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Aboriginal communities kicking goals
The Australian (blog)
THE statistics for suicide in Australia are frightening and alarming. Not only because of how prevalent it is, but also because of its indiscriminate nature and the marked and distinct increase in indigenous communities. The statistics speak for ...

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The Australian
hope as state mourns lost children
The Australian
As the funerals took place, an investigation by The Weekend Australian revealed Western Australia was again a suicide hotspot, with at least 12 young Aborigines having committed suicide in the state this year, twice the number shown in state government ...

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ABC Online
WA Government, Fortescue sign agreement to train, employ Aboriginal prisoners
ABC Message Stick
It became quite easy to determine why 3 per cent of Australia's population which are Indigenous make up around a third of our jails and it's often quite minor offences. It's often driving without licenses, you know, assault related to drugs and alcohol ...
Prisoners guaranteed work through job training scheme in WA's North WestABC Online

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Indigenous elders have welcomed a new agreement between France and Australia on the repatriation of Indigenous remains. Michael Kenny - World News Radio 20 NOV 2014 - (Transcript from SBS World News Radio) - Indigenous elders have welcomed a new agreement between France and Australia on the repatriation of Indigenous remains. - They say they hope it sets a precedent for similar agreements with other countries. - Prime Minister Tony Abbott and France's President Francois Hollande signed the agreement in Canberra this week. - Indigenous elders say it will help ensure Indigenous human remains held in French museums are returned to Australia. - Tony Abbott and Francois Hollande have agreed to establish a joint expert committee to help identify the origin of Indigenous Australian remains held in France. Australia and Italy signed a similar agreement in 2009, and remains have also been returned from Britain, Sweden and Austria over recent years. - Palawa elder and Amnesty International campaigner Rodney Dillon has had a long interest in the repatriation of Indigenous remains from overseas collections. - He is a former chairman of the National Reference Group for the Repatriation of Australian Indigenous Remains. - In 2000, as a board member for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, he successfully pushed for a deal to speed up Indigenous repatriation between Australia and Britain. - Mr Dillon estimates four to five thousand Indigenous Australian remains are held in overseas galleries and museums, mainly in Europe and across the United States. - He hopes the deal with France can set a powerful precedent for similar agreements with other governments on an issue symbolically important to many Indigenous Australians. - "These remains were stolen in the first place. They were taken, and, the people's remains that were taken, they didn't want to be taken. So it's very, very disrespectful the way these were taken in the first place. And I think that the people who have still got our remains around the world are common thieves." - Since 1990, the federal government estimates the remains of about 1,150 Indigenous Australians have been returned to descendants for burial or cremation. - But the government estimates around 10,000 remains are held in Australian public collections. - Gumulray elder Bob Weatherall has campaigned for the repatriation of Indigenous remains to Traditional Owners for over four decades. - He is currently chairman of the Centre for Indigenous Cultural Policy in Brisbane. - Mr Weatherall believes the government needs to shift more decision making over the repatriation of remains away from bureaucrats and into the hands of Indigenous communities. - "Aboriginal communities have enormous barriers in bringing their ancestors home and laying them to rest. There are remains up in the Kimberly that are sitting in shipment containers. They've been there for over 10 years. There has not been a concerted effort and commitment by Australian governments of all levels to, basically, assist Aboriginal people to alleviate those barriers and to lay their ancestors to rest." - Anthropologist Dr Steve Webb has been involved in research projects on the repatriation of Indigenous Australian remains for over 30 years. - The Bond University lecturer believes some European scientists have been allowed to interfere too much in blocking the return of remains to Traditional Owners. - He says very little scientific research has actually been conducted on the remains and many European collections have been lost because of bombing in the world wars. - Dr Webb has told NITV French scientists now need to take care to ensure Indigenous remains are carefully identified before being returned to Traditional Owners. - "There have been instances and times where non-Aboriginal remains have been returned to Australia because of the lack of expertise over in Europe with regard to identifying these sorts of remains. So I think, before any of this takes place, I think the French collections should be thoroughly inspected, in terms of the true identity of these remains."

ABC Online
Kimberley Aboriginal communities condemn Colin Barnett's plan to close small ...
ABC Online
Plans by the WA government to close at least 100 remote Indigenous communities have been greeted with dismay. There are more than 270 remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia and between them they are home to 12,000 people.
Traditional owners rally against changes to WA Aboriginal Heritage ActThe Guardian
Traditional owners fight planned Aboriginal Heritage Act changesPerth Now

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Courier Mail
Closures worry WA Aboriginal communities
NEWS.com.au
PREMIER Colin Barnett dropped a bombshell last week, saying the state had no option but to review the viability of 274 small indigenous communities. That was because the federal government had cut off their essential services funding, leaving a ...
WA Government promises close consultation over remote Aboriginal community ...ABC Message Stick

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The Guardian
Indigenous Australia's HIV crisis never happened: five questions to James Ward
The Guardian
My focus while hosting IndigenousX will be on raising HIV and related conditions awareness in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. In the early days of HIV when it first hit Australia 30 years ago, we were told a catastrophe would occur ...

