Voting with their feet: Population study in the Ngaanyatjarra region

Analysts of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) census data have commonly observed that the census enumeration in remote Indigenous regions of Australia underestimates the actual number of Indigenous people. Such underestimations of remote population groups have dire consequences not only for appropriate service delivery in such extreme regions, but also contribute to a misguided public perception that the population in remote Indigenous regions is declining. Clearly a better approach to undertaking census counts is needed in remote Australia. In this seminar David Brooks and Inge Kral will discuss a case study population survey in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands region of Western Australia undertaken in response to concerns that the official ABS 2006 census count in the area was lower than expected. Brooks and Kral will outline the anthropological methodology used to survey the population and ultimately attain a more accurate count. Factors accounting for Ngaanyatjarra spatial location including mobility and connectedness to country will also be analysed and discussed. The seminar will be introduced by Robin Smythe, Chairman of the Ngaanyatjarra Council and Visiting Indigenous Fellow at CAEPR.

Date & time

Wed 23 Apr 2008, 12.30–2pm

Location

Humanities Conference Room, First Floor, A.D. Hope Bldg #14 (opposite Chifley Library), The Australian National University, Canberra.

Speakers

David Brooks, Robin Smythe

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