Nyungar Placenames in the South-West of Western Australia
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| Role of Administering Organisation |
| School of Indigenous Studies UWA |
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The administering organisations for the project were the Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) at Curtin University and the School of Indigenous Studies (SIS) at the University of Western Australia.
The School of Indigenous Studies (SIS) provided Len Collard (ARF-I) with office space and access to all facilities. The School is highly regarded for its research, community engagement, student outreach and teaching and training. The School aims to achieve excellence and equity in all aspects of higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and offers high quality preparatory courses along with a number of successful graduate and postgraduate courses. The School’s strong student service focus provides a nourishing educational experience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Its meaningful research and engagement with Indigenous peoples and communities work toward building strong and sustainable futures. In addition to the Nyungar Boodjera Wangkiny: the people’s land is speaking project, the School is home to the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, the National Empowerment Project and other valuable research projects. The expertise and input by the UWA staff to this project has been invaluable and we are deeply grateful for their contribution to its success.
The Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute provided Len Collard (ARF-I) with office space and access to all facilities. This enabled productive research links between the ARF-I and CUSP staff, PhD students and adjuncts. The CUSP Institute is an innovative provider of frontline research, teaching and advice on sustainability policy. The concept of sustainability is relatively new, but is rapidly becoming a key issue in public policy theory and practice. With 7 staff and 50 PhD students, CUSP is internationally recognised for its work on sustainable cities, especially transport and planning policy and sustainability innovation policy. Research also focuses on sustainable regions and coasts, and the implementation of sustainability through policy strategies and community engagement. The CUSP Institute undertakes key research activities and offers exciting multi-level and multidisciplinary sustainability programs, drawing upon nationally and internationally renowned scholars and practitioners. These state-of-the art programs provide students with the tools to consider the broader picture with a solution-focused approach to the major challenges posed by climate change, resource depletion, and other major environmental issues. The Institute has attracted a number of research grants from prestigious funding bodies, such as the Australian Research Council, CRC Desert Knowledge, CRC Spatial Information, Cities of Geraldton, Gosnells and Fremantle. It has a partnership arrangement with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), one of the world’s leading planning, engineering, program and construction management organisations.
Specific staff members from CUSP and SIS, and their alliances, that were accessible during the life of this project include:
Director of CUSP and one of Australia’s leading academics on sustainability with 10 books and over 200 refereed publications. He is directly involved in sustainability policy through working with two Premiers in WA (the last one developing the State Sustainability Strategy) and one in NSW as the Sustainability Commissioner. He is the only academic on the Board of Infrastructure Australia. Peter provided help with networks and linkages to state and local government as well as the public for this project.
Deputy Director of CUSP and one of the most productive academics in Australia with more than 300 refereed publications. She has had a close association with the Desert Knowledge CRC and brought her exceptional skills in framing the project and writing up the material in various formats. Dora’s interdisciplinary research background allowed her to conduct projects in the areas of environmental management and innovation. Dora’s original academic contributions are: (1) innovation models; (2) methodology for identifying technology strengths; (3) development of intellectual property momentum and (4) sustainometrics (the area of measuring and modelling sustainability).
Leader of the CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans and Climate Adaptation Flagship, project leader for its Coastal Collaboration Cluster project and management for the Masters Degree in Sustainability Studies in CUSP. Laura’s research interests in sense of place and how maps can assist in developing sustainability sensitivity and policy were extremely helpful to the development of the project.
Lecturer at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. Gary studied economics at the University of Western Australia, then science and technology policy at Murdoch University. His PhD on sustainability and economics was awarded by Curtin University in 2013. His research showed that a robust sustainability-informed cultural narrative is integral to effective implementation of sustainability policy; hence his interest in this significant project. He previously worked as a multimedia consultant specialising in dissemination of innovative ideas; was a professional musician for many years.
