I was in Italy! Where they
Had lived whose faces I would never see
But whose immortal names upon my heart
Were written by their deeds.

Andrew Inglis Clark, 1890

Latest Papers

The working papers collection comprises historical papers as well as current ideas and works in progress on some of the major issues and topics of our times.

Stephen "Bamba" Albert (1950-2019): Patron Saint of Broome (released 18 January 2020)
Stephen “Bamba” Albert was a giant on whose shoulders we are all carried.
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Ancient Future: The "Kakadu Plum" Story, Food and Knowledge from Aboriginal Australia for the Twenty First Century (released 7 January 2020)
Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana) which is known as gubinge, madoorr, madoorroo (Bardi), garbiny (Yawuru), kabinyn (Nyul Nyul), marnybi (Wadeye), nghul nghul, manhmohpan, murunga (East, Central, North East Arnhem) \äṉ’ka-bakarra (North East Arnhem) and colloquially “billy goat plum”, has come, correctly, to be labelled, as a `’super food` but it is much more than that.1 Of all Australian native fruits the chemistry of the kakadu fruit and tree has multi-various therapeutic and bio-active applications for world food, medical, bio-security, beauty, health and manufacturing industries. For the many Northern Aboriginal worlds this borum (bush fruit) symbolizes a strength, vitality and healthfulness of an ancient world that for the first time, the modern world, has come to recognise and seeks in great quantities.
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My Island Home - the origins (released 27 September 2019)
In 1995 Mrs. P. B. Burarrwaŋa and the students of Gatirri School, Mata Mata illustrated a song that she and her nephew George had written and reflected on. It was all about their homeland and the life they led in North East Arnhem land and the islands of the Arafura sea.
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Just a Woman from the Bush (released 23 September 2019)
A Tribute to Ḻiya-ŋärra’mirri - Mrs. P. B. Burarrwaŋa, July 2 1956 – December 19 2018 & Goŋ-gurtha Mrs. A. M.M. Burarrwaŋa, circa 1954-2019
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Bäpurru (released 23 September 2019)
A selection of images from the bäpurru honouring Ms. P. B. Burarrwaŋa & Ms. A.M.M Burarrwaŋa, July/August 2019
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Mata Mata Creative Trust (released 23 September 2019)
Over many years Mrs. P. B. Burarrwaŋa worked on projects and ideas in the form of an ongoing creative trust for empowering her Mata Mata homelands community.
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Eulogy for Mrs. P.B. Burarrwaŋa (released 23 September 2019)
Notes of a Short Verbal Eulogy for Mrs. P.B. Burarrwaŋa, Friday July 19, 2019, Mata Mata
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Saltwater Dreaming (released 12 September 2019)
“My culture tells me that I cannot turn my back on the saltwater”. Nardaparli/Vida Brown, Wreck Bay, Feb 22, 2017
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Albo and the Road ahead for Labor (released 19 May 2019)
Tom Uren was confident, in all my interactions with him, that his young protégé and apprentice Anthony Albanese would one day lead the Labor Party and go on to become Prime MInister. Tom was a very earthy man who understood the Western suburbs of Sydney intimately. One of his favorite expressions was ‘If you have your roots deep in the people you can blow in the breeze’. He saw in Anthony, raised in the Inner Sydney housing commission flats of Camperdown by his single mother, a young person who was deeply connected to the people and the grass roots of his community.
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From Aboriginal/Indigenous Peoples to First Nations: The Transformation of Australian Politics (released 18 December 2018)
The new enthusiasm of the Federal Labor Party and Bill Shorten to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as first nations in the Commonwealth Constitution of Australia is a turning point in national awareness and sophistication. It catches the Australian Commonwealth parliament up with a growing feeling of the Australian people.
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