Making Country Come Alive: Artistic Representations of the Rockhampton Region, Rockhampton Women’s Business Network, Chamber of Commerce, Rockhampton, 6th Nov. 2004, 7.00am

This paper provides a short overview of how Pamela Croft depicts aspects of the Rockhampton Region in her visual arts practice

land home place belong - Pamela Croft

In Pamela Croft’s art works within her solo exhibition I hear, see, feel and sense the importance of tradition, recognition of ancestors, respect for uniqueness in spiritual expression, facilitation of an understanding within the contexts of history and culture, a sense of place, connections to family and community, commitment to educational and social transformation that recognizes and empowers the inherent strength of Aboriginal peoples and cultures and the challenges to non-Aboriginal people to truly listen and absorb in order to move to a place of understanding of the Aboriginal world… The ideal purpose of education is to attain knowledge, seek truth, wisdom, completeness and life as seen by self and others. Story is one of the unique ways of Aboriginal education in both teaching and learning. It is in the story that there is made a place for honouring of self, family, community, place, nature and spirituality. In this exhibition Pamela Croft has revealed many things about her own story, her own journeying and the journey of many other Aboriginal peoples. She has then set each idea, concept and event in contexts that are based on history, place, environment and process which intertwine within one larger story of this country and humanity. Aboriginal learning is generally tied to a place environmentally, socially and spiritually. Indigenous teaching and learning are intertwined with the daily lives of the teacher and the learner. Pamela is both her own teacher and her own learner, she learns from the environment, other people, her community and her culture. She has defined history and place in terms to create a place for learning and for the individuals who participate in this solo exhibition of her work. Thus her words as you enter, “Listen, listen with your ears, listen with your eyes, listen with your body, listen with your spirit, listen”

'We got needs too': Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in urban areas (Speaker's notes)

Despite over 70 % of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia now living in urban or regional urban areas (ABS 2008), there is limited research which highlights their issues or the issues that impact on their education outcomes. The statistics demonstrate that living in urban centres is as much part of reality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as living in a remote discrete community. This paper will explore some of the issues for urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples against a backdrop of statistics and some of the current literature. Examples will be highlighted from the South-East Queensland region to expose the need for specific education strategies and programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this region and in other urbanised regions in Queensland and Australia

Stolen Generations. After the Apology

In Febraury 2008 the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd delivered the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. Frontline asked NTEU Indigenous women to relate their feelings of the day,and how they feel the nation has progressed since. This is what Bronwyn Fredericks said within the article. Other women who have related their thoughts and feelings include: Maree Graham, Alma Mir, Lynette Riley, Nellie Green, Davina B Woods, Frances Wyld, Jenny Caruso, and Helen Bishop. To read what other Indigenous women said about the National Apology go to: http://www.nteu.org.a

Including us, but under whose terms? The epistemology that maintains white race privilege, power and control over Indigenous studies and Indigenous people's participation in Australian universities

This paper represents my attempt to turn the gaze and demonstrate how Indigenous Studies is controlled in some Australian universities in ways that witness Indigenous peoples being further marginalised, denigrated and exploited. I have attempted to do this through sharing an incident through the presentation of a case study. I have opted to write about it as a way of highlighting the problematic nature of racism, systemic marginalisation, white race privilege and radicalised subjectivity played out within higher education institutions and because I am dissatisfied with the on-going status quo. In sharing my experience and bringing some analysis to this case study, I seek to destabilise the relationships between oppression and white race and institutional privilege and the epistemology that maintains them. In moving from the position of being silent on this topic to speaking about it, I am also able to move from the position of object to subject and to gain a form of liberated voice (hooks 1989:9) and to encourage others to examine their own practices within Australian universities

