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’.

Related Projects

Image: Mother Gulaga Mountain, a sacred Yuin place (photo by Aryati Yashadhana)
Exploring the cultural health and care gap among Indigenous children and young people in the out-of-home care system

There is a lack of adequate cultural care for Indigenous children and young people in NSW’s out-of-home care (OOHC).

The NSW Department of Communities and Justice Researchers invited Gaawaadhi Gadudha Collaborative researchers to analyse their Pathways of Longitudinal Care Study' (POCLS) data. POCLS is Australia's first large-scale, long-term research project examining the experiences and outcomes of children and young people in OOHC in NSW.

This project analyses POCLS data to:

Identify factors related to improved cultural health
Identify challenges to cultural health and care.

Researchers: Ted Fields, Brooke Brady and Aryati Yashadhana

Image: Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay Ted Fields cultural knowledge holder cutting wood (photo by Aryati Yashadhana)

Connections to Country among older Indigenous people living in urban NSW

This project involved 8 older survivors or descendants of the Stolen Generations currently living in urban areas of NSW. We analysed how their participation in a ‘cultural camp’ on a sacred Yuwaalaraay site impacted their wellbeing and connection to place.

We uncovered memories of traumatic experiences of institutionalisation, including abuse and loss of Country, community and culture. The cultural camp generated a sense of reconnection, cultural pride, wellbeing and place attachment.

Our findings reflect the importance of sensory-led experiences on Country. They also reinforce evidence of the ‘therapeutic’ aspects of culture and landscapes minimally impacted by colonisation.

Researchers: Ted Fields, Michelle O’Leary, Aryati Yashadhana, Nina Serova, Edgar Liu, Gail Kenning, Volker Kuchelmeister, Jonathan Lockhart and Evelyne de Leeuw