The Fitzroy Valley Population Project
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CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH Population, People and Place: The Fitzroy Valley Population Project F. Morphy CAEPR WORKING PAPER No. 70/2010 ANU COLLEGE OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES SERIES NOTE The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) was established at The Australian National University (ANU) in April 1990. Since 1 January 2010, CAEPR has operated as an academic unit within the Research School of Social Sciences in the ANU’s College of Arts and Social Sciences. The Centre is funded from a variety of sources including ANU, Australian Research Council, industry and philanthropic partners, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and State and Territory governments. CAEPR’s principal objective is to undertake high-quality, independent research that will assist in furthering the social and economic development and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia. Its aim is combine academic and teaching excellence on Indigenous economic and social development and public policy with realism, objectivity and relevance. CAEPR is currently Australia’s major social science research centre focusing on Indigenous economic and social policy from a national perspective. The Centre’s publications, which include the CAEPR Working Paper series established in 1999, aim to report on Indigenous circumstance, inform public debate, examine government policy, and influence policy formulation. Working Papers are often work-in-progress reports and are produced for rapid distribution to enable widespread discussion and comment. They are available in electronic format only for free download from CAEPR’s website: <caepr.anu.edu.au> Enquiries may be directed to: The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Copland Building #24 The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Telephone 02–6125 8211 Facsimile 02–6125 9730 As with all CAEPR publications, the views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not reflect any official CAEPR position. Professor John Taylor Director, CAEPR Research School of Social Sciences College of Arts & Social Sciences The Australian National University July 2010 Cover page images courtesy of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and CAEPR staff members. The Australian National University – CRICOS Provider #00120C POPULATION, PEOPLE AND PLACE: THE FITZROY VALLEY POPULATION PROJECT F. MORPHY No. 70/2010 ISSN 1442 3871 ISBN 0 7315 4969 4 Frances Morphy is a Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra. WORKING PAPER N0. 70 iii CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................................ vii Abbreviations and acronyms...................................................................................................................................................viii Acknowledgments .........................................................................................................................................................................ix Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................................................x 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Putting the ‘people’ into the ‘population’: Modelling Indigenous population structures and settlement patterns ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Features of Aboriginal forms of sociality ................................................................................................................... 4 Mobility ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Characteristics of households and communities ...................................................................................................... 6 Modelling relationship to place in the survey .......................................................................................................... 7 Cultural information in the survey ............................................................................................................................... 9 3. Defining the Fitzroy Valley ...................................................................................................................................................11 A preliminary cultural geography ...............................................................................................................................12 The communities in the survey ....................................................................................................................................16 4. The Valley as a ‘population’ ................................................................................................................................................17 The size of the Valley’s Aboriginal population ........................................................................................................19 Age and sex characteristics of the Valley’s core population and active periphery .....................................21 The core: Reasons for presence in and absence from the Valley ......................................................................24 5. The Valley communities: Population characteristics ..................................................................................................27 The sub-regional hub communities ............................................................................................................................28 The Valley’s non-hub communities .............................................................................................................................34 Fitzroy Crossing and its communities ........................................................................................................................35 Population characteristics of the Valley communities: Some conclusions ....................................................41 CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH iv MORPHY 6. The Valley communities: A culturally patterned landscape .....................................................................................42 The language group identity data: Some conclusions .........................................................................................50 7. The people of the Valley: Patterns of movement and connection .........................................................................52 Kinds of mobility in the Fitzroy Valley region .........................................................................................................52 Mobility related to the wet season .............................................................................................................................53 Mobility related to dry season economic activity..................................................................................................54 Conclusion: Mobility and the trajectory of Valley settlement patterns .........................................................54 8. Conclusion: A summary of the main findings ..............................................................................................................56 Reasons for undertaking the project .........................................................................................................................56 Methodology and concepts ..........................................................................................................................................56 The definition of the Valley ...........................................................................................................................................57 The Valley as a population .............................................................................................................................................58 Population characteristics of the Valley communities .........................................................................................58 Cultural characteristics of the Valley communities ..............................................................................................59 Patterns of movement and connection ....................................................................................................................60 Notes ...............................................................................................................................................................................................62 References......................................................................................................................................................................................64 FIGURES Fig. 2.1. Layers of association to place ..................................................................................................................................