'We again thank the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to commit to the promise of research. What is the promise of research? Even though research is not always good to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the promise of research, that people will listen and be moved to act when action is required remains strong. Research done the right way is still one of the best ways for Aboriginal people to tell the wider community who we are and who we want to be.' (Editorial introduction)
'This paper’s main concern is how educators can best face the challenge of teaching Australia’s history of frontier violence. Understandably, high school and undergraduate students are wary of such a dark topic that draws in massacres, rapes and allegations of genocide. However, if teachers steer clear of the controversial material, students are left with significantly reduced understandings of why Australian race relations can be so strained. Ignoring the full story of colonisation undermines reconciliation and augments a racial divide. Ignoring frontier violence also strengthens imperialism’s capacity to render subjugated people ‘invisible’. The curriculum’s requirement to teach Australian Aboriginal history in partnership with Indigenous community members is therefore a crucial way of dispelling invisibility and reasserting the legitimate rights of Indigenous peoples to their intangible heritage. Shared teaching humanises the impact of colonisation and frontier violence on Australia’s First Peoples, and protects, maintains and respects Indigenous knowledge, practices and innovations. This is the first paper to indicate that Western Australia’s 1927 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Killing and Burning of Bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into Police Methods when Effecting Arrests may be the plot source for Arthur Upfield’s (1961[1931]) novel The Sands of Windee and for the Murchison murders (1929–30). The case study’s example of Kimberley Aboriginal people becoming ‘invisible’ leads into an overview of imperialism, where invisibility is implicated in the process of colonisation. The paper then illustrates how collaborative teaching benefits students, teachers and Indigenous people.' (Publication abstract)
''Against native title’ is an ethnography of one community’s rejection and partial re-engagement with the legal determination of native title over their country.' (Introduction)
'Constitutional recognition of First Peoples in Australia is an excellent collection of essays that brings together some of the pre-eminent thinkers around the continuing debate as to how to recognise our First Peoples in our founding document — the Australian Constitution. The book allows readers to immerse themselves in the progress — or, as some of us would say, the lack of progress — for constitutional change in a well-thought out journey. It is structured, well written and very readable.' (Introduction)
'The study of Australian Indigenous songs in the past two decades has moved beyond linguistic and musicological studies to interdisciplinary collaborations with Indigenous song men and women. This reciprocal engagement between academics and singers within their communities has revealed more of the multi-purpose nature of Indigenous song traditions and customs. Song underscores melodic and rhythmic patterns in music and dance, gives us insight into unique song language and, at the same time, embodies local identity, belonging to place and ownership of stories.' (Introduction)
