Australian Aboriginal cultures are globally recognised for using patchy and low intensity fires to sustainably manage landscapes promote biodiversity [...]

This is an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) response to Madden et al.’s paper entitled ‘Estimating Indigenous life expectancy: pitfalls with consequences’, which is published in this issue of the Journal of Population Research. This paper is a critique of the method used by the ABS for compiling life tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The paper claims that ‘the A...

OBJECTIVES To examine indicators of nicotine dependence in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander daily smokers and their association with sustaining a quit attempt for at least 1 month, and to make comparisons with a national sample of Australian daily smokers. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The Talking About The Smokes project used a quota sampling design to recruit 13...

Tobacco control in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has not been addressed consistently due to other health-related problems being given higher priority. However, recently there has been increasing engagement between those working in tobacco control and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations recently. This is supported by Australian Government policies a...

During 2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) made several large-scale funding commitments to close the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, and to improve Indigenous child health. These commitments represent a significant first step, but the funding package was devised without the full and active involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...

INTRODUCTION We report the first known case of human T-lymphotropic virus type I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis in an Australian Caucasian, a disease reported in Aboriginal and immigrant populations where the virus is often endemic. CASE PRESENTATION A 41-year-old Caucasian Australian man had a 3-year background of progressive functional decline from a myelopathy with spas...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether disparities in the nature and management of type 2 diabetes persist between Aboriginal and the majority Anglo-Celt patients in an urban Australian community. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Baseline data from the observational Fremantle Diabetes Study collected from 1993 to 1996 (phase I) and from 2008 to 2011 (phase II) were analyzed. Patients characterized as Abor...

Margaret Preston, an Australian painter, has been credited as the first nonanthropologist to begin to explore Australian Aboriginal art as an art. Preston saw in Aboriginal painting the well-spring for an ‘indigenous art of Australia’. The seeking of a national identity, and specifically a connection with place, is common to many if not most societies, reflecting a Herderian idea of art, langua...

BACKGROUND It is estimated that the prevalence of mental illness is higher in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents compared to non-Aboriginal adolescents. Despite this, only a small proportion of Aboriginal youth have contact with mental health services, possibly due to factors such as remoteness, language barriers, affordability and cultural sensitivity issues. This research aimed...