Griffith Universitywill showcase its creative arts offerings at theGeorge Town Festivalin Penang, Malaysia, in August.
TheArts, Education and Law Group(AEL) are presentingThe Griffith Creative Arts Roomas part of the month-long celebration of arts and culture, which attractshundreds of thousands ofvisitors from around the world.This is the first time a university has been invited to be an official festival partner.
The world-class program offers something for everyone, with an eclectic mix of photography, performance, film and poetry.
Faculty and students from theQueensland College of Art,Griffith Film School, theQueensland Conservatorium, theSchool of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and theSchool of Education and Professional Studieswill represent Griffith University at the festival.
Pro Vice Chancellor (Arts, Education and Law)Professor Paul MazerollesaidGriffith’sinvolvementin theGeorgetownFestival provided a uniqueopportunityfor theUniversityto showcase its expertise and depth in the creative, performing and visual arts.
“Griffith has great strengths in the creative arts, having recently been ranked number one in Australia,” he said.
“The chance toparticipatein the Georgetown Festival is a unique opportunity that we are very much looking forward to.”

A highlight for visitors will be the opportunity to see theworld’s first full-length 3D printed dressand meet its maker, Dr.Samuel Canning, Senior Lecturer at the Queensland College of Art.
Dr.Canning’s stunning dresswas featured on the Today Show in the US before hitting catwalks across Europe and Asia.
The high tech couture took400 hours to design and comprised 25,000 to 30,000 individual pieces – a collaborative international project that highlights the incredible potential of 3D printing technology.
Professor Herman VanEyken, Head ofGriffith Film School, will be in Penang to launchJalanOn the Move, aprogramof films that showcases Griffith Film School’s connection to the Asia-Pacific.
It will include screenings from some of the region’s most respected film-makers and a series of workshops in virtual reality, motion capture, 3D animation and live action work.
Every picture tells a story at an exhibition by the QCA’s photojournalism students.Cambodia: Witness to Changeis an eight-year retrospective that highlights the work produced by photography students during annual in-field trips to Cambodia.
The Queensland Conservatorium ensemble-in-residence,Ensemble Q, will perform and present a series of workshops and masterclasses with musicians of all levels and ages.

Ensemble Q co-founder Paul Dean will also discuss the world premiere of his opera,Dry River Run,which opens at the Queensland Conservatorium on 1 September.
Professor DonnaPendergast, Dean and Head of Griffith University’s School of Education and Professional Studies will be leading a workshop for teachers onCreativity, Neuroscience and Learning.

Photo credit: Alexandra Gieb
Photography students from the Queensland College of Art have turned their lens on Roma, revealing the people and landscapes that make up the small country town.

Photo credit: Levi Bell
Six hours drive west of Brisbane, Roma is the gateway to the Outback and Carnarvon Gorge, famed for its cattle saleyards and country hospitality.
Fourteen photography students spent a week in Roma as part of an in-field excursion to explore regional Queensland – a program theQCA has run for the past 25 years.
The theme of this year’s project was “Community Life: An Inner Perspective, Connecting through Story”.
The result is a stunning documentary photography exhibition, “Roma Revealed”, on show at the ABC Studios at South Bank until 17 August.
Students captured a range of stories, including life on the land, the Men’s Shed and the local knitting circle.

Photo credit: Emilie Ledwidge
Bachelor of Photography student Emilie Ledwidge, who spent several days photographing the rehabilitation of an orphaned joey kangaroo, said the trip had been a chance to rediscover her rural roots.
“I loved it out in Roma – I’ve spent most of my life in small, rural towns and I love the sense of community,” she said.

Photo credit: Emilie Ledwidge
“I spent a lot of time with one of the locals, Mitch, who had rescued an orphaned joey.
“I think he fell in love with her, and she was part of the family – he hand fed her, and made her little pillowcase pouches to sleep in.
“Documentary photography is all about creating a compelling story, and the closer you get to your subject, the better you can tell that story.”
Photography program director Dr Heather Faulkner said the field trip was designed to help students enhance their visual narrative skills.
“Students work in small teams to produce stories through text and photography – we keep going back because the students get so much out of it,” she said.
“There are a lot of amazing untold stories in these communities and our students are helping to bring them to light.”
QCA Sessional Lecturer Shehab Uddin said the trip had been life changing for the students involved.
“It’s always exciting being a tutor on one of these trips,” he said.
“It is a very intense experience for the students and they come back with a new way of working and a different outlook on life.”

