Sovereign Audio Collection

John Maynard provides an overview of his research project that documents and recognises Aboriginal involvement and service from the Boer war through to Afghanistan. He also explains how the seeds of modern indigenous political activism can be traced back to the First World War. Highlights of Serving our Country presented during History week 2014 at the State Library of NSW ABC RN 'Big Ideas' Wednesday 4 February 2015 8:42PM Image: ABC 7PM News NT

Alan Parkinson is a mechanical and nuclear engineer who lives in Canberra. He has just written a book about the clean up of the British atomic bomb test site at Maralinga in South Australia. In April 2000 a $108 million clean up of the site was declared a success. However, leaked documents and some experts do not agree and suggest that the legacy of that failed clean up will affect the Australian population for many years to come. ABC RN Ockham's Razor 2 September 2007 Presented by Robyn Williams

An interview with Duane Hamacher Australian Society of Indigenous Astronomy Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences and there is evidence that the First Nations people in Australia have been looking to the night sky to learn the 'culture of the stars' for at least 60,000 years. The earliest European records of Indigenous astronomy was in an 1857 essay called 'The Astronomy and Mythology of the Aborigines of Victoria'. It was written by William Stanbridge who had befriended some Boorong people and they in turn showed him how they read the stars. Reading the stars is a very important part of Indigenous culture. ABC Radio National Counterpoint 2 February 2015 Presented by Amanda Vanstone

The stunning Northern Flinders Ranges Country belongs to the Adnyamathanha people. 'Adnya' means rock and 'mathana' means people - the Adnyamathana people are ‘the people of the rocks’. -- Adnyamathanha songs, stories and Law are all part of the Yuramuda. This program is about the journey of one of the major Adnyamathanha Creation Ancestors, Yulu the Kingfisher Man. Yulu’s Coal, explores the travels of Yulu as he moved across Country, followed by two Arkurra , Giant Rainbow Serpents and why the coal mined at Leigh Creek Coal Mine today belongs, from an Adnyamathanha perspective, to Yulu, the Kingfisher Man. -- In the first of this two part series, we will move through Country with Senior Cultural Custodians learning about important features of the landscape brought into existence by these Ancestral Beings and why there are deep implications for the digging of Yulu’s Coal or Muda (Dreaming) from the ground. -- ABC Radio National 23 January 2015 Program: Earshot - Producer: Liz Thompson Sound engineer: Russell Stapleton. Image: Copley -- The two Arkurra Abina (Serpents) that followed Yulu down to Wilpena pound in the Yulu’s Coal story were called Ngarnangarrinha and Wartawinha. They became these two hills at Copley in South Australia.

Members of the Freedom Movement have announced they'll return to Canberra when Federal parliament resumes next month. Yesterday, hundreds of the movement's supporters marched from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy past police to stage a sit-in at Parliament House. Freedom Movement delegate Michael Anderson (pictured) says the Aboriginal rights struggle has a new lease of life. Mr Anderson says they'll commence another rally on February 9 when politicians return to the nation's capital.

ABC PM - SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The Northern Territory Government is being pressured to address serious concerns about the treatment of teenage prisoners in Darwin. Defence lawyers, youth workers and Amnesty International are angry that underage prisoners have been moved into an old, adult prison. They say the facility is dilapidated and under resourced. Bridget Brennan reports. BRIDGET BRENNAN: Darwin's new $500 million prison opened last year. But there was no new facility built for children in jail in Darwin. The former youth detention centre, Don Dale, was deemed unfit after five teenagers escaped last August. Youth prisoners are now in Berrimah prison, a 20-year-old facility that was used to incarcerate adults.

The First Nations Soldiers were equals on the battlefield, but when they returned, they were not given the recognition or entitlements that they deserved. Once forgotten, the Aboriginal and Islander people who went off to fight for Australia in the First World War have been getting increasing recognition a hundred years later. But many of the stories of soldiers who had to hide their true identity to fight are still untold. Some of their names are still not honoured in the Australian War Memorial, despite their active service.

