There is a wealth of information on Indigenous Australia from both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous sources. These provide information covering multiple areas.

This page provides information on community information, government involvement, health, legal matters and reports/research over several decades.

A First Page covers The Arts & individual artists and Indigenous beliefs & culture.

A Second Page provides information on Indigenous Language/Tribal Areas, Sport, sporting involvement and individual sporting high achievers.

A Fourth Page covers documents & texts, general information sites, current involvements, Indigenous media and information on reconciliation.

Each of these pages can also be reached using the numbered boxes above.

Indigenous History and Famous Indigenous Australians will be found using these links. For information regarding Indigenous Education, both for and about Indigenous people, use this link or the one in the main menu.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following may contain images and voices of deceased persons.

Communities

• Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association
  Replacing the Aboriginal Hunter Gateway. Check the Miromaa site, which details their development for preserving language. Well worth visiting. Also their Language Resources.
• Awaba
  ‘Electronic database and guide to the history, culture and language of the Indigenous peoples of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region of NSW’.
• Barani
  Based on the history of the Eora people who lived in the Sydney region. Traces place names, historical knowledge, a timeline, more.
• Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation
  From ‘the town of Maningrida on the estuary of the Liverpool River, on the coast of Arnhem Land. The Kunibídji people are the traditional landowners of this country’.
• Burarra Gathering
  ‘This website gives a sense of the people, land, language and traditional technologies and knowledge of the Burarra people of Arnhem Land, in Australia’s Northern Territory’. Questacon.
• Cadigal Wangal - People of the Cook’s River, NSW
  Site now archived by Pandora.
• Corringie
• History of the Larrakia Nation
  Aboriginal people from the Darwin area.
• Jarlmadangah Burru Aboriginal Community
  ‘Situated south east of Derby in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Built around very strong social values and a dedication to the maintenance of Nyikina-Mangala Law and Culture’.
• Muru Mittigar
  Cranebrook, New South Wales.
• Wadeye
• Yalata Aboriginal Community
  ‘We are Pitjantjatjara Anangu. Our families descend from the desert people in the north and north-west’.
• Yanyuwa
  History, people, everyday life, resources [even a dictionary].
• Yarrabah

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Government Involvement

Government Departments, Agencies, Related Organisations, …

State and Commonwealth level, government and Aboriginal run.

Commonwealth

• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  ‘The world’s premier institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Institute undertakes and encourages scholarly, ethical community-based research, holds a priceless collection of films, photographs, video and audio recordings and the world’s largest collections of printed and other resource materials for Indigenous Studies, and has its own publishing house’.
  Highly Recommended !
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
  Links to Other Related Sources as well as information about specific areas such as Population, Family Kinship & Community, Law & Justice, more.
• Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services
  ‘The Office of the Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services was established to oversee the implementation of the Remote Service Delivery partnership in Indigenous communities, formally report to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs twice a year on progress and ensure that all government service agencies are held accountable for their implementation responsibilities under the Remote Service Delivery partnership, … ’.
• Face the Facts
  Questions designed to provide information about Aboriginals, their representatives and their history. In question and answer format. By the Commonwealth Race Discrimination Commissioner.
• Indigenous Affairs Resources
  Links for Indigenous matters, compiled by the Australian Parliament House Library. Covers Commonwealth, State & Local matters and international information.
• Indigenous Australians Caring for Country
  ‘The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has a long history of working with Indigenous people, particularly in natural resource management and heritage related activities. Indigenous Australians are key partners with us in managing Australia’s environment and cultural heritage’.
• Indigenous Programs & Services
  Find details listed under 8 major directories. Also links to other informationa and related sites.
• Indigenous Portal
  ‘Your window to resources, contacts, information, and government programs and services for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders’. Commonwealth Government. eSub Online is ‘the Australian Government website enabling electronic submissions for some Indigenous Programs’. A listing of Programs & Services can be found here.
• Key Indicators 2009
  ‘The Council of Australian Governments commissioned the Steering Committee to produce a regular report against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage. This report has an important long-term objective. It is to inform Australian governments about whether policy programs and interventions are achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous people. This will help guide where further work is needed’. Available in whole or parts in PDF format.
• Minister for Indigenous Affairs
  Families and Community Services; Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs. The website of this Minister.
• National Indigenous Representative Body
  Initial information regarding the calling of submissions for the establishment of such a body. For information about the Background to the Proposed National Indigenous Representative Body go here.
• National Representative Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  Details the final steering report, delivered by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Provides access to the background, process, a copy of the report Our Future In Our Hands, also available in Word Format, other related documents.
• Social Justice Commissioner
  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. ‘Created by the federal parliament in December 1992 - a response to the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the National Inquiry into Racist Violence. It was also a response to the extreme social and economic disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians. An important role of the Commissioner is to keep Indigenous issues before the federal Government and the Australian community to promote understanding and respect for the rights of Indigenous Australians.

