Indigenous Studies Unit - University of Melbourne

05/06/2026

Congratulations to our colleague Becki Cook, who presented at the AIATSIS Summit on Indigenous-led approaches to strengthening data literacy.

Becki’s presentation explored how data literacy can support Indigenous self-determination by enabling communities to access, interpret, use and share data in ways that reinforce Indigenous data sovereignty.

Co-designed with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service Brisbane (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service Brisbane), Becki’s research has developed a framework for enhancing data literacy that is led and informed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Drawing on Indigenous research methodology, case study and mixed methods approaches, the framework aims to support ATSICHS staff and community members to engage more confidently with data and strengthen agency around health information.

This work highlights the importance of learning how to access, engage with and critically interpret data as a pathway to improved social, health and economic outcomes for Indigenous communities.

A fantastic contribution to important national conversations on Indigenous data governance, community-controlled research and self-determination.

02/06/2026

Today on Mabo Day, we honour the legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo, his family, fellow plaintiffs Reverend David Passi, Sam Passi, James Rice and Celuia Mapo Sale, and the Meriam people.

The Mabo decision, handed down by the High Court of Australia on 3 June 1992, overturned the fiction of terra nullius and recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have enduring rights, laws, cultures and connections to Country.

The Indigenous Studies Unit today pays our respects to the Meriam people and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continuing the work of justice, recognition and cultural strength.

29/05/2026

The Indigenous Studies Unit staff and partners are thrilled to see the great progress and contribution to Indigenous education of Djambatj Dhukarr – Walking the Road to Excellence Together, led by Professor Yalmay Yunupiŋu and Bernadette Murphy.

For fifteen years, teacher candidates from Melbourne have learned on Yolŋu Country in bilingual classrooms, showing what respectful collaboration between universities and Indigenous communities can look like.

You can read more about Djambatj Dhukarr in a new article in University of Melbourne's Pursuit, written by Professor Yunupiŋu and Bernadette Murphy: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/djambatj-dhukarr-walking-the-road-to-excellence-together

(Image: Yolŋu educators Djiman Yunupiŋu, Gathapura Munuŋgurr and Romiritj Bromot join a Sydney Road Community School classroom. Credit: Supplied)

The University of Melbourne

20/05/2026

As the NT government proceeds with its inquiry into the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby, headed by a former police commissioner with no Aboriginal involvement, even as it eradicates child protection officers, it is making the same mistakes, write Professor Fiona Stanley and Melbourne Laureate Professor Marcia Langton.

"We have clear and consistent evidence that when Aboriginal people are engaged in service provision, those services are trusted and used,” they write for Guardian Australia .

"When they are administered by non-Aboriginal bureaucrats, typically remote from the communities they serve, they fail. Robin Granites, the grandfather of Kumanjayi Little Baby, has put it directly: 'We understand the language, the culture, the lived experience’.”

Read the full story now:

We have clear evidence that community-controlled family and children’s services are trusted and used. When they are administered by non-Aboriginal bureaucrats, they fail

19/05/2026

Please spread the word! Do you need a vaccination? Do you need a booster?

HEALTH ALERT: Did you know Australia is in the middle of one of its worst ever diptheria outbreaks?

Are you vaccinated? Do you need a booster?

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress' Dr John Boffa is urging Territorians to get tested and vaccinated.

While there is a high vaccine coverage rate among children, Dr Boffa said teenagers and adults need booster shots.

"Some late adolescents are getting sick because they haven't had a dose since they were children and they have missed their dose at 12 years old," he told the ABC. "And adults need a booster now if it's been more than five years."

An ongoing diphtheria outbreak in the Northern Territory has now spread across its borders to Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia, with Health Minister Mark Butler describing it as the nation's worst "for decades".

07/05/2026

This year University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences celebrates its 150th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, the faculty has launched a website documenting some the history and stories across its 15 decades.

This is a story about the founding of Onemda: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Well-being (originally named the Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit), as well as the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health.

The Indigenous Studies Unit is part of Onemda. We also work alongside and collaborate with Melbourne Poche Centre.

Three decades of Indigenous leadership at the University have reshaped health research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from a source of mistrust into a collaborative force for change.

03/05/2026

Congratulations to the The University of Melbourne ’s Potter Museum of Art , which was recognised at the 2026 Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards, receiving Large Project of the Year for 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.

Curated by Associate Provost Melbourne Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO, Senior Curator Judith Ryan AM and Associate Curator Shanysa McConville – in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and custodians of art traditions – the exhibition examined the long-overdue recognition of Indigenous art and its rise to global prominence.

https://about.unimelb.edu.au/news-resources/awards-and-achievements/awards-and-prizes/potter-museum-of-art-wins-large-project-of-the-year-for-65,000-years-a-short-history-of-australian-art

[IMAGE: Awards host Janty Blair with Senior Curator Judith Ryan and Associate Curator Shanysa McConville.]

Potter Museum of Art wins Large Project of the Year for 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art

27/04/2026

After the disrespect shown to First Nations servicemen at this year's ANZAC Day Dawn Services, Professor Marcia Langton writes in Guardian Australia , "These men and women of Australia – Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and all the others – fought together, watched their comrades die and are united by that bond of service. The morons who tried to sn**ch the sacred moment away from them, and those of us who observe with them at dawn services, deserve more than contempt and a few words of rancour."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/25/disruptive-racists-booing-anzac-day-welcome-country-police-ban-ntwnfb

(IMAGE CREDIT: Image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay)

26/04/2026

We were very lucky last week to have a visit from Professor Lynore Geia of Edith Cowan University (ECU) .

Professor Geia, a Bwgcolman woman from Palm Island in North Queensland, is a registered nurse and midwife, and delivered a presentation about acknowledgement of country in practice.

Dr Geia’s work as a health professional has spanned four decades and is inherently connected with her Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity and community leadership and amplifying the voices and roles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in co-designing and co-producing health reform practices.

07/04/2026

Louise Murray, Collections Manager, Research Archivist at the Indigenous Studies Unit, late last year was part of presentation at the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material - AICCM National Conference.

Held at the State Library of Queensland , the presentation was made with Dora Griffiths of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts and ANKA, Anita Churchill of Waringarri Arts, Eleanor Vallier of MAGNT, and Sophie Lewincamp of the National Film and Sound Archive. It was a recounting of the ongoing relationship between the presenters and a conservation project supporting processes of renewal and knowledge transfer at Waringarri Aboriginal Arts , Miriwoong country, Kununurra.

In her role as Dawang Projects Co-ordinator, Dora Griffiths identified the need for conservation of the 42 verandah poles that support the arts centre and studio. These poles were painted and carved by families and artists connected to Waringarri in 2011-2012, when the current buildings were constructed.

Over the course of three years, conservators Sophie, Eleanor and Louise visited Kununurra to facilitate the conservation of poles selected by Dora. This iterative project adapted to the needs of each pole, family and artist as required, building upon the learnings from each visit.

The renewal process encompassed physical elements, such as decisions around keeping of old paint and filling of cracks, and social elements, like remembering stories of the old people and places depicted.

All three conservators were involved with projects at Waringarri through the Grimwade centre, beginning relationships with Arts Centre artists and staff over a number of years.