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Assoc. Prof. John Bradley

Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Indigenous Centre (MIC)

View contact details in Monash Staff Directory

Biography

Dr. John Bradley is the Deputy Director of the Monash Indigenous Centre. He originally trained as a primary and high school teacher and his subsequent PhD research concentrated on Indigenous ways of understanding dugong and marine turtles. For over three decades he has been actively involved in issues associated with Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management.

The majority of this research has been undertaken in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory, with particular emphasis on the marine and island environments of the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, the country of the Yanyuwa people. His research has concentrated on Yanyuwa ways of knowing country and issues associated with how best to build ‘epistemological bridges' and commensurable exchange between the science of the western tradition and Indigenous ways of knowing.

Much of his research also deals with the value of intangible heritage and how it can be utilised in regard to joint protection of both biological species and particular sites of significance to Indigenous people as well as issues associated with the repatriation of material associated with various Indigenous families in the Gulf country. His most important contributions to this field have been in regard to Indigenous ways of knowing their own country, Indigenous language maintenance and land and sea rights. He has been a member of a number of national and international committees in regard to Indigenous knowledge in regard to issues associated with climate change and cultural issues more generally.

His work and commitment in this area is ongoing and involves undertaking consultancies in regards to land and sea and cultural management and has most recently has involved the use of animation as an effective method of recording intangible heritage and as a teaching device within schools in regards to the cross generational transfer of knowledge. The animations project also serves as an invaluable medium in returning information back to the Yanyuwa community in a way that is culturally relevant.

The animation project has also been able to attract substantial interest and most recently a substantial gift was made by the Alan and Elizabeth Finkel Foundation to establish the Monash Country Lines Archive within the Monash Indigenous Centre. This gift will allow for the creation of animations that record Australian Indigenous languages Australia wide.

He speaks two Indigenous languages, Yanyuwa and Kriol and hears two others Marra and Garrwa. He most recently published work entitled Singing Salt Water Country is a detailed exploration of how song lines are environmental, ecological ways of knowing country, but are also intimate narratives of human relationships to country. He is presently rewriting the Yanyuwa encyclopaedic dictionary a work that has spanned over three decades.

Qualifications

  • DipT (Social Science - Anthropology), Bendigo College of Advanced Education
  • PhD (Anthropology), Northern Territory University

Professional Activities

Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Background

  • Lecturer, School of Social Science, University of Queensland, 1998–2005
  • Lecturer, Natural & Cultural Resource Management, Batchelor College, N.T., 1997
  • Consultancy, Maring Tenure & Native Title, Northern Land Council, 1996
  • Tutor/Lecturer, Northern Territory University, La Trobe University (Bendigo Campus), 1993–1996

Research Interests

  • Mapping Project - Ethno Ecology and the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands
  • Music & Landscape, Memory & Religion
  • Savana Country • Yanyuwa Dictionary/Encyclopedia
  • Development of Indigenous Website: Diwurruwurru www.deakin.edu.au/arts/diwurruwurru/

Books

Bradley, J and Yanyuwa families, 2010 Singing Saltwater Country, Allen and Unwin, Sydney

Bradley, J., Yanyuwa families and Nona Cameron 2003 “Forget About Flinders” An Indigenous Atlas of the Southwest Gulf of Carpentaria. J.M. McGregor Ltd Queensland (Limited Edition)

Bradley, J. 1988 Yanyuwa Country: The Yanyuwa people of Borroloola tell the history of their land. Greenhouse Publication, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria

Monographs

Bradley, J. and Yanyuwa families 2007 Barni-wardimantha Awara (Don’t Spoil the Country) A Yanyuwa Sea Country Plan.  National Oceans Office, Hobart

Bradley, J., Holmes, M., Norman, D., Isaac, A., Miller, J. and Ninganga, I. 2006 Yumbulyumbulmantha ki-awarawu (All kinds of things from Country) Yanyuwa Ethnobiological Classification, Ngulaig. Monograph series of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit University of Queensland

Bradley, J. and Mackinlay, E. 2000 Songs from a plastic water rat: An Introduction to the musical traditions of the Yanyuwa community of the South West Gulf of Carpentaria. N.T. Ngulaig Journal. University of Queensland.

DVDs

The Dreamings from Saltwater Country  (2010) Yanyuwa families with John Bradley, Amanda Kearney, Tom Chandler, Brent Mckee and Chandara Ung

The Law that comes from the Mainland, Islands and the Sea (2009) Yanyuwa families with John Bradley, Amanda Kearney, Tom Chandler, Brent Mckee and Chandara Ung

The Song of the Tiger Shark at Manankurra (2008) Yanyuwa families with John Bradley, Amanda Kearney, Tom Chandler, Brent Mckee and Chandara Ung

Articles and Book Chapters

Bradley, J., A, Kearney, L, Norman and G, Friday (2011). The Choices We Make: Animating Saltwater Country. Screening the Past. Guest edited by Adrian Martin and Romaine Moreton, Theme 'Cinematic Histories of the Digital Futures'.

