Institute of Australian Geographers (Inc)

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At the Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Australian Geographers in Hobart in January 1997, the Institute agreed to establish an Indigenous Issues Study Group.

Objects of the Study Group

The objects of the Indigenous Issues Study Group are:

a) to enhance the visibility and accessibility of the important work being done by geographers on a range of indigenous issues, particularly, but not only, native title, indigenous rights and resource management, within the discipline;

b) to enhance the visibility and credibility of geography in research in indigenous issues;

c) to provide a foundation for improving employment prospects for geography graduates in a range of areas with indigenous organisations; and

d) to encourage and facilitate networking and communication between members of the IAG engaged in work in these fields with colleagues in similar organisations overseas, including the NZGS, CAG, and AAG.

Rationale for the Study Group

It is noted that:

• geographers are amongst the most numerous group of professionals working with indigenous peoples or on indigenous issues, apart from anthropologists and lawyers;
• as Australian Aboriginal organisations move from being land claiming to land managing organisations, the skills of geographers are in increasing demand;
• the skills of geography are directly relevant to many indigenous peoples, and there is a need to improve the disciplineís ability to attract indigenous students;
• moves to develop regional agreements in response to native title processes are a forum in which the insights of geographical literacy are urgently needed;
• there is an enormously promising group of graduate students working in this field who seem set to make substantial contributions to the discipline over the next 5-10 years;
• some of the most demanding ethical issues facing professional geographers in recent years have been generated in the domain of indigenous issues, and there is a need for networking and communication to assist practioners to address these matters;
• the extent to which public debate on indigenous issues provides an appropriate forum within which to advance the public profile of geography needs to be recognised and built on;
• the rise of anti-indigenous racism in Australia is an area in which the work of geographers can improve public understanding and contribute to improved social relations in very practical ways.
  

Activities of the Study Group

Initially it is proposed that the Study Group would operate as an e-mail based list, and that we would develop a Web Page linked to the IAG page providing relevant information to members of the Study Group and indigenous groups.

It is also intended to consider development of a newsletter under the title Indigeonet, but to limit its operations to an electronic format.

Networking will also include electronic and face-to-face meetings among a range of people including postgraduate students, supervisors, practioners in adjacent disciplines, practitioners overseas, particularly in Canada and new Zealand, indigenous units in various universities, indigenous students, indigenous communities and organisations, relevant government groups and others.

We also propose to undertake some efforts to market geography as a suitable area for indigenous groups to consider for tertiary study, and as a source of appropriate researchers, and to provide mutual support for securing research funding.

It is also likely that some cooperation in meetings with the Cultural Geography and Gender and Geography Study Groups will take place.

In all these activities, we feel the proposed Study Group will directly advance the objects of the IAG in ways which would not occur without the existence of the proposed Study Group and we would therefore appreciate your assistance in moving this proposal forward as quickly as possible.

Foundation Membership of the Study Group

Membership of the Indigenous Issues Study Group is open to all members of the IAG who have an interest in and commitment to the expressed objects of the Study Group. The following people were listed as foundation members of the Study Group when it was approved.

• Richard Howitt (Macquarie)
• Cathy Robinson (Monash)
• Sue Jackson (Macquarie)
• Jane Jacobs (Melbourne)
• Karen Rees (Tasmania)
• Richard Baker (ANU)
• Elspeth Young (ANU)
• Dale Sanders (Edith Cowan)
• Lesley Head (Wollongong)
• Sandie Suchet (Macquarie)
• Rochelle Braaf (Macquarie)
• Janet Smith (Tasmania)
• Terry Birtles (Canberra)
• Bruce Gorring (Western Sydney)
• Jocelyn Davies (Adelaide)
• Gerard Ward (ANU)
• Chris Cocklin (Monash)
• Kathryn Allen (Tasmania)