Aboriginal Links
This is just a first stab at
collecting WWW links representing the many organisations, issues, and
campaigns which make up contemporary Aboriginal Australia. This page
will therefore change, and probably expand, quite a bit over the next
few months.
Indigenous Media
Aboriginal Australia is, generally speaking, not well served by the mainstream media: bad news, often with thinly disguised racist assumptions, dominates. This is why the Indigenous media are so important - not only to Indigenous people but to all those who are looking for a perspective on Indigenous issues that does not always present Aboriginal people as a "problem".
The best-known of the Indigenous
print media is
without doubt the Koori Mail. Unfortunately no
content is available on the paper's website you will have to go to the
nearest newsagent to read it. Similarly, the Infokoori - Koori Mail Archive
does a good job providing a searchable index to articles published in
the Koori Mail over the years but does not carry the actual articles.
Its main competitor, the National
Indigenous Times has a more rewarding website which contains
a lot of news and comment - and above all now, a complete searchable database of all its back issues! It also offers a fairly comprehensive
listing of links to Aboriginal websites.
The magazine Vibe is a very different publication, focusing on music, the arts, sports and lifestyle issues. Its colourful pages and "big name" columnists - Cathy Freeman is one of them - appeal to a wide audience but Indigenous youth in particular. The website carries a small selection of the magazine's content.
As to television, ABC's Message Stick, broadcast every Friday at 6pm, is the most widely watched programme and offers a variety of stories both entertaining and educational. Some of the past programmes are available online, either as downloadable videos or as written transcripts. The other regular TV programme featuring stories on Indigenous Australia is SBS' Living Black, which some people would argue is more lively and interesting, and certainly carries more news.
The commercial TV station Imparja
is very popular in the more remote parts of Australia - it is broadcast
from Alice Springs - but can also be received by satellite in many
parts of New South Wales. Much of its programming resembles the big
"white" commercial channels but the more interesting shows can be found
through the detailed programme listings on the Imparja website.
The station is one of the success stories of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) which also runs radio stations and a recording studio.
Gadigal Information
Services offers links to, and information about, Indigenous media and events in and around Sydney.
Campaigns
There
are a number of organisations campaigning for Aboriginal rights, with
different programmes, strategies, and different degrees of radicalism.
The NSW Reconciliation Council promotes "a united Australia which respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for all".
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) has very similar aims.
The Koori Web, maintained by veteran Indigenous rights activist Gary Foley, has a more radical flavour and is a goldmine of information although it does now seem to have been superseded by the same author's even more extensive Koori History Website. Foley is also involved in a new radical campaign entitled The Black GST - with GST standing for "Genocide, Sovereignty, Treaty".
Based in England, the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights provides a lot of information as well as regular updates on worldwide media coverage of Aboriginal Australian issues.
Indigenous people worldwide
The Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, although financed by the Norwegian government, operates independently of it and is a useful resource located in the country of the Sami, Northern Europe's Indigenous people. There are also the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Survival International for more info on Indigenous peoples around the globe.
Government and institutions (NSW only for now)
The Aboriginal InfoNet is produced by the NSW Department
of Aboriginal Affairs to provide information on the services, community events and news stories relevant to Aboriginal people in NSW. The NSW Aboriginal Land Council provides up-to-date information on the objectives, services and activities of the NSWALC and its members and information on issues affecting Aboriginal people in NSW and around Australia.
Indigenous history, languages, and culture
Aboriginal
languages of Australia is a useful site with information grouped by language and state.More on Indigenous languages can be found at the NSW Aboriginal Languages Research and Resource Centre. National Parks and Wildlife Service: Aboriginal People and Cultural Life provides some useful introductions to the Indigenous cultural heritage of New South Wales. The WWW Virtual Library Aboriginal General Online Resources is a very useful resource, part of the WWWW Virtual Library Internet Guide to Aboriginal Studies.
The State Library of New South Wales offers a handy compilation of Aboriginal links here. For another collection of such links, also look here.