Bradley, J. and Casey, M. (2011) Aeroplane Dance: an event or a record of an event? Screening the Past. Guest edited by Adrian Martin and Romaine Moreton, Theme 'Cinematic Histories of the Digital Futures'.

Bradley, J and  Kearney, A. (2011) ‘He painted the Law': Monuments and remembrance of things past in the Sir Edward Pellew Islands. Journal of Material Culture.

Bradley, J. (2011) "Is this landscape still my country?" in Jeff Malpas (ed), The Place of Landscape: Concepts, Contexts, Studies Cambridge Mass: MIT press.

Bradley, J. and F. Devlin-Glass  (2010) Affect and Narrative Encoding: The Problematics of Representing and Teaching Yanyuwa Narratives in Cyberspace. School of Humanities The Hellenic Open University, Greece.

Bradley, J and Kearney A. 2009 Manankurra: What's in a name? placenames and emotional geographies. Aboriginal placenames old and new: Discovering, interpreting and restoring Indigenous nomenclature for the Australian landscape Edited by Harold Koch and Luise Hercus, Aboriginal History Monographs, xxCanberra: ANU E-Press and Aboriginal History Inc.

Bradley, J. (2009) Not to Generalise: The "sacred" in Yanyuwa Country. In Makarand Paranjape (ed) Sacred Australia; post-secular consideration. Clouds of Magellan Pty. Ltd. Melbourne

Bradley, J. and A. Kearney 2009 "Too Strong to ever not be there": place names and emotional geographies in Social and Cultural Geography, Vol.10, No1 pp77-94

J. Bradley 2008 When a stone tool is a dingo: Country and relatedness in Australian Aboriginal notions of landscape. In B. David and J. Thomas (eds), Handbook of Landscape Archaeology. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.

Bradley,J. 2008 "Singing through the sea": Song, Sea and Emotion in Sylvie Shae and Andrew Francis (eds) Deep Blue: Reflections on Nature, Religion and Water Equinox Publishing, London

Bradley, J. and E. Mackinlay 2007  Singing the Land, Singing the Family: Song, Place and Spirituality in Fiona Richards (ed) The Soundscape of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. United Kingdom pp 75-92

Bradley, J. 2006  'Same Time Poison, Same Time Good Tucker': The Cycad Palm in the South West Gulf of Carpentaria in Leigh Dale and Margaret Henderson (eds) Terra Incognita: New Essays in Australian Studies. JAS Australia's Public Intellectual Forum. No. 86

Bradley, J. and Devlin-Glass, F. 2006 Western Maps/Yanyuwa Meaning: an Interview with John Bradley in The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland,pp 90-101

Bradley, John J. 'Same Time Poison, Same Time Good Tucker': The Cycad Palm in the South West Gulf of Carpentaria [online]. Journal of Australian Studies; Issue 86; 2006; [121]-133. Availability: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=170919652564634;res=E-LIBRARY ISSN: 1444-3058. [cited 13 Jun 07].

Bradley, J. 2005 The Social, Economic and Historical Construction of Cycad Palms  among the Yanyuwa in Bruno David, Ian McNiven and Bryce Barker (eds) The Social Archaeology of Indigenous Societies: Essays on Aboriginal History in Honour of Harry Lourandos  Aboriginal Studies press

Bradley, J and Kearny, A. 2005 Landscape with Shadows of once Living People: Kundawira and the Challenge for Archaeology to Understand in Bruno David, Ian McNiven and Bryce Barker (eds) The Social Archaeology of Indigenous Societies: Essays on Aboriginal History in Honour of Harry Lourandos  Aboriginal Studies pres

Bradley, J. and K.Seton 2005 "Under the Act" Land Claims, Colonial Authority and Indigenous Representation. B. Hocking (ed) Unfinished Constitutional Business. Aboriginal Studies Pres

Bradley, J. and F.Tamisari 2005 Place and Event in A.Minelli, G.Ortalli, G.Sanga (eds) Animal Names Instituto Veneto Di Scienze Lettere Ed Arti, Plazzo Loredan,Campo Santo Stefano, Veni

Bradley, J and K.Seton 2004 "When you have no Law you are nothing" Cane Toads, Social Consequences and Management Issues. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology. 5:3 pp205-225

Bradley, J. 2004 Kidnapped Back Home in Hilda Muir, Very Big Journey: My life as I remember it. Aboriginal Studies Press. Canberra pp.140-153

