creole. Health, death and Indigenous Australians in the coronial system Belinda Carpenter and Gordon Tait This paper details research conducted in Queensland during the first year of operation of the new Coroners Act 2003. Information was gathered from all completed investigations between December 2003 and December 2004 across five categories of death: accidental, suicide, natural, medical and homicide. It was found that 25 percent of the total number of Indigenous deaths recorded in 2004 were reported to, and investigated by, the Coroner, in comparison to 9.4 percent of non-Indigenous deaths. Moreover, Indigenous people were found to be over-represented in each category of death, except in death in a medical setting, where they were absent. This paper discusses these findings in detail, following the insights gained from the work of Tatz (1999, 2001, 2005) and Morrissey (2003). It also discusses a further outcome of this situation - the over-representation of Indigenous people in figures for full internal autopsy. Finding your voice: Placing and sourcing an Aboriginal health organisation?s published and grey literature Clive Rosewarne It is widely recognised that Aboriginal perspectives need to be represented in historical narratives. Sourcing this material may be difficult if Aboriginal people and their organisations do not publish in formats that are widely distributed and readily accessible to library collections and research studies. Based on a search for material about a 30-year-old Aboriginal health organisation, this paper aims to (1) identify factors that influenced the distribution of written material authored by the organisation; (2) consider the implications for Aboriginal people who wish to have their viewpoints widely available to researchers; and (3) assess the implications for research practice. As part of researching an organisational history for the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, seven national and regional collections were searched for Congress?s published and unpublished written material. It was found that, in common with other Aboriginal organisations, most written material was produced as grey literature. The study indicates that for Aboriginal people and their organisations? voices to be heard, and their views to be accessible in library collections, they need to have an active program to distribute their written material. It also highlights the need for researchers to be exhaustive in their searches, and to be aware of the limitations within collections when sourcing Aboriginal perspectives. Radiocarbon dates from the Top End: A cultural chronology for the Northern Territory coastal plains Sally Brockwell , Patrick Faulkner, Patricia Bourke, Anne Clarke, Christine Crassweller, Daryl Guse, Betty Meehan, and Robin Sim The coastal plains of northern Australia are relatively recent formations that have undergone dynamic evolution through the mid to late Holocene. The development and use of these landscapes across the Northern Territory have been widely investigated by both archaeologists and geomorphologists. Over the past 15 years, a number of research and consultancy projects have focused on the archaeology of these coastal plains, from the Reynolds River in the west to the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the east. More than 300 radiocarbon dates are now available and these have enabled us to provide a more detailed interpretation of the pattern of human settlement. In addition to this growing body of evidence, new palaeoclimatic data that is relevant to these northern Australian contexts is becoming available. This paper provides a synthesis of the archaeological evidence, integrates it within the available palaeo-environmental frameworks and characterises the cultural chronology of human settlement of the Northern Territory coastal plains over the past 10 000 years. Ladjiladji language area: A reconstruction Ian Clark and Edward Ryan In this reconsideration of the Ladjiladji language area in northwest Victoria, we contend that while Tindale?s classical reconstruction of this language identified a fundamental error in Smyth?s earlier cartographic representation, he incorrectly corrected that error. We review what is known about Ladjiladji and through a careful analysis demonstrate not only the errors in both Smyth and Tindale but also proffer a fundamental reconstruction grounded in the primary sources.ladjiladji, social engineering, dalabon, indigenous health, coronial system, radiocarbon dating

Australian Policy Activism in Language and Literacy presents the dynamics of language and literacy policy activism in Australia by capturing accounts of many of those most deeply engaged in Australia?s distinctive practice of Language and Literacy policy-making and its effects. This book describes how policy texts came about. 1. From policy to anti-policy: how fear of language rights took policy-making out of community hands /? Joseph Lo Bianco 2. Australia's language /? Paul Brock 3. Politics, activism and processes of policy production: adult literacy in Australia /? Rosie Wickert 4. Although it wasn't broken, it certainly was fixed: interventions in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program 1991-1996 /? Helen Moore 5. Advocating the sustainability of linguistic diversity /? Michael Singh 6. The cost of literacy for some /? Anthea Taylor 7. (E)merging discourses at work: bringing together new and old ways to account for workplace literacy policy /? Geraldine Castleton 8. The melody changes but the dance goes on - tracking adult literacy education in Western Australia from 'learning for life' to 'lifelong learning': policy impacts on practice 1973-1999 /? Margaret McHugh, Jennifer Nevard and Anthea Taylor 9. Sleight of hand: job myths, literacy and social capital /? Ian Falk 10. National literacy benchmarks and the outstreaming of ESL learners /? Penny McKay 11. Open for business: the market, the state and adult literacy in Australia up to and beyond 2000 /? Peter Kell 12. Inventiveness and regression: interpreting/?translating and the vicissitudes of Australian language policy /? Uldis Ozolins 13. Deafness and sign language in government policy documents 1983-1990 /? Des Power 14. Imprisoned by a landmark narrative? Student/?teacher ratios and the making of policy /? Merilyn Childs 15. Ideologies, languages, policies: Australia's ambivalent relationship with learning to communicate in 'other' languages /? Angela Scarino and Leo Papademetre 16. Reconciled to what? Reconciliation and the Norther Territory's bilingual education program, 1973-1998 /? Christine Nicholls 17. Sing out that song: the textual activities of social technologies in an Aboriginal community /? Jack Frawley.language activism, linguistic diversity, adult literacy, education, sign language, reconciliation, esl programs

A tribute to the strengths and struggles of many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forcible removal. It acknowledges the hardship they endured and the sacrifices they made. Dedicated to those who found the strength to tell their stories to the Inquiry and to the generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people separated from their families and communities. Includes stories and recommendations.colour photographs, colour illustrations, b&w photographs, graphschild protection, institutional care, child custody, australian aboriginal history, aboriginal children, social justice, public policy, government policy, link up