Djaŋbirrkpuy Yunupiŋu, Neparrŋa Gumbula, Mungula Gaykamaŋu, Baltha Gaykamaŋu and Moŋgunu Gumbula record traditional Yolŋu song at Djiliwirri in NE Arnhem Land. Photo: A. Corn, 2004.

ARC grants announced: $3.5 million to strengthen Australia’s Indigenous cultures

29 October 2009


Fellows of the National Recording Project have been awarded a total of $3,472,177 for seven grants under the Future Fellowship, Discovery Projects, Linkage Projects and Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development schemes announced this year by the Australian Research Council.

Successful grants respond to Indigenous community calls for new tools for cultural survival, and to government calls for new approaches to improving Indigenous health and wellbeing. They also respond to National Research Priority Goals for Strengthening Australia’s social and economic fabric, Smart information use, Promoting an innovation culture and economy, and Understanding our region and the world. They span:

• an inaugural Australian Research Fellowship-Indigenous
  for Yolŋu Elder Dr Joseph Gumbula to explore digital futures for the international diaspora of early ethnographic collections from Arnhem Land (The University of Sydney, $366,000)

• an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship-Industry for Dr Sally Treloyn to work with Professor Allan Marett and Mr Andrew Dowding of the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation on strategies for preserving and sustaining Aboriginal song and dance in the Pilbara (Charles Darwin University, $506,104)

• an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr Myfany Turpin to analyse the relationship between language and music in Arandic song-poetry from central Australia (The University of Queensland, $311,200)

• an inaugural Future Fellowship for Dr Martin Thomas to assess the legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (The University of Sydney, $615,473)

• an inaugural Future Fellowship for Dr Aaron Corn to develop new Semantic Web technologies for managing, accessing and understanding Indigenous knowledge and heritage resources (The University of Sydney, $686,400)

• Dr Mark Dras, Dr Myfany Turpin, Dr Owen Rambow and Professor Robert Dale’s large-scale computational investigation of how to design complex technological applications for Aboriginal languages (Macquarie University, $425,000)

• funds won by Dr Martin Thomas, Associate Professor Linda Barwick and Professor Allan Marett to develop inter-cultural insights, technical expertise and intellectual exchange, and support the
  National Recording Project’s annual Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance (The University
  of Sydney, $562,000)

The National Recording Project was conceived by influential Indigenous performers including Dr Mandawuy Yunupiŋu, and leading researchers at the 2002 Garma Festival in Arnhem Land. It aims to digitally record Australia’s unique and endangered Indigenous performance traditions, and develop Indigenous Knowledge Centres as in which these materials will be instantly accessible to local communities nationwide.

Further information about these projects is available on the ARC website.

For more information about the National Recording Project, please contact the Coordinator:

Dr Sally Treloyn
Phone: +61 8 8946 6570 or Email: sally.treloyn@cdu.edu.au