Photo credit: Amy Hall
The photos will be published online at The Argusand archived at the State Library of Queensland in the ‘Queensland Memory’ catalogue.
‘Roma Revealed’, ABC Brisbane Foyer, 114 Grey St, South Brisbane. Weekdays, 8am – 5pm until 17 August.
Musical theatre stars from the Queensland Conservatorium are wowing audiences with a sell-out winter season at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
Final year triple-threats have wowed audiences at the iconic arts venue with two acclaimed productions: a musical re-imagining of the beloved literary classic, Little Women, and the classic Broadway smash,Company.
Jerrod Smith is one of the actors playing the lead inCompany – a part he describes as”a dream role”.
“I’ve really fallen in love with the character, it’s been an amazing experience to be playing the lead in a production like this,” he said.
“Being at the Powerhouse also offers us great exposure – it’s not just family and friends along to see these shows, they both sold out before the cast was confirmed.
“I think productions like this offer audiences the best chance to see students at the final stage of their training right before they head out into professional roles.”
Fellow final-year student Hannah Bennett is taking on the role of Joanne in Company –an iconic part played by legendary musical theatre divas including Elaine Stritch and Patti LuPone.
“I get to belt out the classic Sondheim tune, Ladies Who Lunch, and the character is such a delight to play,” she said.
“She’s very brash, abrasive and has some great one-liners – this is one of my top five bucket list roles.”

Rebecca Rolle played the role of Jo March in the musical adaptation of Little Women, which played to sell-out crowds during its run earlier this month.
“The tickets to our season sold out in a week and we had great audiences,” she said.
“It is a very intimate theatre-in-the-round, which offers you a completely difference experience as a performer.
“It was jaw-dropping to be cast in one of the lead roles – it was a great chance to put all of our hard work and training to use.”
Queensland Conservatorium Director Professor Scott Harrison said the Powerhouse season offered a chance for students to work with leading industry professionals and perform in a professional setting.
“Our close ties with the Brisbane Powerhouse have opened up remarkable opportunities for our students,” he said.
“The students have had the chance to work with industry professionals who are at the top of their game, with a host of guest directors, musical directors and choreographers.
“They have also had the chance to perform at the Powerhouse, which is the home to many of Brisbane’s independent musical theatre productions.”
Queensland Conservatorium Head of Performing Arts, Associate Professor Paul Sabey, said Queensland Conservatorium musical theatre graduates formed the backbone of performing arts productions in Australia and internationally.
“Since its inception in 2011, our Bachelor of Musical Theatre has turned out the country’s finest triple-threat talent, with graduates cast in high profile productions like My Fair Lady, Aladdin, Mamma Mia and Beautiful,” he said.
“The program was the first of its kind in the country, and offers aspiring musical theatre stars the chance to prepare for a career in the industry under the direction of internationally renowned teachers and performers.
“Our program has a focus on industry engagement and we believe it is vital that young performers build their professional networks and gain exposure to the industry while they study.”
By Ms Zoe Rathus AM,
Director of Legal Clinic
One of the pleasures of being an academic is the opportunity to contribute to and participate in community and academic events dealing with critical current issues. Over the last few weeks I facilitated a community discussion about domestic violence and the legal system and attended a seminar about the tragedy of Indigenous women’s incarceration in Queensland and the launch of a service to educate relevant people about new laws protecting sexual assault counselling notes from being revealed in Queensland courts by way of subpoena.
Red Rose Foundation Seminar: Challenge the Legal System
The Red Rose Foundation is a community organisation dedicated to reducing the number of deaths caused by domestic and family violence. Its mantra is “change the ending” and the seminar held in June aimed to collect information and ideas from a wide range of people working in the domestic violence sector. The keynote speaker was Magistrate Linda Bradford-Morgan who sits in the Domestic Violence Court. She drew attention to the reasonably new section in the Criminal Code which makes it an offence for a person to choke, suffocate or strangle another person without that person’s consent when they are in a domestic relationship.[1] This section was inserted in the Criminal Code as a result of a growing understanding that attempted strangulation is often a flag for lethality in domestic and family violence situations. Her Honour suggested that a definition of strangulation was required and that the issue of consent can raise complex evidentiary problems in cases involving violence between intimate partners.
Other speakers at the forum included researchers at the Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Unit in the State Coroner’s Office, members of the Queensland Police Service, solicitors in private practice, Sisters Inside and the Women’s Legal Service.
An ongoing issue is the extent to which cross applications are still taken out in cases using the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act.[2] This occurs where a victim of domestic violence seeks legal protection by taking out a domestic violence order and then the perpetrator of violence also applies for an order claiming that the other party has perpetrated violence. When mutual orders are made, at a practical level, the protection offered to victims is rendered rather useless and the true victim loses both their protection and their faith in the legal system.
More information about the Red Rose Foundation.
Law Futures Centre and Caxton Legal Centre: System Failure — the Overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women in Prison
On 19th July the Law Futures Centre, together with Caxton Legal Centre hosted a seminar dealing with the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Queensland prisons. It was facilitated by award-winning author Melissa Lukashenko, a Goorie woman of Bundjalung and European heritage. The speakers were Magistrate Jacqui Payne, Antoinette Braybook,[3] CEO of Djirra (formerly the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria) and Neta-Rie Mabo, from Sisters Inside, who works with young people in detention. Alarmingly she spoke of Indigenous girls as young as 11 in detention in Queensland.
Later this year Sisters Inside will host a further conference on imagining the abolition of prisons.
The statistics demonstrate a set of social issues requiring urgent and thoughtful attention. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are only 2% of the Australian adult female population but comprise 34% of women in prison. They are ‘the fastest-growing cohort of prisoners in Australia, with imprisonment rates growing faster than both Indigenous men and non-Indigenous women’ and are often imprisoned for minor offences.[4]
Counselling Notes Project
An important collaborative project between the Women’s Legal Service Qld (WLS) and Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ) was launched by the Attorney-General, the Hon Yvette D’Ath MP, on 17 July at the offices of LAQ. The Counselling Notes Protect Service is a new free legal service to provide advice, assistance and representation under new laws in Queensland which provide protection from having to produce counselling records of victims of sexual assault in Queensland courts in certain circumstances. The laws are a result of amendments to a number of pieces of legislation[5] and were proclaimed in December, 2017. The privilege in relation to such notes is triggered when a victim of makes a complaint of a sexual assault offence to the police or raises such an offence in domestic violence court proceedings.
It has taken over 20 years to achieve these reforms. The need to develop a legislative framework for dealing with subpoenas to produce sexual assault counselling notes became a national discussion in 1995. At that time Di Lucas, from the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, was jailed by a New South Wales magistrate for contempt when she refused to comply with a subpoena to produce the counselling notes.[6] The subpoena had been issued by defence lawyers seeking, no doubt, to cast doubt on the credibility of the complainant.
Legal Aid Queensland information on protecting sexual assault counselling records.
[1] Queensland Criminal Code s 315A
[2] Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld)
[3] https://indigenousx.com.au/antoinette-braybrook-its-time-to-listen-to-and-value-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-womens-voices/#.W1WLh8J9haY
[4] D Kilroy, ‘Women in Prison in Australia’, Current Issues in Sentencing Conference, National Judicial College of Australia and the ANU College of Law, 2016, <https://njca.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Kilroy-Debbie-Women-in-Prison-in-Australia-paper.pdf>
[5] Evidence Act 1977, Justices Act 1886, Domestic and Family Violence Act 2012 and the Criminal Code.
[6] A Athemer, ‘“Sit Down Girlie”: Legal issues from a feminist perspective’, (1996) 21(1) Alternate Law Journal 40.
This article has strong adult themes and subject matter that some audience members may find confronting.
For support we recommend talking with these specialist organisations:
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
Griffith Business School and the Yunus Social Business Centre have welcomed four new Social Entrepreneurs in Residence as part of its ‘Executive-in-residence’ program to develop its ongoing offerings for 2019.
Ms Anna Guenther, Mr Tom Allen, Mr Tony Sharp and Ms Emma-Kate Rose make up the pilot cohort of social entrepreneurs who started with the University in June, leading a six-month program focused on sector development.

