INTRO — Gaawaadhi Gadudha

The Gaawaadhi Gadudha logo artwork is by Laurance Magick Dennis. It represents the meeting of fresh (Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay) and salt (Yuin-Djirringanj) water. The horseshoe-like shapes are people sitting around a fire. The oval image at the centre is a coolamon (traditional carrying vessel). The dots around the image are ancestors looking on.

While we use the word ‘Aboriginal’ to explain the terminology of ‘the health gap’ in current research and policy, we would like to acknowledge it as a colonised term. We advocate for shifting to the use of cultural group names as identifiers. Where this is not possible, we use ‘Indigenous’.

Despite decades of policy interventions, the health of Indigenous people in Australia is declining. Health continues to be understood in terms of deficit. This deficit is framed as the health and social outcomes ‘gap’ between Indigenous and settler Australians.

Our work argues that we need to focus on culture rather than deficits. Culture involves visiting Country, practising ceremony, collecting traditional medicines and other practises that have kept First Nations people healthy for thousands of years.

Our research aims to show that culture practised on Country improves Indigenous peoples’ physical health and social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Image: Ceremonial dance during dhugan on Yuin Country, 2022 (photo by Anthony Zwi)