Aboriginal Way

Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement Roger Thomas is leading a State-wide consultation to seek the views of Aboriginal South Australians on ways to improve the working relationship between State Government and Aboriginal nations.

In the 1930s Anthropologist Charles Mountford documented Adnyamathanha people with a series of now iconic photographs held by the South Australian Museum. Eighty years on an Adnyamathanha researcher has taken the photos back to her Adnyamathanha community to uncover personal and complex stories of family, culture and country. Rebecca Richards is an Adnyamathanha Barngarla woman, an early career re...

With Aboriginal children significantly overrepresented in care across the nation and in South Australia, the SA Department of Child Protection is undergoing a re-orientation of the way it works with Aboriginal families. It has recently released three policy statements - a Reconciliation Action Plan, Aboriginal Employment Policy and a departmental Aboriginal Action Plan. Significantly the Aborigina...

Today we hear from some artists who are showing their work at the Our Mob exhibition of works by over 80 South Australian First Nations artists. Greg Burgoyne, Linda Bromley and Don Dunstan Emerging Artist Award recipient Sonya Rankine speak to Lucy Kingston about their art practice and how it relates to their personal stories, culture and identity.

On the show today we speak to Shona Read, Executive Director of Reconciliation South Australia, about her time at this year's amazing Garma festival up in East Arnhem Land, as well as the plans Reconciliation SA has for the next few years.

On Aboriginal Way radio this week, we hear about a huge exhbition of art by First Nations South Australian artists that's opening in Adelaide soon - Our Mob. We speak to thriving contemporary artist, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman Elizabeth Close for her perspective on the giant annual art show. She first got involved with Our Mob very early in her career and has an exciting new work on...

60% of the state of South Australia now has native title resolved, with remaining claims progressing rapidly through the Federal Court. With most native title claims in the state likely to be resolved within the next few years, the CEO of SA Native Title Services Keith Thomas discusses how native title supports traditional owners to advance their own goals for their community and country.

On this program hear from Kaurna Elder Jeffrey Newchurch on the return of eleven Kaurna old people to be reburied on their country. The remains of the old people were held at UK institutions and the Federal Government has coordinated their return from overseas to Canberra. About 25 Kaurna people will collect and escort them from Canberra to Adelaide to be laid to rest at sacred area for the Kaurna...

On today's program, we speak to Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney after a forum held at SAHMRI on the theme of this year's NAIDOC Week - Voice Treaty Truth. Professor Rigney is a researcher who is investigating the rights of the child, looking at different ways we can improve the disparities between Aboriginal Children and non-Aboriginal Children. He says that Australia has 'educational amnesia' an...

On this show, an inspiring young woman who wants to create opportunities for people in her community to reap the benefits of an active lifestyle. Rikki Milera-Wilson is the 2019 NAIDOC SA Sports Woman of the Year and Kaliah Alice spoke to her at the Adelaide Town Hall just after the NAIDOC SA awards ceremony.

On the program today we hear from Arabana woman Dr Veronica Arbon and linguist Eleanor McCall about some successful Arabana language camps that were held at Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre) recently. Over 100 Arabana people got involved with carving, decorating clapping sticks, cooking kangaroo tails, catching up with family and hearing about the traditional names of the places and stories from that area f...

On Aboriginal Way radio this week, we hear from Dylan Clarke, Chairperson of the Barengi Gadjin Land Council which represents Traditional Owners from the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk peoples in Victoria. Kaliah Alice caught up with Dylan Clarke at the National Native Title conference in Melbourne earlier this month, and he provided some insight into treaty advancement and...

The Federal Court has recognised that the Nukunu people are native title holders over a large area of South Australia around the city of Port Pirie. On this program we hear from the emotional Federal Court determination hearing which was held in the small town of Port Germein on the coast at the top of the Spencer Gulf. Speakers: Federal Court Justice Charlesworth John Turner, Nukunu Elder Rose Tu...

In today's program we hear from the Chair of the National Native Title Council speaking at the 2019 Native Title Conference. Jamie Lowe says that now that many Aboriginal nations have legal recognition as traditional owners through native title, it's an era to work towards wealth creation, hand back of resources and a journey to true reconciliation. We also speak to one of the winners of the 2019...

On the program this week, we hear about the work being done to find better ways of dealing with one of the most chronic health conditions in the Australian population broadly and the Aboriginal community particularly - diabetes. Douglas Clinch is Project Officer with the SA Aboriginal Chronic Disease Consortium, and they are taking a careful evidence based and community led approach to helping peo...

On today's program we hear from Paul Herzich, a Ngarrinjeri and Kaurna man who is an Adelaide based contemporary landscape architect and visual artist. Paul was key note speaker at the Reconciliation in the North morning tea during Reconciliation Week 2019. He spoke to Kaliah Alice after his address and told her some of his interesting life story and about his approach to design.

We speak to a Wiradjuri man who is brave in every sense of the word. Joe Williams was a professional NRL player and champion boxer who has overcome his personal demons to become a speaker and advocate for Indigenous wellness and suicide prevention. He spoke to Lucy Kingston after his powerful address to a meeting of the Adelaide Metro Suicide Prevention Network.

The Aboriginal Families Study is a research study that invited 344 women from across South Australia to talk about their birthing experiences. The study is in its second phase with researchers now wanting to reconnect with those women they spoke to over 5 years ago.

On Aboriginal Way this week, Kaliah Alice finds out about the VIETNAM, ONE IN ALL IN exhibition, which shares the untold stories of Aboriginal South Australian veterans of the Vietnam war. Aboriginal diggers were paired with South Australian artists to create works that respond to their personal stories and memories of the time and experience on their return. The result is a vibrant multi-discipli...

On the launch of a 50c coin designed to celebrate Australian Indigenous languages with 14 different language words for 'coin' in the design, Professor Jaky Troy says that the situation for the survival of Australian languages is "pretty dire" and that that we stand to lose half of the world's Indigenous languages within the next 50 years.

A chat about the importance of bringing community and health care providers together in a social way to discuss health options and promote regular health checks

This week we mark Close the Gap day with a chat with Schania Ceegan from Sonder, an organisation which delivers a range of integrated community health services and is hosting a Closing the Gap day health and awareness event in Adelaide on Wednesday 27th of March 2019

We speak to the man tasked with deciding on payments under the SA Stolen Generations Reparations scheme, the Independent Assessor for the Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme, former politician John Hill. He explains how the scheme came about, how the big decisions were made, what the outcomes of the scheme were and what else might need to happen to support the families of Stolen Generations surv...

In June this year Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar will present a report on the ideas and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to the Federal Parliament and the Prime Minister. On the show this week, Kaliah Alice speaks to June Oscar about the consultation as well as her response to the recent Closing the Gap annual report.

Arrente woman, Stolen Generations survivor and academic at the University of Adelaide Dr Jenni Caruso speaks about the South Australian Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme which was recently finalised