Transcript from World News Australia Radio - SBS (January 2014) - There were concerns a review of the national curriculum could re-ignite the so-called history wars about Australia's past. - One particular area of contention is how Australian children should be taught about the early interaction - and often conflict - between Indigenous people and European settlers. Christopher Pyne, the eurocentric Minister for Education said that he was concerned about a left-wing bias on the teachings of Indigenous Australians and the culture of the Europeans who arrived after them. - Thea Cowie reports

Audio source: ABC Radio National 'Hindsight' 2013 marked two hundred years since the death of Bennelong - that well known Wanggal leader and 'ambassador' to the Sydney colony. - Bennelong has long been cast as a tragic figure, a traitor to his people, a damaged character from countless Australian histories, novels and narratives. But as more information about him and his contemporaries comes to light, Bennelong is sometimes being recast as an adventurer, a politician, a diplomat … with documents that have come to light, he is still speaking to us across the centuries, in words and song. - Historian and curator, Keith Vincent Smith, has been investigating Bennelong’s life and his long, traumatic voyage to Britain in 1792. He found the copy of the letter we have today, in an obscure German astronomy journal. - Bennelong and Yemmerawanne's song, performed in London in 1792, as notated and published by musician Edward Jones in 1811. This version is performed by Clarence Slockee and Matthew Doyle at the State Library of NSW, August 2010. - http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/extra/2011/hht_20110403_BennelongYemmerrawanneLivePerformance.mp3 (02'01", 1.85MB)

Indigenous convicts: Khoisan, Maori and Aboriginal exiles - ABC Radio National - Hindsight --- The convicts left to rot in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) didn't all hail from Britain. There were Australian Aboriginal freedom fighters, South African and even Moari convicts. - If you hang the Freedom Fighters (Trouble-makers) you are left with a body (evidence), but if you transport them to a penal colony, they can disappear without trace. - ... tried and convicted in courts, and because of their perceived 'pagan' nature, they couldn't swear on a bible and thus give evidence. - --- How did a Maori man come to be buried on tiny, windswept Maria Island off Tasmania, way back in 1840? - Hohepa Te Umuroa was a convict, transported for joining the uprising of Te Rangiheata and other Wanganui Maori against settlers in the Hutt Valley. Hohepa was one of five Maori men who arrived as convicts, but they were among dozens of Indigenous people from across the Empire who were transported for waging war against the Crown. - Most Indigenous convicts didn't survive the harsh conditions of prisons like Norfolk Island, but some did. They often went to work in the service of the colony as trackers, bullock drivers, translators. They had been tried and convicted in courts, even though their 'pagan' natures meant they could not swear on a bible and thus give evidence. Gamaregal warrior, Musquito led a resistance against settlers in the Hawkesbury until he was caught and sent to Norfolk Island and then Van Diemen's Land. --- Full size Image Link: Hoheps:- http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/hohepa/5283380 Gamareagal warrior, Musquito http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/musquito/5283120 Article link: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/aboriginal-convicts/5984106

A leading Western Australian suicide prevention and healing advocate has condemned the state Government's decision to push ahead with the forced closure of up to 150 homeland communities. - Robert Eggington (pictured) from the Perth-based Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation is calling on Premier Colin Barnett to reverse his decision. - Mr Eggington says any closures will lead to trauma, anger, dysfunction and suicides. - Source: National Indigenous Radio Service - This audio file posted by Gerry Georgatos

Proposed WA remote community closures labelled "ethnic cleansing" - National Indigenous Radio Service The CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA) has described the state Government's decision to close about 150 remote communities as "ethnic cleansing". The WA Government flagged the closure of homeland communities after the Commonwealth shifted responsibility for remote municipal service funding to the state. Premier Colin Barnett says the state will not be able to afford to take up the costs of services. ALSWA's Dennis Eggington told Koori Radio the move is discriminatory and will lead to more social problems.