State/Territory Indigenous Units/Departments

• Australian Capital Territory
  Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.
• New South Wales
  Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
• Northern Territory
  Indigenous Territorians, Department of the Chief Minister.
  You now have to be able to log in to access this site.
• Queensland
  Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.
• South Australia
  Aboriginal Affairs & Reconciliation Division.
• Tasmania
  Office of Aboriginal Affairs, Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
• Victoria
  Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, Department for Victorian Communities.
• Western Australia
  Department of Indigenous Affairs.

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Health

General portals and specific information including research relating to Aboriginal Health.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders - Drug Prevention & Alcohol Facts - DrugInfo
  Includes research, statistics, information, reports and more.
• Australian Indigenous Health [Infonet]
  ‘Making comprehensive, up-to-date knowledge and information accessible to people interested in the health of Indigenous Australians’. Their Social and Emotional Wellbeing section covers extensive information about mental health, programs & projects, organisations, resources, policies, publications, more.
• Australian Indigenous Health Promotion Network
  ‘Dedicated to improving the health of Indigenous Australians’.
• Flinders Aboriginal Health Research
  ‘A large multidisciplinary network of Flinders University researchers and their colleagues who are committed to improving Aboriginal health and wellbeing through research. Their work spans the health and social sciences and humanities, in keeping with holistic Aboriginal understandings of health’.
• Living is for Everyone
  ‘Shortcut to information that focuses on suicide prevention and related issues. It is intended as a guide only’.
• Lowitja Institute
  ‘Promotes high quality research, transfers research findings into policy and practice to improve primary health care practice, and increases formal research training opportunities for Aboriginal people’.
  Previously listed as Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health which is now a part of the Lowitja Institute.
• NACCHO
  The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. ‘National peak Aboriginal health body representing Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services throughout Australia’. Links to members, policy, media, etc..
• Office of Aboriginal Health WA
  ‘The Office of Aboriginal Health works within government to manage the financial, physical and human resources necessary to improve the health care and health status of all Aboriginal people’.
• OATSIH
  Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. ‘Links to other pages that contain information about programs, services, publications, resources, contact information’.
• PEGS, Aboriginal
  Brochures from Parenting SA, designed specifically for Aboriginal families and covering topics such as grandparents, role models, coping skills for children, identity, families that work well, more.
• Searching for Solutions
  ANU News. ‘Collaborative research is helping to shed light on how to close the gap on Indigenous health disadvantage, writes Simon Copland’.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Health Journal
  It is also available on a separate Facebook page.
• The Collaborative Centre
  For Aboriginal Health Promotion. ‘Enhancing the delivery of more effective and sustainable health promotion programs for Aboriginal people and their communities in NSW’.
  Must be able to log in to access this site.
• VACCHO
  Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. ‘We represent the collective of all Aboriginal community controlled health organisations around Victoria. Each of our members is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation: most are multi functional community organisations with health as a key part of their responsibility and some come from groups offering full health services’.

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Legal Information

Legal actions, information, assistance special acts.

Aboriginal Protection Act[s]

