Published works

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing amount of public attention focused on the contributions that Aboriginal people, and their knowledge and practices, make to resilience and sustainability agendas in Australia. Given the emerging commitment of natural hazards agencies in southern Australia to engagement and collaboration with Aboriginal people, the increasing level of legal recognition accorded to Aboriginal peoples’ land rights, and Aboriginal peoples’ own investment and interest in engaging in forms of natural hazard management, it is important that researchers support to this work, to understand and document how beneficial and respectful collaborations can be fostered.

The first year of the Hazards, Culture and Indigenous Communities (HCIC) project has focused around completing publications, initial fieldwork and the development of research priorities, and maintaining strong end user engagement. Key activities from this first year include:

• The completion of two reports: a comprehensive literature review of collaborations and engagements between indigenous peoples and government natural hazards agencies; and, a report on the landmark Southeast Australia Aboriginal Fire Forum held in Canberra.
• Presentations and poster displays by project members given for a range of industry and academic audiences.
• Scoping and selection of the two project case studies and the participants for the practitioner survey.
• Ongoing end-user engagement through regular meetings, newsletter circulation and the solicitation of feedback on key project outputs.
• The appointment of Dr Will Smith as the principal investigator for the project.