MARK COLVIN: For the first time in Australia, Indigenous women from around the world are meeting this week, to talk about domestic violence in their communities. The shocking rates of domestic violence in Aboriginal families, is mirrored in communities in New Zealand and North America. A Global Indigenous Domestic Violence conference in Cairns has heard that Indigenous victims won't speak up, unless support services are run by their own people. Bridget Brennan reports. BRIDGET BRENNAN: Aboriginal women are 35 times more likely to be hospitalised with a domestic violence injury than other Australian women. Domestic violence workers say nothing is changing. ANTOINETTE BRAYBROOK: I have been working in this area for 12 years, and I just cannot see that things are getting better for Aboriginal women. You know, we're constantly fighting to make sure that our organisations are properly resourced so that issues can be addressed. BRIDGET BRENNAN: Antoinette Braybrook is chief executive of the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service in Victoria. In Cairns, she's meeting with women from New Zealand, Canada and the United States. They're all struggling to deal with the high levels of violence in their own Indigenous communities. ANTOINETTE BRAYBROOK: We see the devastation that violence in causing in our communities, and we're all on the same page with what needs to be done - we just need some backing from our governments, and we also need to all stand together on these issues. BRIDGET BRENNAN: Family violence is also affecting Maori women in New Zealand. Susan Ngawati Osborne works at the Maori women’s service the Tu Wahine Trust in Auckland. SUSAN NGAWATI OSBORNE: What we can say is that our women in particular suffer at the hands of violent men and I think more so from men who are not from the same culture. BRIDGET BRENNAN: She says Maori women are reluctant to report domestic violence, but they're having success with programs run by Maori people. SUSAN NGAWATI OSBORNE: It is the proven pathway to creating healthy communities. BRIDGET BRENNAN: From Auckland to Arizona, American social services worker Laura Horsley points out that violence against Indigenous women is systemic. LAURA HORSLEY: It's really interesting to see how similar, even though we come from very different places and very different populations, it's interesting to see how many people are struggling with the same barriers and the same successes and the same types of issues that we're trying to address. BRIDGET BRENNAN: She's been speaking in Cairns about her domestic violence service in Phoenix, which takes support workers into rural communities. LAURA HORSLEY: The Native American population is also scattered in and amongst most of those communities that we provide services in, and so our goal is to put an advocate that is well versed and well trained in that particular culture as the person that goes out to deliver those services. BRIDGET BRENNAN: It's a view shared by Antoinette Braybrook from Victoria's Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention service. She believes the challenge is to build trust. ANTOINETTE BRAYBROOK: Aboriginal people need to be able to do this our way, we don't need strategies imposed on us, and it's about time that we were given that opportunity to make sure that this violence against our women in our communities is stopped. MARK COLVIN: Victorian Aboriginal women Antoinette Braybrook ending Bridget Brennan's report.

Breastfeeding is important for the development of a child. But what happens when the mother is in prison. Recently an Aboriginal boy was born to a mother who was a prisoner in Queensland. Ideally the mother could have her child with her, but purpose-built cells are few.The pair were separated and the mother was not given a breast pump so that she could provide milk to the child from prison. Support group Sisters Inside tried to get one to her. - A Spokesperson for Queensland Corrective Services provided this statement: “Mothers wishing to keep their baby with them in prison must make an application to Queensland Corrective Services. The decision to allow babies to remain or not is made after in-depth consultation with primarily Child Safety, and a number of other key service providers. Every decision is made with the best interests of the child the priority.The mother’s unit at [the featured mother's Queensland prison] is currently under capacity." [Image: Bars by Cross Duck on April 2 2012, Flickr] - Story and Text from 'The Wire' http://www.thewire.org.au/ Featured in story Debbie Kilroy CEO of Sisters Inside Dr Jennifer James senior lecturer and course coordinator in Nursing at RMIT University Kat Armstrong Director Women In Prison Advocacy Network -

