The Kids Research Institute Australia recognised the contribution of the Elder Co-Researchers by awarding them the title of Honorary Research Associates at a special ceremony held during NAIDOC Week 2019.
The Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (Our Children, Our Heart) Project grew out of a bold vision to harness the wisdom of Aboriginal Elders and community members to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and their families. Five years on, the project has produced a suite of Elder-led, culturally appropriate and empowering initiatives that are making a difference.
Led by Elder co-researchers, Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (NKNK) began in 2016 as a five-year research project which sought to work with Aboriginal communities in Perth to identify the foundations for raising strong and solid Koolunga (children).
Facilitated by The Kids – a conduit bringing together traditional owners, researchers, policymakers and service providers – the project aimed to identify and implement best policy and practice which incorporated cultural values, priorities and beliefs around child rearing, and the factors considered critical to building healthy, confident and resilient children.
About the artwork
The Coolamon in the middle of the project's logo depicts a sacred woman's tool and is symbolic of women's business and of gathering food, nurturing our children, and becoming a community – it is a community tool.
The figurines on the Coolamon represent the researchers sitting together, listening and gathering information.
The figurines holding the artwork are the Elder Co-researchers who are working in partnership with researchers.
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Artwork by Elder Co-researcher Ms Millie Penney
Fast forward to 2020 and the project has identified 28 core findings in the key areas of housing, child protection and removal, and early childhood education and care; produced three reports containing recommendations on those priority areas; held three Big Elders meetings; and co-designed a series of Elder-led, culturally appropriate and empowering policies, practices and strategies.
One of those strategies – a resource co-designed for parents and carers of Aboriginal children to support their child’s cultural needs within early education settings – was produced following a process which included yarning with parents and carers about what they thought early educators needed to know about Aboriginal children in their settings.
Developed by the Early Childhood Education and Care Elder Co-Researcher subgroup in close collaboration with Noongar researcher Larissa Perry, the final resource was presented back to parents for feedback, with many choosing to use the resource with their child’s early educator. The resource has since attracted interest from the Edith Cowan University Faculty of Education and Little Green Steps WA.
In another win, in late 2019 the NKNK team secured funding from Lotterywest to pilot a co-designed, Aboriginal-led early education program for children in the Willagee area. The program will support 10 Aboriginal children and their families (per year) for three years as they navigate the transition to mainstream school.
The Kids Research Institute Australia Co-Head, Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing, Dr Brad Farrant, said it was good to see these polices and practice guidelines starting to be adopted and implemented.
“Healthy development in early childhood, particularly during the years before school, has a strong influence on a range of life outcomes including physical health, social and emotional wellbeing, and academic achievement.”
It's all about connectedness
Indigenous and Western worldviews differ in a number of important ways. Here, Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project team leader Dr Brad Farrant explains how NKNK acknowledges and addresses these differences.
The Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project recognises that Aboriginal peoples have a holistic view of health that goes beyond individual physical and mental wellbeing. This includes the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of family and community as well as aspects of culture, spirituality, language, connection to land. Indigenous and Western worldviews differ in a number of important ways.
The reductionism of Western worldviews – compartmentalisation/reduction into ever smaller parts – contrasts starkly with the holistic focus of Aboriginal worldviews – ‘everything and everyone is related.’ The work on the Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project has made it very clear that it is critically important to recognise and respect these differences to provide a solid foundation for research, policy and practice.
The origins of authority are also very different in Aboriginal and Western worldviews. Authority in Aboriginal communities is based on age, cultural knowledge and relationships, whereas authority in Western systems is given through roles and bureaucracy.
Third Perth-wide Elders Meeting in 2019
In Noongar culture, Elders are the Birdiyas (Bosses). To decolonise research we must recognise and honour the role and status of Elders in Aboriginal culture and put them at the centre of the research process.
As one of the participants in the Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project told us: “Culture is connected to learning to respect your Elders, connection to the bush, being proud of our ancestors and proud of who we were, and then rebuilding yourself for the new, contemporary way to be a Noongar.”
It is also critically important to recognise that Aboriginal and Western worldviews often see issues differently and can also differ on where the origins of problems are perceived.
The Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project team acknowledges the reductive nature of Western science and the failure of many non-Aboriginal researchers to fully engage with and understand holistic Aboriginal worldviews. These have been major barriers to working with Aboriginal communities to develop coordinated, integrated and holistic research agendas that are culturally informed and address community priorities and values.