Posts tagged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
More Indigenous Doctors Aim To Close Australia’s Health Gap
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 27.12.2016 (IDN/The Wire) – Vinka Barunga was born in the Worrara tribe of the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the remote town of Derby in Western Australia. As a child, she witnessed disease and suicide amongst her people, which made her resolve to one day become a doctor and help break this cycle of suffering. She is one of six, the largest cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students, to graduate in Medicine/Surgery from the University of Western Australia this year.
Australia has fewer than 300 Aboriginal doctors, but things are gradually changing. Vinka is determined to be the first full time doctor in the town of her birth, situated around 2,400 kilometres north of the state capital Perth in the Kimberley region. It is the gateway to the state’s resource rich north, surrounded by mudflats on three sides, with two distinct seasons.
Aboriginal town misses out on the mining boom
By Neena Bhandari
Roebourne (Western Australia), 11.03.2012 (IDN): Allery Sandy, 55, is humming and painting the story of the Pilbara landscape, one of the most resource rich regions in Australia. Her canvas is resplendent with colour depicting rivers, flowers, blue gum and open scrub land dotted with Spinifex grass and iron-ore.
“Art, like story telling, in our Aboriginal culture is an important means of expressing feelings close to our heart. It gives us peace and joy. For the young, art distracts them away from alcohol and drugs that are destroying our community”, says Sandy, who is painting with three generations of women, some men and boys, at the Yinjaa-Barni (staying together) Art Aboriginal Corporation in a heritage-listed cottage on the main street of Roebourne.