Understanding and living respectfully within Indigenous places

To many Aboriginal Australians, Country means place of origin in spiritual, cultural and literal terms. It refers to a specific clan or a tribal group or nation of Aboriginal people and encompasses all the knowledge, cultural norms, values, stories and resources within that particular area - that particular Indigenous place. The notion of Country is central to Australian Aboriginal identity, history, and contributes to overall health and wellbeing. Women and men both have a central role within Country, in terms of ownership, care and rights. With an increasing shift of Aboriginal people to urban areas or living in the Country of other Aboriginal people it does not mean that one’s connections to Country are lost, or that the significance of Country is no longer present. It does mean that many Aboriginal Australians now pass through, dwell, and live within the Country belonging to other Aboriginal Australians. While we as Indigenous people might live within the Country of another Indigenous nation, they are still, Indigenous places. A map available from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Horton, 1999) pictorially depicts over 500 Indigenous nations in Australia. Dr Pamela Croft names her Country as that of the Kooma clan of the Uralarai people, South West Queensland. She lives in Keppel Sands on the Capricorn Coast in Central Queensland within the Countries of the Darumbal people (mainland and coastline) and the Woppaburra people (Keppel Islands), who are intricately linked through history and relationship (Horton, 1999). This area is known as the Central Queensland region in numerous State of Queensland documents. As a geographical area, it comprises tablelands, flatlands, plain lands, open scrub, wetlands, river and creek systems, coastal areas, islands, mountains and now cityscapes and urban sprawl. Within broader Australia, this region is marketed and written about as the ‘Beef Capital of Australia’ (Forbes, 2001: 1). Sometimes uses the slogan where ‘the beef meets the reef’ (Great Barrier Reef) in advertising materials so that people know that it is close to one of the world’s greatest wonders; the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. Pamela Croft has practised as a visual artist since the mid-1980s and uses both Aboriginal Australian and Western techniques, education and style to tell the stories based on identity, sense of place, and the effects of colonisation. She was the first Aboriginal Australian to gain a Doctor of Visual Arts (Croft, 2003). In her artworks, Dr Croft focuses on concepts of place and space and change within Country. A recent series of artworks were undertaken on the muddy banks of the upper regions of Pumpkin Creek at Keppel Sands. Pamela knows the way the moon and the sun impact on the tidal flows and how the time of year affects the temperature of the water. She has traced the tracks of animals and other people who at times dwell within the area. She has watched, observed, hunted and gathered in ways of Aboriginal women, past, present and future. In the Creek, Pamela left special paper to capture the gentle nomadic nature of the tides which result in delicate patterns left on the mud that change with each ebb and flow of the water. The crabs imprinted their presence as they foraged for food, so too did the Ibis and seagulls. This evidence of water and animals became stories, recorded in the mud like texts that have been imprinted within the artwork. Croft later used the paper as canvases for her art works and added local ochres – black, brown and red to symbolise the water’s connection to land, people, place, and a sense of past, present and future. The colours and lines flow within the artwork just like the contours of the Creek. They are tied within the artwork to a sense of Country that binds water, land, animals and us as human beings. Over time, the changes in Country became mapped in Croft’s ‘Mud Map’ series and other artworks. Croft’s Mud Map series has been exhibited in Atlanta and Houston, the United States of America. This is an interview with Dr Pamela Croft undertaken in her studio at Keppel Sands. The inteview was specifically focused on her research and arts practice within Country and how she incorporates a sense of Indigenous place within her artworks

Wings of Angels

This piece was written and performed at the 'A Sense of Place', Creative Writing and the Environment Writer's Workshop Weekend, (IDIOM 23, CQU), 29th April-1st May, North Keppel Island, Queensland. It is a fun piece of writing which plays on words

'Big mobs in the city now' : the increasing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban areas

The locations and settings in which Australian Indigenous people live varies, however over 70 % of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia now live in urban or regional urban areas (ABS 2008). Over half of the total population lives in the two states Queensland and New South Wales. The 2006 Census data indicates that 146, 400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or 28.3% lives in Queensland. The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in schools in the greater Brisbane area is approximately 29% of the Queensland population. There are other sizeable urban Indigenous populations along the Queensland coast and larger rural towns. The statistics demonstrate that living in urban centres is as much part of reality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as living in a remote discrete Aboriginal community. Historically, discrete rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been the focus of most of the research conducted with Indigenous populations. These locations have provided researchers with an easily identifiable study population. However, unlike rural and remote communities, identifying and accessing urban Indigenous communities can be much more difficult despite the growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban areas. Limited research has been undertaken on the issues that impact on urban Indigenous communities or have explored methods of undertaking research with urban Indigenous communities. This paper will explore the some of the issues and needs of urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in South East Queensland and highlight some of the emerging policy, program and research responses

The Need to Extend Beyond Cross-Cultural Awareness Training. (Re)Contesting Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Studies Conference

In the Health Sector, Cross-Cultural Awareness Training has been seen as a way to improve knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to therefore improve service delivery and therapeutic care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Health personnel may have undertaken this type of training in their workplace or as part of their education in an undergraduate degree program. Other sectors additionally undertake Cross-Cultural Awareness Training for similar reasons and in similar educational settings. This paper includes the views of a selection of Aboriginal women and highlights the need to extend beyond knowledge gained through Cross-Cultural Awareness Training to Anti-Racism Training. Furthermore, that Anti-Racism Training and addressing white race privilege is required in order to address the inequities within the health system, the marginalisation and disempowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Peoples in the Health Arena. In support of the Master of Public Health Program, Institute of Koori Education (IKE), Deakin University, Warun Ponds via Geelong, 21st April 2009

This was a presentation offered in support of the Master of Public Healh Program, delivered by the Institute of Koori Education (IKE), Deakin University, Warun Ponds via Geelong, on the 21st April 2009