One of the most familiar names in the story of Australian colonisation is that of the Tasmanian Aboriginal woman 'Truganini'. But for most people the story begins and ends with a single, very famous photo, along with a label describing her simply as the last of the full-blood Tasmanian Aborigines. - Not only was that label deeply misleading, we now know that Truganini's life is one of the most significant foundation stories of European settlement in Australia. But there's still one story that few people know about and about which little has been written - it's the extraordinary tale of Truganini's time as a freedom fighter (named as a bushranger in this story). - ABC Radio National 'Hindsight' - Presented by Lorena Allam in 2009 Thomas Bock (c. 1790-1855) ... IMAGE: PORTRAIT OF TRUGANINI (THOMAS BOCK, C. 1790-1855)

Five of the last Tasmanian Aboriginal people were shipped to the Victorian mainland to help the 'Aboriginal Protector' civilise the blacks - instead they gave the settlers such a fright, burning their houses and their money etc, that many of the settlers families left their 'stolen properties' and moved closer to Melbourne for protection. After a major hunting spree with mobs of police and settlers, they were finally caught and after a court case that they were not even allowed to speak at, the two male warriors ended up being the first hangings in Victoria - public hangings in a carnival atmosphere. - Known in Victoria as 'The Freedom Fighters', the two who gave their lives for First Nations peoples freedom were Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner. On the 20th January each year, there is a commemoration on the site of where they were hung. - Listen to this - it paints an amazing picture. A story that would not be too dissimilar to hundreds of other lost stories across Australia.

The Social Justice commissioner Mick Gooda has tabled his 2014 report calling on the Prime Minister and his Government to try harder to engage with Indigenous communities. He's also joined with the Law Council of Australia in labelling the rates of Indigenous people in jail as a national crisis. Both have called on the Government to introduce specific justice targets in efforts to close the gap of Indigenous disadvantage.

Phillip Adams from ABC 'Late Night Live' interviewed Tauto Sansbury, Michael Mansell & Rosalie Kunoth-Monks on the 2014 Freedom Summit in Alice Springs - Image by Gerry Georgatos

ABC PM with Mark Colvin - THE TRANSCRIPT - MARK COLVIN: A national campaign to stop mentally disabled people being jailed without a conviction is gaining momentum. - The Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign estimates more than a hundred people are in that predicament around the country and about half of them are Indigenous Australians. - Lawyers, academics and justice and welfare groups met in Melbourne today to develop an action plan. - Samantha Donovan reports. - SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign says about 130 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with a mental disability are languishing in Australian jails without having been convicted of an offence. - Some were born with an intellectual disability and others have acquired brain injuries, including foetal alcohol syndrome. - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice commissioner Mick Gooda is involved in the growing campaign to stop these jailings. - MICK GOODA: We've had Marlon Noble here today who spent 10.5 years in jail and never been found guilty of anything, the charges have now been dropped so it will never face court. So after 10.5 years in jail he's now enduring parole-like conditions of release. - Now this is happening across the country and we think it's just about time we looked at it from a few perspective, one is a health perspective, another one's a human rights perspective. This almost goes against just about every human right we know around arbitrary detention and that's what we're seeing here with people like Marlon and others. - SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mick Gooda says Commonwealth and state and territory governments need to take action. - MICK GOODA: The Commonwealth is our nation that signs up to international treaties that have obligations, they have that responsibility but the jurisdictions in Queensland, Northern Territory and WA are the ones that have got to start saying well if people are not fit to plead there's got to be alternatives to jail. - In the ideal world, Marlon would have gone to another facility and eventually would have got out and what you're seeing is a collision between the criminal justice system where you're innocent until proven guilty and the mental health system where you don't get out until you've proven that you're better. Well people with acquired brain injury don't get better, so you've got a situation where they can almost forever be stuck in the mental health system. - SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Patrick McGee is the coordinator of the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign. - He says mentally disabled people at risk of coming to the attention of the police need to be identified early. - PATRICK MCGEE: It's far more expensive to put someone in jail than it is to provide support to them and what we also know is there's huge ethical and moral issues about, well, if you don't understand whether you're guilty or innocent, how can you understand the nature of punishment and how can you understand that you have to redeem yourself in the eyes of society and come out the other end and be a better person? - What we need to do is provide people with support so that they're not going into this situation in the first place. But if they do find themselves in this situation, that we've got methods that we understand will teach them to change their behaviour and understand the difference between right and wrong so that they cannot go back to where they've come from. - SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Are you envisaging some sort of supported accommodation as an intervention in these sort of cases or…? - PATRICK MCGEE: Supported accommodation that can be restrictive because some people are a serious risk of harm to others, right through to drop in support for people who just need a little bit of extra support to understand how to get through the working week and, you know, get up in the morning and have a good day and live a quality life. - MARK COLVIN: Patrick McGee, coordinator of the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign, ending Samantha Donovan's report.

