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In May, the team were thrilled to make their first visit to a prison to assist Indigenous offenders in completing the MK survey.

Shavaun Wells, Roxy Jones and Jan Chapman visited Tasmania’s Risdon Prison and with the assistance and support  of the Indigenous Offender Team from the Tasmanian Prison Service, were able to survey a number of male and female Indigenous prisoners.

Pictured left to right: Norman Alexander, Rebecca Cowen, Sonia Simonetto, Jan Chapman, Shavaun Wells, Roxy Jones and Brax the dog.

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On track at the AIATSIS Summit

The Mayi Kuwayu team were excited to have the opportunity to share our work with delegates to the AIATSIS Summit 2021 (May 31 – June 4) on the lands of the Kaurna Yerta in Adelaide. The Summit theme Footprints for the future — Tracking our journey together brought together a range of speakers and delegates on topics ranging from wellbeing, research, native title, cultural heritage and land management.

Along with colleagues from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at ANU, the Mayi Kuwayu team delivered five presentations across the week on our work including “Ranger Work is Good for Country and People” (Alyson Wright and Vanessa Davis), “Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Practice” (Bobby Maher and Ray Lovett) and “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Historical and Contemporary Trauma Impacts” (Makayla-May Brinckley). This was in conjunction with presentations on the Family and Community Safety Study (Emily Colonna and Makayla-May Brinckley) and Tackling Indigenous Smoking (Eden Barrett, Emily Colonna and Raglan Maddox).

The Mayi Kuwayu team also hosted an information stall at the Summit where we were able to provide information on the Study and encourage survey participation.

We would like to extend our thanks to AIATSIS and their co-convenors the South Australian Native Title Services (SANTS) and Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation (KYAC) for a fun and informative week.

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Sunshine and surveys

Our team enjoyed a trip to the tropics where they engaged with the Seisia community in the Torres Strait, and meet with the Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good team in Cairns. They also enlisted the help of the Yarrabah Seahawks Junior Rugby League club to review a set of survey questions and help us better understand how people interpret the questions.

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Measuring the benefits of ranger work

In March, Vanessa Davis from Tangentyere and  Alyson Wright attended the Central Land Council annual Rangers Camp, at Hamilton Downs Youth Camp, 150km north-west of Alice Springs. Vanessa updated the rangers on the Mayi Kuwayu Study, including details about the Mayi Kuwaya Data Governance Committee: “The MK Study is a data resource that is governed by Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people. It is not a study for government but for us,” she told them.

Alyson talked about the new analysis comparing rangers to non-rangers, including the important findings that demonstrate higher prevalence of wellbeing outcomes among rangers in Central Australian compared to non-rangers. Similar wellbeing findings were also found in rangers outside of Central Australia. The analysis looked at the important contribution that connection to Country and speaking language has on wellbeing outcomes. Mayi Kuwayu has been working with the Central Land Council and their rangers since 2016, and is building the evidence of the benefits of ranger work.

Pictured: Alyson Wright and Vanessa Davis.

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Apply for data

We want to ensure that the Mayi Kuwayu data makes as many positive changes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing as possible. As such, we want to support other organisations in conducting their own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing studies.

Please visit our website for all the information you’ll need on applying for and receiving Mayi Kuwayu data, subject to approval by our Data Governance Committee.