Bradley,J. and E.Mackinlay 2003 Many Songs, Many Voices, Many Dialogues: Yanyuwa performance practices in a remote Aboriginal Community. Rural Society. Vol 14. No2 pp228-243

Bradley,J. and E.Mackinlay 2003 Of mermaids and Spirit Men: Complexities in Categorisation of Two Aboriginal Dance Performances at Borroloola. N.T The Asian Pacific Journal of Anthropology 4 (1) pp1-23

Bradley, J. 2001 Landscapes of the Mind, Landscapes of the Spirit. In R.Baker, J. Davies and E. Young (eds) Working on Country: Contemporary Indigenous Management on Australia's Lands and Coastal Regions. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Pp.295-304

Bradley,J. 2000 Country of Our Spirit. Yanyuwa land and sea scapes in Michael Crozier (ed) Gardens and landscapes, SAQ South Atlantic Quarterly. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina pp801-816

Bradley, J. 2000 Lhukannguwarra. A claim to the intertidal zone from the Robinson River Mouth to Bing Bong Creek Mouth, Including the beds and banks of the McArthur River to King Ash Bay, Crooked River and Carrington Channel. Northern Land Council, Darwin. (note this volume is fully refereed by two senior academic anthropologists)

Bradley, J., F. Devlin-Glass and E.Mackinlay 1999 Diwurruwurru: Towards a New Kind of Two Way Class Room in The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. University of Queensland Vol 27. N0.2 pp24-26

Bradley, J.1998 "We always look north". Yanyuwa Marine Tenure. In Nicholas Peterson and Bruce Rigsby (eds) Customary Marine Tenure. Oceania Monograph University of Sydney pp125-141 -A

Bradley, J.1998 "Men Speak One Way,Women Another in Jenny Coats (ed) Language and Gender: A Reader. Roehampton Institute. Blackwells. London pp26-35

Bradley, J. 1989 "What would a whitefella know...?" Wester Science-Indigenous Science and Marine Science In R.Kennet (ed) Marine Turtle Conservation and Management in Northern Australia. Proceedings of a workshop held at the Northern Territory University Darwin, 3-4 June 1997, Northern Territory University. Pp25-33 -B

Bradley,J., R.Harvey and D. Norman 1997 "Burning for the ancestors, burning for us" A case study from the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria In B.Mckaige, R.Willimas and W.Waggit (eds) Bushfire '97 Proceedings. Australia Bushfire Conference 8-10 July 1997. CSIRO Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre. Darwin pp75-80

Bradley, J. 1997 "We don't burn for fun". Some views on Indigenous burning in Northern Australia. Greening News. Greening Australia NT. Newsletter May/June/July/

Bradley, J. 1996 Discovering and Recovering Australia. Generation. Australian Jewish Life and Thought. Vol. 6 No.1&2.pp1-3

Bradley, J. 1995 "Fire: Emotion and Politics: A Yanyuwa Case Study. In D.Rose (ed) Country in Flames: Proceedings of the 1994 symposium on biodiversity and fire in North Australia. Biodiversity Unit, Department of the Environment, Sports and Territories and the North Australia Research Unit, Canberra and Darwin. Pp25-33

Bradley, J. 1994 "Some Yanyuwa Songs" in Martin Duwell and R.M.W Dixon (eds) Little Eva at Moonlight Creek and other Aboriginal Song poems. Univeristy of Queensland Press, St. Lucia Queensland.pp 3-67

Bradley, J. 1992 Warnarrwarnarr-Barranyi (Borroloola 2) Land Claim. Anthropologists report on behalf of the claimants. Northern Land Council, Darwin (note this volume is fully refereed by two senior academic anthropologists)

Bradley, J. and J.Kirton and the Yanyuwa Community1992. Yanyuwa Wuka, language from Yanyuwa Country. A Yanyuwa Dictionary and Cultural Resource. Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Bradley, J. 1991 Yanyuwa Bark Canoes. The Great Circle, Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History. Vol 13, No2 pp85-92-A

Bradley, J. 1991 "Li-Maramaranja" The Yanyuwa Hunters of Marine Animals in the Sir Edward Pellew Group. N.T. Records of the South Australian Museum 25(2) Adelaide. S.A pp91-110

Bradley, J. 1988 Yanyuwa: "Men Speak One Way, Women Another". Aboriginal Linguistics. 1. 126-134 pp56-64

Films and other media

2007 Manakurra: An animated song line. Monash University

2007 Australian Broadcasting Commission. Compass Program

1992 Ka-wayawayama (Aeroplane Dance) Film Australia Won award for the best Ethnographic film from the Royal Society of Anthropology London.

1988 Buwarrala Akarriya (Journey East) Marndaa Films.

Development of Indigenous Website: Diwurruwurru www.deakin.edu.au/arts/diwurruwurru/