Sovereign Union - AudioBoom collection

He was an Aboriginal stockman, turned world war two guerrilla fighter. It’s a story that reads like the plot of an action film, but it’s actually the remarkably true tale of a local from the WA Goldfields. James Brennan was an Aboriginal stockman from Laverton whose life was shaped by battles at home and abroad. He was born into battle between settlers and Aboriginal people in the northern Goldfields, and when world war two erupted, he enlisted to fight, where once again, it was a battle that defined the next chapter of his life. ABC - Full Report http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-17/james-brennan-in-uniform/7935070

he Royal Commission into the protection and detention of children in the Northern Territory is heading out bush for a series of meetings in remote Indigenous communities. Today the commissioners are flying north from Darwin to the Tiwi Islands where Tiwi youth workers are already working on solutions for diverting young people away from the criminal justice system. But as Sara Everingham reports from the Wurrumiyanga community on Bathurst Island, there is concern that the commission has not done enough to let people know the meeting is on.

The remains of 13 Indigenous people were handed back to Aboriginal leaders at a ceremony at Australia House in London overnight. Cambridge University and the University of Birmingham were among the institutions that returned remains as part of a repatriation process. However, some institutions like the British Museum continue to defy the wishes of indigenous people by refusing to return ancestral remains.

IThis virtually unknown story is of fifteen men in 1797 who became the first overlanders on this continent to walk 700 miles through 'country', from Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria to Sydney Cove. The account of William Clark's trek is evidence of the humane and generous treatment of these forlorn interlopers by First Nations Peoples, who ensured the party's survival. ABC Radio National, LNL with Phillip Adams

Have you ever wondered how ancient indigenous cultures maintain so much information about the thousands of species of plants and animals—without writing it down? Traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines are key to a powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world. It's intricately tied to the landscape and it can be applied in our everyday lives.

From the BBC (edited) Were Australia's prehistoric Aboriginal people the world's first true astronomers, predating European and ancient Greek and Indian astronomers by thousands of years? The stunning discovery of what is being called an "Aboriginal Stonehenge", the first of its kind to be found in Australia, could change that continent's history and with it our whole understanding of how and when humans began to accurately chart the night skies. The 50 metre egg-shaped arrangement of stones in a farmer's field in Victoria, was forgotten after the arrival of European settlers some 200 years ago and until recently overgrown by meadow grass. Now, the site called Wurdi Youang has got Aborigines and astronomers scratching their heads. How did its stones come to be perfectly aligned with summer and winter Solstices and the autumn and winter Equinoxes, like Britain's 4,500 year-old Stonehenge? The problem is that there are very few Aboriginal records in the literature and nobody left to explain what they meant and what they were used for. What is becoming clear is that Australia's ancient indigenous people had a command of astronomy and mathematics, and ability to observe and keep accurate astronomical records. The stones at Wurdi Youang will be a test of Australia's scientists and of Australia’s willingness to properly appreciate its ancient indigenous past.

Full audio here: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2015/02/bay_20150219_1005.mp3 Article: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2015/02/bay_20150219_1005.mp3

Northern Territory - A ceremony has been held to mark 130 years since almost the entire Woolwonga tribe was believed to have been murdered, with official recognition now paid to its descendants. Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion unveiled a plaque to commemorate the tribe from Alligator River, near Katherine. A girl known as 'Jennie' was found to be the only known survivor after an 1899 census document was discovered. Woolwonga Committee Chair Lynette Hopkins says the ceremony welcomed more than 100 people to the old Burrundie railway station, the site where the massacre took place in 1884. Image: Woolwonga Committee, courtesy of ABC Audio Report:National Indigenous Radio Service

PM John Howard announced the idea of Recognition in October 2007 because he was worried about the fact that Aboriginal people still maintained their pre-existing and continuing sovereignty over First Nations' territories, lands waters and natural resources. This was bought to his attention some years earlier when PM Robert Menzies, a hero of Howard's, tabled the facts in parliament. I announce that if I am re-elected, I will put to the Australian people within 18 months a referendum to formally recognise Indigenous Australians in our Constitution, their history as the first inhabitants of our country, their unique heritage of language and culture, and their special, though not separate, place within a reconciled indivisible nation. My goal is to see a new statement of reconciliation incorporated into the preamble of the Australian Constitution. If elected, I would commit immediately to working in consultation with Indigenous leaders and others on this task.

Sporting star Mundine has come under fire for suggesting players in the AFL and NRL grand finals take a stand and not sing the anthem. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged Australians on 3AW to "come together" over the weekend. Wayne Wharton said he found both the national anthem and flag offensive. "Australia is still a crime scene," he declared. "And many aboriginal people who are locked up in jail are prisoners of war." Neil Mitchell took offence to Wharton's claim. "It's my country, too," the 3AW Mornings said. A heated exchange followed.

The world's first Aboriginal Australian language video game has put smiles on the faces of Indigenous children who never thought they'd see their culture reflected in a game. Lizzie Marrkilyi Ellis and Dr Inge Kral, research fellows with The Australian National University (ANU) School of Literature Languages & Linguistics have worked with the ANU School of Art, and the Research School of Computer Science 'TechLauncher' initiative to develop the game 'Tjinari', which is spoken in the Western Desert language Ngaanyatjarra. The pair spoke to Adam Shirley on 666 ABC Canberra.

