Kyllie Cripps

Indigenous family violence and sexual abuse: Considering pathways forward

Abstract Australian Indigenous experiences of family and sexual violence have received much media and government attention since 2006. Three state government reports into the problem have been published in this time. These reports highlighted the disproportionate incidence of sexual assault and family violence within Indigenous communities and the many complexities associated with such experiences. They also illustrated that Indigenous communities are actively considering pathways forward for healing and for justice for victims, their families, and the broader kin network who inevitably feel the ripple effects of such violence. Increasingly, international examples of pathways forward are being considered for their applicability in the Australian Indigenous context. This paper critically examines the international case study of the Community Holistic Circle Healing process developed by the community of Hollow Water, Canada. Australian Indigenous family violence reports since 1999 have identified this process as an example of best practice in the management of sexual violence in Indigenous communities and have recommended that similar such models and processes be considered for implementation in Australia. This paper critically examines the program in its own context and reflects on the feasibility of its transference into the very different geographic, social, cultural, political and spiritual contexts of Australian Indigenous communities.

Not Part of the Public: Non-Indigenous Policies and Practices and the Health of Indigenous South Australians 1836-1973

Not Part of the Public is a very important book that fills a large niche in South Australian history. The author, Judith Raftery, describes how the process of public policies and practices adversely impacted on indigenous health over a 137 year span: from the beginning of South Australian settlement, in 1836, until the Commonwealth Government assumed responsibility for indigenous affairs in 1973. The book title, Not Part of the Public, reflects Raftery’s primary thesis that chronic ill-health and limited life opportunities for indigenous people originate, historically, in successive political and social policies that increasingly exclude them from mainstream society.