Issue: June 2004
Research
Homelands offer best solution
Aboriginal health and welfare in Arnhem Land
Research by La Trobe University in North-East Arnhem Land strongly supports the view of traditional Aboriginal leaders that Homelands offer the best hope for the future of their young people.
These Homelands, unlike most towns and larger settlements at the top end, have remained free from substance abuse and destructive behaviour as a result of strong customary leadership and family support.
Now the University - through a variety of initiatives led by Associate Professor in Genetics, Dr Neville White, and involving postgraduate students engaged in health, environmental and educational research - is helping the local Yolngu Aboriginal community attract its youth to these Homelands, especially young men from the larger settlements.
These initiatives are titled the 'Mittjiwu Djaaka' project, which translates as 'caring for our community'. They include training, employment, life skills and health education programs as well as support for community campaigns to fund improved accommodation and living conditions on Yolngu Homelands.
The project is being supported by the Rotary Club of Melbourne and Vietnam Veteran volunteers are helping with vocational training and building programs.
Dr White says about 5,000 Yolngu people live in North-East Arnhem Land. About seventy per cent spend at least part of their lives in Homeland Centres - small, remote, family-based communities linked to parts of the religious landscape of the Yolngu.
'These centres have a strong traditional orientation. Some residents rarely leave their ancestral lands. Young men in these Homelands are engaged in subsistence activities and are subsequently healthier.
'In larger settlements and towns a high burden of male morbidity and mortality falls on indigenous youth and early middle-aged men,' says Dr White.
'Much of this results from poor nutrition and self-destructive behaviour, including substance abuse - alcohol, kava, marijuana and petrol sniffing. This behaviour is now also becoming evident amongst women in the larger centres.'
Health statistics paint a grim picture, says Dr White. For example early middle-aged Aboriginal men have a death rate nearly 11 times that of the total Australian age group. Only three per cent are older than 65 years, compared with 13 per cent in the general population.
'Life expectancy for Yolngu men is 57 years, compared with 74.5 years for Australia in total. And for the women it's 60 years - 20 years less than for other Australian women.'
Education statistics are just as bad: only seven per cent of young indigenous Australians have completed year 12 compared with 30 per cent of the general population. In North-East Arnhem Land that figure is less than one per cent.
'It is becoming clear that self-harm among youth is closely associated with educational disadvantage and boredom resulting from lack of meaningful employment opportunities.'
So Dr White and a group of La Trobe students, in partnership with outside service agencies and Yolngu stakeholders, are working towards a solution.
'But it is essential that intervention programs are driven and controlled by the Yolngu communities involved,' says Dr White, who has worked in the region for some thirty years. To this end staff and students regularly visit Arnhem Land to work closely with local communities. They support and help leaders of Homeland Centres develop projects in the areas of health, community infrastructure, resource management, political advocacy and education.
And Yolngu representatives often visit the University, maintaining a two-way flow of information. Dr White says some early successes of La Trobe's links with Homeland Centres have been programs helping to train rangers and land managers. These programs were carried out in association with Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife.
The development of a community-based Ranger Program, funded by the National Heritage Trust, was led by Dr White. It incorporates five Homeland Centres responsible for the management of the Heritage area.
'For example, we have been partners in a project documenting plant and animal communities on the Arafura Wetlands for the Register of the National Estate to help local custodians protect the unique cultural and natural values of their area.'
Some other projects have involved regional surveillance with NorForce, Customs and Quarantine; health worker training through the Gapuwiyak Health Centre; and teacher training through Shepherdson College, on Elcho Island.
Dr White says a recent 'very rewarding community capacity building initiative' was the Donydji School and Community Centre, a partnership project involving local residents, Rotary International, the Potter Foundation and La Trobe University.•
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