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Indigenous Mobility in Rural and Remote Australia authored by Assoc Prof Paul Memmott, Stephen Long and Linda Thomson for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Queensland Research Centre 30 November 2005 ISBN: 1 920941 93 2 (Final Report) ISBN: 1 920941 52 5 (Project) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & DISCLAIMER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This material was produced with funding from the Australian Government and the Australian States and Territories. AHURI Ltd gratefully acknowledges the financial and other support it has received from the Australia, State and Territory governments, without which this work would not have been possible. The authors wish to acknowledge gratefully Jimberella Co-Operative and Alpurrurulam Community Government Council for allowing us to conduct research in their communities. We also would like to thank the members of the communities and the service providers who participated in the interviewing process as well as the Aboriginal research assistants who worked alongside the fieldworkers. The authors thank colleagues Prof Martin Bell and Dr John Taylor for commenting on Chapters 8 and 9 of this report. DISCLAIMER AHURI Ltd is an independent, non-political body which has supported this project as part of its programme of research into housing and urban development, which it hopes will be of value to policy-makers, researchers, industry and communities. The opinions in this publication reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of AHURI Ltd, its Board or its funding organizations. No responsibility is accepted by AHURI Ltd or its Board or its funders for the accuracy or omission of any statement, opinion, advice or information in this publication. page i LIST OF CONTENTS LIST OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................................... II List of Figures ...........................................................................................................................................................iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................ v 1.0 INTRODUCTION: BETWEEN PLACES .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Observations of Indigenous mobility in Australia: the literature ....................................................................... 2 2.0 MOBILITY: METHODS ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Cultural regions and a case study approach to a national analysis ................................................................. 5 2.2 Fieldwork.......................................................................................................................................................... 6 3.0 NORTH-WEST QUEENSLAND & EASTERN NORTHERN TERRITORY .......................................................... 8 3.1 The Aboriginal geography of North-west Queensland and Central-eastern Northern Territory....................... 8 3.2 Contact history and Aboriginal movements in the Queensland – Northern Territory border region ................ 9 3.3 Brief demographic history of Dajarra.............................................................................................................. 10 3.4 Brief demographic history of Alpurrurulam..................................................................................................... 11 3.5 Brief history of Mt Isa ..................................................................................................................................... 13 4.0 DAJARRA ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................................ 15 4.1 Available Services in Dajarra ......................................................................................................................... 15 4.2 The mobility experiences of Dajarra householders and their relatives........................................................... 20 4.3 The mobility experiences of Dajarra men....................................................................................................... 29 4.4 The mobility experiences of Dajarra women .................................................................................................. 32 4.5 Summary: The mobility of the Dajarra Aboriginal Community .......................................................................34 5.0 ALPURRURULAM ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................... 39 5.1 Available Services in Alpurrurulam ................................................................................................................ 39 5.2 The mobility experiences of Alpurrurulam householders and their relatives.................................................. 45 5.3 The mobility experiences of Alpurrurulam men.............................................................................................. 52 5.4 The mobility experiences of Alpurrurulam women ......................................................................................... 55 5.5 Summary: The mobility of the Alpurrurulam Aboriginal Community............................................................... 57 6.0 MT ISA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................ 60 6.1 Mt Isa Services............................................................................................................................................... 60 6.2 The mobility experiences of Mt Isa householders with affiliations to Dajarra and/or Alpurrurulam and their relatives. 66 6.3 Summary: Aboriginal mobility and Mt Isa....................................................................................................... 72 7.0 TOWNSVILLE ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................. 74 7.1 Observations of mobility between North-west Queensland and the eastern Northern Territory and Townsville 74 7.2 Case Study of a householder who moved from Mt Isa to Townsville............................................................. 74 7.3 Summary points on Townsville ...................................................................................................................... 75 8.0 THE ABORIGINAL MOBILITY PATTERN ......................................................................................................... 76 8.1 Aboriginal mobility regions in the 1970s and 1980s as identified by anthropologists .................................... 76 8.2 Findings by geographers on mobility regions in the 1990s ............................................................................ 78 8.3 Mobility regions in North-west Queensland in the early 2000s ...................................................................... 78 Page ii 8.4 Mobility regions in North-west Queensland– current findings........................................................................ 80 8.5 Findings on migration..................................................................................................................................... 82 8.6 Findings on temporary visitation .................................................................................................................... 83 8.7 Male versus female mobility........................................................................................................................... 84 8.8 Temporal patterns .......................................................................................................................................... 85 8.9 Motivators for travel........................................................................................................................................ 86 8.10 Summary of findings on mobility patterns ...................................................................................................... 87 9.0 POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF MOBILITY............................................................................................................ 90 9.1 Centralization and the function of the regional centre.................................................................................... 90 9.2 Recreation and sports .................................................................................................................................... 91 9.3 Shopping and store services.......................................................................................................................... 92 9.4 Employment and training (inc CDEP) ............................................................................................................ 92 9.5 Visiting traditional country .............................................................................................................................. 94 9.6 Health services..............................................................................................................................................