Acts at all levels of government and acts for the control, or protection, of Aboriginals.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander …
  Heritage Protection Act 1984. ‘An Act to preserve and protect places, areas, objects of particular significance to Aboriginals, and for related purposes’.
• Aboriginals Ordinance No. 9 of 1918 [Cth]
  ‘The first Commonwealth law for the governance of Indigenous people and its long-lasting effects make it a founding document for the Northern Territory. It is a comprehensive Ordinance, [which] remained in force until replaced by the Welfare Ordinance 1953 [Northern Territory] which came into effect in 1957’.
• Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 [Vic]
  ‘This document made Victoria the first Colony to enact a comprehensive scheme to regulate the lives of Aboriginal people. This Act gave powers to the Board for the Protection of Aborigines which subsequently developed into an extraordinary level of control of people’s lives including regulation of residence, employment, marriage, social life and other aspects of daily life’.
• Aboriginals Protection 1897 [Qld]
  And Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act ‘This document is the instrument effecting a major law directed at Aboriginal people in Queensland. It was followed in other Colonies and thus probably affected more Aboriginal people than any law until the passage of the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1992. This Act controlled the fates of Indigenous people in Queensland - the State containing the largest number of surviving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - throughout much of the 20th century’.
• Aborigines Act, 1911
  And Aboriginals Ordinance 1918. Descriptions of what these were and their impact on Aboriginal people.
• Archives of the Aborigines Welfare Board 1883-1969
  New South Wales. Limited access, but covers the Board for Protection of Aborigines/Aboriginal Welfare Board, the impact of the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 [No. 25], local committees, more.

Other Information

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Customary Law
  Covers Diverse nature of customary law, the Spiritual basis, Kinship and family, Ritual and oral tradition, Mediation and sanctions and Relevance to Australian law.
• Aboriginal Law and Legislation
  An Australian section is part of a review of Aboriginal legal information from several countries around the world. The Constitution, other legislation, Mabo, Native Title Tribunal, Other Court Decisions.
• Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islanders - Legal & Justice Information
  Links from WorldLii covering direct links, databases and more.
• Appeal for Justice : Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda
  ‘Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda, a Yolngu elder from northeast Arnhem Land, was found guilty of the murder of a white policeman and sentenced to death in 1934’. Find out about the case, the court action, the people involved and the reforms that came as a result of this case.
• Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse
  ‘promote discussion and disseminate relevant Indigenous justice information to government policy makers and those working in the Indigenous justice field. A national resource on Indigenous justice’.
• Indigenous Justice in Australia
  ‘Aims to bring together relevant, quality information on Indigenous people and the criminal justice system in Australia’.
• Individual Acts, Bills and Laws
  Listing of these at Commonwealth and state level. Links supplied, where available, to online information.
• Koori Court
  ‘A Specialist Jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Court, which sentences defendants who have pleaded guilty. The Koori Court provides an informal atmosphere and allows greater participation by the Aboriginal [Koori] community in the court process. A Koori Elder or Respected Person, the Aboriginal Justice worker, Koori defendants and their families can contribute during the Court hearing’. Victoria.
• Legal Timeline
  Legal Developments Affecting Indigenous People. In years back to 1950, then decades to 1820.
• Northern Land Council
  Part of their site has specific information on Land & Sea Rights, including history, Native Title, legal positions, more.

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Research & Reports

• Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth
  Access an extensive listing of reports [in PDF format] covering many areas relating to Indigenous children and youth.
• Betraying the Victims
  Response to ‘The Stolen Generation’s Report’ from the Institute of Public Affairs.
• Breaking the Silence : Creating the Future
  ‘The report Breaking the Silence : Creating the Future. Addressing child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities in NSW. Click on the links to access the document’. From the Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce in NSW. Released through Lawlink in PDF format.
• Bringing Them Home
  The report on The Stolen Generations, completed in the 1990s.
• Cape Crusade : Australian Story
  Transcripts from Australian Story on the Pearson brothers.
• Closing The Gap On Indigenous Disadvantage : The Challenge for Australia
  ‘Outlines the Australian Government’s approach to Closing the Gap. It describes progress in our first year, and sets out our priorities for the future. There is much to be done, and it will require patience, perseverance and a sustained national effort from every part of the Australian community’.
• Footprints in Time
  ‘The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children [LSIC] aims to improve the understanding of, and policy response to, the diverse circumstances faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and communities. The study is designed to explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children develop resilience, what helps to improve their wellbeing and future and to recognise links between early childhood experiences and later life outcomes’. From FaHCSIA. You can also access Finding our Feet the first findings from Footprints in Time [2009], here. You can get a PDF Download of the document via this link.
• Rebutting the Myths
  Rebutting the myths of alcoholism, non-work, etc..
• Reconciliation : What Does it Mean ?
  Report for the Institute of Public Affairs.
• Reports & Publications
  Accessible reports and other publications [PDF format] from the Department of Indigenous Affairs [WA]. Indicative of the sort of material now available.
• The Stolen Generations
  Robert Manne.

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