Dave Palmer

Moodjar Consultancy recognises the Whadjuk people as the traditional owners of the greater Swan Plain area. For the Whadjuk people, these are places that have strong social, spiritual, cultural and historic significance. The following report provides an account of the Nyoongar participants in the survey conducted on the 27th and 29th of January 2021.

The purpose of this report is to identify what, according to Nyoongar participants, is significant about the Nyoongar cultural heritage of the Alkimos site. As has been set out in the Archaeological Report, there are no registered Aboriginal sites within the survey area. However Nyoongar custodians and participants in the survey consider the pinnacles area, a small reed area in the northwest corner of the site and the sand dune systems and wooded area on the eastern reaches of the site to be of Nyoongar cultural significance.

Being a Noongar maaman (man and father) involved in raising koorlangka (children) brings lots of happiness and excitement, along with many challenges. Noongar maaman have always helped one another learn about the fathering role and how to be effective in the rol e. Indeed one of the key features about Noongar traditions is that our moort (family) help out so that men are not alone when it comes to looking after kids. Many changes imposed on us by Wedjela (non - Aboriginal people) have made it hard for Aboriginal men to bring up their kids with good support. Our old people had kids taken from them, were punished for speaking language and practicing culture and had their authority to be maaman as fathers, uncles, brothers and pops stripped by governments. Despite this, our history is also full of maaman who have quietly maintained their status as boordier (leaders and bosses) and who have been inspirational as maaman (fathers, uncles and pops). They have allowed the old karla mia (home fires) to continue to burn for man y moorditj maaman (strong men). Today this karl (fire) for kaarnya maaman (respectful fathering) is heating up again and many Noongar maaman (fathers) are getting together to support young men as they step into roles that involve looking after koorlangka ( children). The Aboriginal Fathering workshop series has been designed by Noongar men for Noongar men. It has been set up to provide maaman (father) with a chance to get together and try some new and old activities with their koorlangka (children). The goal is to support Noongar men as they work at katatjiny bidi (go along to become learned and do good) for their koorlangka (children). This short report describes the development of a set of workshop resources to support Noongar maaman (fathering). It desc ribes the project objectives and plan and sets out some of the themes about Aboriginal fathering identified in the literature. It also explains the process used in meeting and working with Noongar men, outlines the workshop structure, describes the Noongar cultural framework adopted, and reports on the evaluation of the work.

This is the first report from the “Values and aspirations for coastal waters of the Kimberley” research project funded by the Western Australian Government and administered by the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (Kimberley Research Node Project 2.1.2). The study area extends from the south western end of Eighty Mile Beach to the Northern Territory Border, a coastline 13,296 km in length at low water mark including the islands. The aim of this 3-year research project is to document and analyse the social values and aspirations of people associated with the existing and proposed marine parks at Eighty Mile Beach, Roebuck Bay, Lalang-garram (Camden Sound) and North Kimberley, and with other coastal waters of the Kimberley.

Before making a number of points in relation to the Committee’s inquiry it is important that I introduce myself. I am presently a tenured academic at Murdoch University and responsible for teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Community Development Programme. I also spend considerable time in my role as a researcher carrying out evaluations of projects designed to respond to the needs of Aboriginal communities. Over the course of the last 25 years I have been visiting the Kimberley region for various research and professional purposes. Since 2004 I have had the opportunity of working in conjunction with the Yiriman Project, studying the organization and its work with young people. From 2010-2013 I undertook a formal evaluation of Yiriman’s work at their invitation. I would live to begin by applauding the Committee’s decision to carry out work examining the challenges that face Aboriginal people and the awful incidence of suicide. What follows are observations about one programme that, in part, is designed to respond to the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal young people in the southern Kimberley region. I will do this by making reference to some of the findings of my research report.

The following report provides a brief review of a project called ‘Building Awareness and Resilience with Community Theatre’ carried out by Act Out in conjunction with the Halo Leadership Development Agency in late 2012.

The report does a number of things. It begins with a short description of the methodology adopted in reviewing the project. The next section briefly describes Forum Theatre, the approach used to carry out the project. Next the report provides an ‘audit review’ of the project, comparing the various contracted objectives with evidence of the project’s performance Next the report turns to some of the challenges faced. Finally the report provides a discussion of the literature concerned with good practice in similar work elsewhere. This helps identify the likely social benefits of the work.

Although a short-term project of this nature faces considerable challenges, there is some good evidence that the work is solid. For example, it enjoyed good community support and active involvement, particularly by Nyungar leaders and family. The project worked well in conjunction with Halo’s larger remit of encouraging leadership in Aboriginal young men. Indeed, the Forum Theatre approach offered new and novel ways for young people to exercise their leadership skills. They participated in script development, movement work, rehearsals, performance, interaction with audiences and, perhaps most impressively, extended their repertoire for dealing with domestic violence. In this way the project added to Halo’s stock of methods for providing practical and accessible ways of developing leadership. There was certainly much evidence that the young people involved took the project seriously, attended with regularity and demonstrated improvement in performance skills, public presentation, script retention, movement. Perhaps most important in this regard was the extent to which they were able to share their own stories and experiences about the effect violence has had on them. To an extent the project also allowed the young men to challenge their own self-consciousness, embarrassment and discomfort with presenting publicly. , By the final performance, attended by over 50 people, those involved were able to both deliver the original script as well as improvise in response to audience involvement. This was impressive, particularly given the relative shortness of the project.