Audio on demand

Gwenda Baker traces the history of Aboriginal labour on Methodist missions in Arnhem Land, where award wages led to fewer jobs. While resenting the low wages, some Aborigines see their work on the missions as a highlight of enterprise and achievement.

In a good-practice study of where the Dreamtime meets the market, Paul Memmott discusses the Myuma Group (of three Aboriginal corporations) in far west Queensland, which successfully manages the interplay between demand for and supply of service.

Exploring intercultural relations in the period of pastoral expansion, John White says that working relationships based on reciprocity enabled Aboriginal people to factor settlers into their seasonal movements and carve out a niche in the settler economy.

Dennis Foley describes two kinds of Indigenous entrepreneur: ‘opportunists’ who seize a concept and use their networks to embark on a business venture, and those who lack capital, so out of ‘necessity’ must adapt to dominant culture to provide the basics.

Erin Bohensky applies resilience theory to a proposal for an aquaculture farm as a sustainable enterprise on Palm Island, North Queensland, and adds historical analysis and empirical insights from interviews and photographic surveys.

Gretchen Stolte talks about Aboriginal art centres, arguing that a centre should be funded in accordance with its engagement with the community, because the more community-building it does, the less money it can make.

Thorley and Greenslade consider Papunya Tula during the 1970s, as Indigenous art became recognised as fine art, and remote markets developed, shaping the art movement. But local markets persisted, and their effect on the movement warrants further study.

Daryl Guse discusses archaeological research in north-western Arnhem Land that indicates early Indigenous participation in and trade with the Indonesian trepang maritime industry, and the adaptability of Indigenous coastal communities.

Museum collections exaggerate the traditional lives of Indigenous Australians. Here, Mike Pickering seeks to expand Indigenous history to include items that, though the product of western industry, were mostly used by Indigenous workers.

In the first half of the 19th century, at least sixty Aboriginal men from New South Wales were transported as convicts. Kristyn Harman discusses their labours within the convict system, the rationale for putting them to work, and the outcomes.