ABC Online
AOC changes constitution to recognise Australia's Indigenous heritage
ABC Online
Olympian Cathy Freeman has welcomed a decision by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to recognise Australia's Indigenous heritage in its constitution. The AOC constitution and Olympic team values will now recognise the contribution of Australia's ...

Australian Olympic Committee
AOC to recognise indigenous heritage
The Australian
“Australia's indigenous athletes have a rich history of competing and winning at the Olympic Games. From our first indigenous Olympians, Frank Roberts, Michael Ah Matt and Adrian Blair, to Cathy Freeman's legendary sprint at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, ...
Indigenous heritage recognised in AOC ConstitutionAustralian Olympic Committee
AOC changes constitution to recognise Australia's Indigenous heritageABC Online

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AOC to recognise indigenous heritage
The Australian
“Australia's indigenous athletes have a rich history of competing and winning at the Olympic Games. From our first indigenous Olympians, Frank Roberts, Michael Ah Matt and Adrian Blair, to Cathy Freeman's legendary sprint at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, ...

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The Guardian
SBS's First Contact is the real 'festering sore' of the nation
The Conversation AU
The SBS/Blackfella Films production First Contact – that takes six non-Indigenous people and immerses them into Aboriginal Australia for the first time – captured the nation's attention this week amassing a television audience nearing 1 million viewers ...
I'm 31 and only had my 'first contact' with Indigenous Australia this yearThe Guardian
First Contact: SBS program creates a frenzy on social media after viewers ...ABC Online
First Contact Is One Of The Most Important Australian TV Shows Of The YearJunkee
SBS -FoxFM (blog) -Sydney Morning Herald
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Sydney Morning Herald
Black Comedy and First Contact confront indigenous stereotypes
Sydney Morning Herald
As Hugo Weaving's narration pointed out at the beginning of First Contact, six out of 10Australians have had little or no contact with an indigenous Australian, and for many years the number has probably been far worse when it's come to the subject ...
I'm 31 and only had my 'first contact' with Indigenous Australia this yearThe Guardian
First Contact's casting reveals Australia's 'festering sore'The Age
SBS premieres First ContactSBS
Perth Now -The Conversation AU
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Australian Olympic Committee
Indigenous heritage recognised in AOC Constitution
Australian Olympic Committee
This year as we prepare for the centenary of ANZAC we read about the contribution of the Indigenous Australians in both world wars. We marvel at their prowess on the sporting field yet many live in poverty, struggle with poor health, discrimination ...

The Australian
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi's demise echoes the fate of Aboriginal art
The Australian
The vast private collections and public gallery displays amassed over recent years remain, the archipelago of art centres and little studios set up across the desert and the remote corners of Aboriginal Australia are still operating, but the heart of ...

The Australian
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi's demise echoes the fate of Aboriginal art
The Australian
The vast private collections and public gallery displays amassed over recent years remain, the archipelago of art centres and little studios set up across the desert and the remote corners of Aboriginal Australia are still operating, but the heart of ...

ABC Online
Ancient Aboriginal rock art site discovered in suburban Sydney
ABC Online
An ancient Aboriginal rock art site, believed to be tens of thousands of years old, has been discovered in the suburbs of Sydney. The site, located in Sydney's north shore area, is in a pocket of pristine bush that has kept the art hidden for generations.

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The Guardian
Traditional owners rally against changes to WA Aboriginal Heritage Act
The Guardian
A representation of about 50 traditional owners from across Western Australia travelled to Perth to deliver a petition signed by 1,600 people calling for the amendment to be dropped and redrafted. Ten people also met with the Aboriginal affairs ...
Protesters in WA present petition against changes to Aboriginal Heritage ActABC Online
Traditional owners fight planned Aboriginal Heritage Act changesPerth Now
“Do not turn our people into fringe dwellers once again”: Fitzroy Crossing ...Crikey (blog)

all 16 news articles »

SBS
Elders hope France repatriation deal can be precedent
SBS
Indigenous elders have welcomed a new agreement between France and Australia on the repatriation of Indigenous remains. They say they hope it sets a precedent for similar agreements with other countries. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and France's ...

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Radio National 'Drive' program on 19 November, 2014 Picture: Lex at G20 - Deaths in Custody March - Speaches

SBS
Abbott, Hollande reach agreement over Indigenous remains
SBS
Mr Abbott and Mr Hollande have agreed to establish a joint expert committee to help identify the origin of Indigenous Australian remains held in France. Australia and Italy signed a similar agreement in 2009, and remains have also been returned from ...