The nature and level of general support that was provided to this project covered:
Associate Dean and Director of Learning and Teaching of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Grant is a former Associate Professor in Design Ecology from UWA's Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts where he established an international and national award-winning track record with Indigenous colleagues in the integration of cultural spatial knowledge into the built environment disciplines of landscape architecture and architecture, in particular. His design by research and teaching practice as a registered landscape architect focusses on the healthy living design capacities of remote Indigenous communities and their settlements.
Assistant Professor and Law Coordinator at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Mel has taught politics and law at UWA since 1999 and has acted as the School’s Associate Dean of Research. He is currently coordinator of the Advanced Diploma in Indigenous Legal Studies, the Indigenous Knowledge Major unit: ‘Indigenous Peoples and the World’, and joint coordinator of ‘Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard’ at UWA. Mel’s key research areas are human rights and equal opportunity law, international law, jurisprudence and legal history.
An Australian Research Council Fellow at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Len has received six Australia Council Research Awards which include the Noongar Placenames project, Noongar Knowledge Networks and Indigenous Participation in a Low-Carbon Economy. He has lectured at ECU and Murdoch University and continues to lecture at UWA in addition to his work on various research and community projects. Len has created a database of 20,000 Noongar words.
Dean of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Jill has more than 25 years experience in Indigenous higher education. She is an Executive Member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Council. Jill has been a strong advocate within the national higher education arena for the formal recognition and resourcing of Indigenous knowledge systems.
Associate Dean at the School of Indigenous Studies and, previously, Director of the Curtin Indigenous Research Centre (Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University). Darlene has been involved in several research projects including projects on Healing Arts and Indigenous research methodologies. Darlene’s discipline background in Anthropology gives her a strong comparative interest, both in the varied dimensions of Indigenous Australia and in other socio-cultural traditions of other Indigenous peoples.
E-learning Development Officer at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia and has extensive experience in higher education. Josh has a keen interest in the affordances of Geographic Information Systems for teaching and research purposes in Indigenous Studies.
ARC Research Associate with the School of Indigenous Studies at UWA. Jennie has taught in the Indigenous Studies program at UWA and in the Community Development program at Murdoch University over many years. She has also worked with communities and schools on sustainability values education and place mapping. Jennie’s research interests include how we can creatively use digital mediums to enhance the voices and experiences of children, young people and indigenous communities across the globe.
Curator, Anthropology and Archaeology Department, Western Australian Museum. Ross assisted in the compilation and transcribing of historical references that formed the basis of the “A Nyoongar Word List from the South-West of Western Australia”, published by the Museum in 1992, and now in its third edition. This material was of great assistance in forming our database.
Senior Lecturer, with the Division of Architecture and Creative Arts in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at The University of Sydney. Clint’s Nyungar family is from the south coast of Western Australia and his Elders use the term Wirlomin to refer to their clan.
Director, Moodjar Consultancy. Lisa played a role in assisting Professor Len Collard on all related field trips, providing particular project support with photographic images, data, finance control and budgets.
CEO, Kart, Koort Wiern. Ingrid brought her expertise in providing Indigenous consultancy and research to the project. Her commitment, passion and support were of great benefit to the project team in meeting key objectives.
An outcome of the research project was to set up an Advisory Committee (PAC). This Committee was formulated in early Feburary 2011.
The PAC consisted of Dr Sue Graham Taylor, Chair, curator of history at the WA Museum. Other members include Emeritus Professor Reg Appleyard, University of WA; Mr Brian Goodchild, Manager of Geographical Names from the WA state government agency, Landgate – Landgate is also in charge of the Nomenclature Committee that determines the names of places in Western Australia; Professor Colleen Hayward, Edith Cowan University; Mr Glen Kelly, CEO of the South-west Aboriginal Land and Sea Council; Dr Edward Oldmeadow, Parsons Brinckerhoff; and CUSP staff including Professor’s Peter Newman and Dora Marinova and Associate Professor Laura Stocker. Dr Kathy Meney is the Founder and Director of Syrinx.