A national touring exhibition has opened in Sydney to mark the 60th anniversary of the first atomic test at Maralinga. In total, seven nuclear bomb blasts were detonated between 1956 and 1967 in the southern part of the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia followed by more than 600 'minor tests' Source ABC RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly

As dawn light crept across the Kimberley on April 1, 1897, the hot morning would become seared in Kimberley history. It's the day that Jandamarra was shot dead. The young Bunuba man had led a resistance campaign against white settlement of the West Kimberley for several years; sheep and cattle grazing had expanded, pushing out local Aboriginal people and turning traditional life into turmoil. There's been renewed interest in Jandamarra's story this year with the staging of a play at Windjana Gorge, his stronghold, an ABCTV documentary and an updated publication of Howard Pedersen and Banjo Woorunmurra's book - all named for the complicated character who defied whiteman's policy. Jandamarra was a wanted man, so his death was cause for victory by the authorities. And to prove they had him, his head was cut off, with a tomahawk writes historian Howard Pedersen. The skull was put on public display in Perth - although this was later found to be that of another Aboriginal man. Jandamarra's head had been sent to England for a private collection. It was sent to gun manufacturer William Greener, who had many trophies of birds and animals shot with his guns. Now he had a human skull to add to that collection. For Fitzroy Crossing's Joe Ross and other Bunuba families, finding that skull is of monumental importance MORE ABC Kimberley

Debbie Carmody, an Anangu woman is First Nation radio broadcaster in the Goldfields region explains that 'anger is the voice of the people'. She talks about the deplorable history of racism and injustices in Kalgoorlie.. In examples of Kalgoorlie racism, Debbie said: 'Kalgoorlie had the highest NO vote in the 1967 referendum' and 'In the 2000 Olympics the people booed Kathy Freeman when she crossed the line in her win'. ABC RN: Speaking Out with Larissa Behrendt

Dr Jim Green an expert on the Nuclear industry in 'Australia', provides us with an update on the Nuclear Waste dump proposals and other related matters. The first plan is for a 'NATIONAL' Nuclear Waste dump on sacred country in the Flinders Ranges which is being driven by the Federal government. There is a separate proposal which is led by the South Australia government on the same lands that is driven by the State's economic problems. They are looking at South Australia being the WORLD'S High Level Waste Dump. Source; The Radioactive Show - Produced 3CR and broadcast Nationally through the Community Radio Network More: http://www.3cr.org.au/radioactive

Clinton Pryor is concerned for his people and aboriginal communities. He wants the Federal Government to listen to their cry for help and he's doing that by walking to Canberra from WA. "Why the heck are our people living in poverty out in communities and they get away with mining the land and making billions of dollars", he said. Mr Pryor is stopping into aboriginal communities along the way to talk with elders about what they want to say to Malcolm Turnball. " The government think that they know what is best but it's time to listen to us. They need to sit around the fire, proper way and talk to the elders", he said. "We might as well start forming an aboriginal party group so that we can vote our own into parliament to represent us". Clinton Pryoraboriginal communitieswalk for justice Show more

This audio report from ABC PM with Mark Culvin Ear, nose and throat specialists have declared war on one of the most preventable and treatable conditions undermining the wellbeing and learning of Aboriginal children - serious ear disease. Brisbane-based ENT surgeon Chris Perry, president of the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, said the chronic problem was not factored into "Closing the Gap" practical reconciliation metrics and even the Australian Medical Association ignored the problem, "but it should be part of gap closure, because as many as 90 per cent of Aboriginal children … have deafness more than three months of the year. "The incidence is seasonal," Dr Perry said. "In the Northern Territory, about 25 per cent have perforated eardrums and in the APY lands of South Australia it is 35 per cent, many times the incidence in caucasian children. It's responsible for delayed language development, difficulty with comprehension, boredom and inattention at school … and is a major contributing factor to truancy." In turn, poor hearing and poor school performance set up a cycle of poor skills, unemployment, substance abuse, violence, high incarceration rates and suicide. Dr Perry and more than 20 other Queensland ENT surgeons regularly spend several weeks a year in indigenous communities, performing up to 10 operations a day to clear children's ears and remove adenoids to reduce reinfections. They work as part of Queensland's Deadly Ears program, which visits people in remote communities regularly. On Wednesday, ENT specialists, audiologists, Aboriginal health workers, scientists and administrators will meet in Newcastle to discuss middle-ear infections and a proposed national initiative to standardise an evidence-based approach to the infections, deafness and its educational effects and to hear from Australia's only indigenous ENT specialist, Kelvin Kong, a member of the Worimi people of Port Stephens, north of Newcastle. Dr Perry cited a Senate committee report released in May 2010 that concluded indigenous Australians suffered deafness and ear problems at 10 times the rate of non-indigenous Australians. "Little has been done since then," Dr Perry said. He believed Queensland's Deadly Ears program would serve as an ideal model to start from, but Aboriginal communities needed a program specifically designed for their circumstances.

ABC PM Radio report

They murdered my son and must be accountable for it ABC PM Report

With Paul Wiles CAAMA Radio Michael Gunner, the Alice Springs born and bred Territorian who returned Labor to Government after only one term in Opposition says he is prepared to negotiate with local Aboriginal people about a Treaty and that it will be a critical agenda item during his first term of government. Mr Gunner who has already visited a Top End Aboriginal community since being sworn in last week says he is also not averse to the transfer of housing assets as a means of growing financial security in remote communities.