Indigenous media struck by Facebook shutdown

WAILWAN Gomeroi woman Georgia Durmush wants to see Indigenous voices embedded into literature and research, so that policymakers, educators and health practitioners can learn to create environments that better suit the needs of First Nations people. 

Now in the final stages of completing her PhD at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney, Ms Durmush’s research focuses on issues affecting Indigenous youth wellbeing including high youth-detention rates, high suicide rates and a lack of Indigenous voices in health care and education systems. 

“There isn’t a lot of research out there yet which has been conducted by Aboriginal people that actually gives agency to the Aboriginal voice,” Ms Durmush said. “For so long it has been the non-Indigenous person who has defined the Aboriginal narrative and experience, so with my PhD research I am looking at how Aboriginal people can define our own experience and wellbeing.” 

Ms Durmursh told the Koori Mail that her passion for research stems from her early experiences at school, in Peakhurst in southern Sydney. 

She said that, although she loved going to the local public school, it wasn’t until she changed schools and started at Gawura, at St Andrews Cathedral School in Sydney city, that she was finally able to embrace her culture in an educational capacity. 

TASMANIAN Aboriginal man Wayne Quilliam, one of Australia’s most highly esteemed photographers, has released a book featuring a collection of images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people spanning his 30-year career titled Culture Is Life. 

The book offers a contemporary look into the lives of Indigenous people, both those with a high profile and community members of different ages from Tasmania to the Torres Strait. 

Mr Quilliam told the Koori Mail that he hoped Culture is Life offers “insights into the dreams of youth and the reflections of Elders”. 

“The collection of images in the book are more about who we are as Indigenous people more…

ARRERNTE and Kalkadoon woman Thea Anamara Perkins is an emerging artist with a practice focused on painting and installation. Thea was raised in Sydney and has family ties to the Redfern community. 

She has worked across a broad range of community projects and is an active member of SEED, a not-for-profit Indigenous youth-led environmental organisation. 

Thea had her first solo show History House at Firstdraft, an experimental artist-led gallery in Sydney, in 2018. Her work for the show was inspired by her family’s photographic archives. In the same year, Thea was a lead artist in the restoration of the iconic 40,000 Years mural outside Redfern train station. 

In 2019 she had her second solo show, Anamara, at contemporary art space Our Neon Foe, and was a finalist in the Archibald Prize and the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship. 

Since 2018, Thea has been working with Tangentyere artists and her work was shown at TARNANTHI 2019, the Art Gallery of South Australia’s annual exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Thea won the 2020 Alice Prize and was awarded…

THE first conclusive archaeological evidence of insects as a food source in Australia has been discovered by a group of traditional owners and archaeologists. 

Led by Monash University and the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), the researchers found food remains of bogong moths on a stone tool in a cave in the foothills of the Australian Alps in Victoria. 

The microscopic remains were found on a small, portable grindstone that would have been carried around by its owners during travels and is thought to be 600-2100 years old. 

It is the first conclusive archaeological evidence of insect food remains on stone artefacts anywhere in the world, researchers say. 

GunaiKurnai Elder Russell Mullett, who was involved in the research, said that the bogong moth was considered by many Aboriginal clans to be a substantial source of nutrients due to its large numbers and high fat content. 

“Historical records are witness to our people going to the mountains for the bogong moths, but this project tells us that it also happened in the deeper past,” he said. 

CROWDS brimming with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags hit the streets of Australia’s capital cities for Invasion Day rallies. 

The annual debate over the date of Australia Day flared up again in the lead up to January 26, as parts of the nation paused to celebrate the national public holiday, while others called for events to be moved out of respect for Indigenous people. 

Five people were arrested in Sydney out of a crowd of about 3000 people who had congregated in small groups in the Domain to protest in a socially distanced and masked fashion. 

Attendees turned out in force despite warnings from NSW Police Minister David Elliott that they would face fines and even imprisonment for breaching COVID-19 rules. 

Conservative lobby group Advance Australia paid for the words ‘Aus Day’ to be written in the sky above Sydney to counter the Invasion Day rally. 

Australia Day in the city began at dawn with the Sydney Opera House sails lit with Indigenous art, the Aboriginal flag later raised alongside the Australian flag on the Harbour Bridge. 

COUSINS Katherine Dann and Dwes Wiggan-Dann have set off on the adventure of a lifetime as fierce competitors in this season of The Amazing Race Australia. 

From mountain ranges to lush rainforests, and from warm tropical climates to below freezing conditions, the ‘Kimberley Cousins’ won’t need their passports because this year the entire race takes place across Australia. 

The Amazing Race Australia is the ultimate adventure-based competitive reality TV show. 

This season, 14 teams will race as they traverse the continent, taking part in heart- stopping challenges, all with their eyes on a massive…