Many years ago Hugh Jackman spent a few months in remote Indigenous communities. It seems to have left his mark on him.
{ 0 comments }
Posts tagged as:
remote
An Australian-first project to improve the liveability of Aboriginal communities is underway in the remote town of Warburton in Western Australia, led by AECOM, the University of Western Australia and the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.
The Sustainable Warburton Project is a research, design and planning project to create new and improved urban spaces with the aim of transforming how Indigenous people live, that could be applied to Indigenous communities across Australia and around the world.
It brings Aboriginal residents of the town, 920km north east of Kalgoorlie, together with a team of AECOM specialists in urban design, ecology, landscape architecture and architecture, and academics and students from the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Projects designed include an award-winning community college and an urban agriculture scheme where orange trees irrigated with treated wastewater are planted throughout the town to provide shade, food, protection from dust and improved health.
Townspeople and community representatives have gathered over the past few months to discuss their needs in formal and informal settings with students and the project team to help identify community-enhancing projects.
Masters and honours students are now finalising design projects as part of their academic requirements which will become the basis for funding application and development. Designs will be presented to the Shire Council in February, when the winner of an AECOM prize for the most outstanding design will also be announced.
AECOM Project Director, Jon Shinkfield, who established the project’s framework with UWA, said it was a ground-breaking model to improve Aboriginal communities.
“This is the first tri-partisan relationship between an Australian Indigenous community, academia and industry to build a research and knowledge bank over a longer term with the focus on settlement planning and implementation,” Shinkfield said.
“The Sustainable Warburton Project will not only affect the future of the Warburton community but potentially inform the broader agenda of Indigenous settlement.
“We’re committed to a program focused on research, practice and realisation of a new spatial order for the town and it is hoped this will lead to major changes in the way Indigenous people can live.”
As projects are funded, students will become part of the development team to project-manage and deliver the initiatives for Warburton’s 600 residents. Projects focus on sustainability, community, urban planning, water and energy management and agriculture to improve health, education and social engagement, and include:
Dean of the UWA’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, Winthrop Professor Simon Anderson, has commended AECOM and the Shire Council of Ngaanyatjarraku on the project.
“This is a most important community-based planning and design initiative in partnership with our faculty,” Professor Anderson said.
Another Australian first
Work is also underway on a separate AECOM project to expand Warburton’s Early Learning Centre and Learning Landscape. In an Australian-first, it features a playgroup for Indigenous women and children with structured activities to help school become a more acceptable option for the future.
AECOM is also advising on alternative energy options to help find solutions to the community’s reliance on costly diesel fuel to drive the town’s generators.
AECOM plans an ongoing involvement in Warburton to ensure the proposed projects are delivered to the community as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility commitment.
“AECOM and UWA look forward to coming back to Warburton annually to build the knowledge base, see further projects conceived and help develop and implement them,” Shinkfield said.
many thanks to Reed publications for allowing me to repost this article from their website.
{ 2 comments }
Jobs for pharmacists working with Indigenous Australians are quite rare. We wouldn’t think of opening a new hospital or building a new suburb without a pharmacy but pharmacists are often not considered by government when working with a population with the highest levels of chronic disease in Australia.
Compare this to the Indian Health Service working with the Indian population in the USA.
There is a rare opening with a pharmacist position with the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Council in Broome. Go to the pharmacist advertisment on their website to apply.
Other jobs include pharmacists working with Ngaanyatjarra Health or PikaWiya Health and performing remote Home Medicines Reviews with Indigenous populations
{ 1 comment }
This tweet from Latika Bourke alerted me to the press release (reprinted at bottom of post).
While she may have been joking about the title of the release, it is serious stuff for us out bush.
Imagine the RFDS is landing to take a seriously ill patient away at 3AM. You switch on the runway lights, or perhaps light the kerosene pots and place out along the strip. You do a strip run to make sure there is nothing on the airstrip. You hope the sound of the troopie scares off the roos and camels that may be nearby. But you can never be sure in the dark of what is there.
At least now we can be sure the camels are not near the strip.
Media Release
Eight isolated communities now have access to improved air services following $2.29 million in infrastructure upgrades to their airstrips provided by the Gillard Government’s Remote Aviation Infrastructure Fund.
Completed upgrades range from new camel proof fencing to freshly rolled runways, replaced windsocks and solar lighting.
Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King, said the improvements provide the remote communities of Kaltukatjara in the Northern Territory and Warakurna, Jameson, Patjarr, Wanarn, Papulankutja, Warburton and Wingellina in Western Australia, with safer and more reliable access to vital air services.
“Safe, operational aerodromes, and the air services they support, play a vital role in connecting remote communities with each other and with major regional towns and cities,” Ms King said.
“The upgrades we have undertaken in these communities are designed not only to improve the reliability of access to remote communities through improved airstrips, but also allow the people living in these areas to have access to food, mail and medicine.
“This is particularly important where road access is unavailable, unreliable or disrupted for extended periods due to extreme seasonal weather conditions.
“These communities are located up to 1,050 kilometres from Alice Springs, so they are dependent on air services to survive,” Ms King said.
The completion of these upgrades is part of a broader program of works to airstrips throughout remote Australia, funded through the Regional Aviation Access Program.
Ms King said the eight aerodromes that received the upgrades were identified for their importance in servicing remote communities.
To assist with providing more remote airstrip infrastructure upgrades, the Gillard Government allocated an additional $26 million in the 2011–12 Budget, taking the total commitment to $43 million over three years to 2013.
{ 0 comments }
