First Peoples, Living Waters: How Treaties Address Indigenous Water Rights

In Australia, settler state water law is founded on, and reproduces, the injustice of aqua nullius. Just as terra nullius refers to the British interpretation of Australia as ‘nobody’s land’, aqua nullius acknowledges the equally erroneous assumption that Australia’s water belonged to no one (Marshall, 2017). Traditional Owners have resisted the application of this law since British invasion, but have struggled to successfully overturn it. First Peoples, Living Waters creates an opportunity for Traditional Owners from Victoria to learn from the experiences of US Tribes of how a treaty can help (or hinder) water justice.

In 2023, representatives from Tati Tati Traditional Owners and Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owner Aboriginal Corporation will travel to meet with Tribes along the Colorado River. We will share stories about relationships with water, and bring home new ideas for how Treaty in Victoria can challenge aqua nullius, reinvigorating Indigenous water laws

Project team:

• Dr Erin O’Donnell, settler (Melbourne Law School). Project lead
• Melissa Kennedy, Tati Tati (ARC Life Course Centre and Indigenous Knowledge Institute, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne/CEO, Tati Tati Kaiejin)
• Nicky Hudson, Gunditjmara (Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owner Aboriginal Corporation)
• Dr Sangeetha Chandra-Shekeran, settler (ARC Life Course Centre and Indigenous Knowledge Institute, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne)

Creating Inclusive Healthcare Environments: Developing Resources and Best Practices for Healthcare Providers to Effectively Serve the Needs of LGBTQIASB+ patients and community members.

The seed funding will support research by the Wurru Wurru Health Unit to gather perspectives and feedback from the project advisory team, community members, and health professionals working alongside First Nations LGBTQIASB+ community members, also known as Rainbow Mob, on the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of the piloted health resource developed by the Wurru Wurru Health Unit & VACCHO.

The findings will be used to guide the development/redevelopment of resources that can be used by health professionals and health professional students to develop skills and competence working with Rainbow Mob.

Project team:

• Dr Ngaree Blow, Director Wurru Wurru Health Unit, University of Melbourne, Project Lead
•  Sarah Woodland, Research Fellowship, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne
• Madelyne Hudson-Buhagiar, Wurru Wurru Health Unit, University of Melbourne

School Exclusion and Settler Colonialism: A Critical History

Critical education scholars in Australia are increasingly grappling with the role of racism in contemporary school systems. This project will explore the historical systems and conditions that shape the present.

In partnership with the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC), the project team will develop a critical counternarrative of Australian schooling that exposes contemporary imperatives for truth-telling about Australian schooling and decolonial reforms that prioritise structural justice for First Nations’ students. Crucially, the project will produce an initial report to inform NIYEC’s advocacy work in this space.

Project team:

• Dr Mati Keynes, McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Project Lead
• Samara Hand, PhD Candidate University of NSW & Co-Founder/Learning Programs, Director National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC), Researcher
• Dr Beth Marsden, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, La Trobe University, Researcher
• Dr Archie Thomas, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney, Researcher

Honouring Wurundjeri Ancestors: symposium for the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Simon Wonga and William Barak

This seed funding will support a research symposium to honouring Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung ancestors Simon Wonga and William Barak. These Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung ancestors were young men at first invasion, present at the Batman Treaty signing and led Wurundjeri and Kulin peoples through the onslaught of early colonialism.  

This event will showcase new, Wurundjeri Elder- and family-led research, addressing topics desired by the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung community. Gathering research and researchers wishing to work in culturally appropriate and connected ways, the symposium will bring together researchers and Wurundjeri people to generate research on these two Wurundjeri ancestors under the direction of Wurundjeri Elders. 

Project team:

• Dr Rachel Standfield, Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Studies, currently on part-time secondment to Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Aboriginal Corporation, Project lead, symposium presenter, and editor of resulting publication outputs. Project Lead
• Wurundjeri Elder Karen Jones, Traditional Owner Historian, member of Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation Research team and research collaborator. Project Lead
• A Wurundjeri-elder reference group, led by Karen, with other members to be determined through Wurundjeri Board processes. 
• Mr Craig Hunter-Torrens, Bundjalung Scientist and Associate Lecturer Faculty of Science, PhD scholar.
• Associate Professor Melitta Hogarth, Project Director, Ngarrngga, Associate Professor in Indigenous Education and Associate Dean Indigenous in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, 
• Dr Michael Tynan, Project Manager for the Ngarrngga project, MGSE.
• Dr Nadine Crane, Lead Research Fellow.
• The Ngarrngga project.
• Ms Kerrii Cavanagh, Community Partnerships Officer, Chancellery.
• Mr Jack Norris, RA to Rachel on Wurundjeri research, PhD scholar.
• Dr Garrick Hitchcock, Senior Anthropologist, Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation.

Conference call for papers – ‘A profound reorganising of things’

The conference seeks to examine what might inform, shape, and give life to a radical reorganisation of our social, political and economic worlds. It invites participants to consider how contemporary injustices are enmeshed in relations of colonial power and explore how we might (re)imagine – and indeed already are (re)imagining – more just futures.