Audio report from Anna Vidot ABC PM - Katrin Long and staff reporters A petition with more than 1,600 signatures protesting against planned changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act has been presented to Western Australia's Parliament. - They presented the petition to the Opposition's Aboriginal Affairs spokesman Ben Wyatt and Nationals member for the Pilbara Brendon Grylls. - Port Hedland Nyamal elder Doris Eaton said she was not against mining but wanted protections in place. - "[Our heritage] is not going to be protected like the European heritage," she said. - "There's a hell of a lot of mining going on. We're not saying no to mining, but we want Government to negotiate properly with us." - Mr Grylls was moved by the distance people had travelled. - "It's relatively easy to come to Parliament and make your point if you live just over the river," he said. - "It's not easy to come to Parliament if you live in the Gascoyne or the Pilbara, or the Kimberley. - "That's damn hard, and that makes it very clear to me how passionate you are about this issue." - Mr Wyatt said it was clear that Indigenous people were not happy with the act's changes. - "It's my view that the change doesn't give due respect and consultation for Aboriginal people," he said. - "Aboriginal heritage isn't something for Government to bequeath to Aboriginal people. It's been there well before Government came along here in Western Australia. - "We need to look after and respect [it], and importantly Aboriginal people need to be involved in the process around heritage recognition and protection. That's my view and that's the view I'll take to the Parliament." - Changes speed up approval processes - Mr Grylls and a delegation of elders met Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier to voice concerns about the potential loss of Aboriginal cultural heritage and protection of sacred sites. - Mr Collier said he thought changes to the Act would be positive. - "The Aboriginal Heritage Act will actually enhance opportunities for Aboriginal people to have a say in what goes on," he said. - "It really does protect the sites, it provides much more clarity in terms of transparency of the process, everything will be readily available. At the moment it's not." - The draft bill, which was released earlier this year, speeds up the approval process for mining and other development by giving the Department of Aboriginal Affairs chief executive officer "expedited" or "fast track" authority to declare whether or not an Aboriginal heritage site existed. - The CEO would be able to issue land use permits when he or she decided a site would not be significantly damaged or altered. - Submissions on the draft amendments have been overwhelmingly critical of the proposed changes, in particular the new fast track approvals process. - Mr Collier said the pace of economic development in recent years, particularly in mining and construction, had highlighted inadequacies in the current legislation. - The proposed changes were labelled discriminatory by the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) which said earlier this year that they would disenfranchise Indigenous people. - The KLC said the draft bill focused power in the hands of one bureaucrat - the department's CEO. - Currently the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC), established through the act, provides advice and recommendations to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister on heritage sites. - The Law Society of WA and other organisations have argued the new process, via the CEO, would largely cut out Aboriginal people. - The Law Society said the proposed amendments stripped the ACMC of its evaluative role and predominantly shifted power to the CEO, who was not obliged to consult with Aboriginal people or to apply anthropological expertise. - When the draft bill was released, the department said the CEO would have certain regulations to follow, including having to refer any permit application to the committee if the activity could damage the site.