University researchers use net to repay debt to Aboriginal mentors

The information superhighway will soon have a unique staging post in the remote South West Gulf of Carpentaria township of Borroloola through a partnership between indigenous occupants and University of Queensland researchers.

Dr John Bradley from the University's Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Archaeologyand Dr Elizabeth Mackinlay from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit are collaborating with Dr Frances Devlin-Glass of Deakin University and the Yanyuwa people on an internet site reflecting the history and culture of the region.

Dr Bradley, who has lived and worked in the area for 20 years compiling a Yanyuwa encyclopaedic language dictionary and researching ethnoecology and the resource management of dugong and sea turtles, says the community is driving the project.

"They knew that we had received our doctorates through their cooperation and help, and they wanted to know what we could give their community back," he said.

Dr Bradley said the idea of using a web site to help balance the ledger evolved from Dr Devlin-Glass, a senior lecturer in Deakin's School of Literary and Communication.

"She was teaching an exclusively Aboriginal-authored literature course and her students were wrestling to understand Burarrala Akarriya: Journey East, an award-winning film made by the Yanyuwa in 1989," he said. She realised there needed to be some value adding for European students to make sense of it."

Dr Devlin-Glass contacted Dr Bradley and Dr Mackinlay, who has been documenting the secular song, musical and performance traditions of the Yanyuwa women for seven years.

Dr Bradley said the Yanyuwa elders were building the web site "from the land upwards" and taking into account information restricted to the community.

"We are seeing a people take control of cyberspace to preserve a long and ancient heritage," he said.

For more information, contact, Dr Mackinlay on 0407 003 367, Sue Carolan on 07 3365 6699 or Brad Turner, UQ Communications, on 07 3365 2659.

Enquiries can also be directed to communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au