Ms Anna Guenther
“Supporting innovation is a key part of Yunus Centre strategy, so we’re delighted to have launched the ‘Social Entrepreneurs in Residence’ program with four exceptional people,” Yunus Centre Director Mr Alex Hannant said.
“During their time with Griffith, each of the Entrepreneurs will be working on a project that will contribute to the social business ecosystem, and we’re really excited to see what we can create together.
“The Social Entrepreneurs in Residence will also be available to support students and share their insights and expertise with the Griffith Community.”
Each of the entrepreneurs brings a unique skill set to Griffith, grown through their individual experiences in the social enterprise space.
Ms Guenther is the co-founder of PledgeMe, New Zealand’s first crowdfunding platform, which launched six years ago and has since seen more than 1200 campaigns raise more than $26 million through its service.

Ms Emma-Kate Rose
As founder and chief executive of social enterprise Impact Boom, Mr Allen brings to the program a great deal of experience working with entrepreneurs to help them realise their full potential.
“It was an honour to be invited to participate and shows a strong commitment from Griffith to help build and develop the local social enterprise ecosystem,” he said of his involvement in the program.
“I’m really enthusiastic about collaborating with the other SEiRs, all who have shown that they go beyond talking and are actively involved in creating positive social change.”
Joining them, Mr Sharp is a stalwart of the local community and the founder of Logan-based organisation Substation33, providing meaningful work and skills development for volunteers and employees alike.
Meanwhile, Ms Rose possesses considerable academic nous — she has skills spanning across the research, lecturing, management and enterprise development fields — and currently serves as the General Happiness Manager of Food Connect.

Mr Tony Sharp
She says that, upon being invited to join the program by Mr Hannant, she “immediately said yes”.
“It’s not often a world-weary, middle-aged female social entrepreneur gets an opportunity like this!” Ms Rose said.
“The small team at the Yunus Centre have been incredibly supportive and Alex is a brilliant leader. My three co-conspirators are amazing human beings and I feel incredibly humbled to be in their company.”
During their residency, the four distinguished businesspeople will engage in activities such as sharing knowledge, expertise and experience; providing insight on, and contribution to, research, teaching, curriculum development and other GBS activities; promoting collaboration in research, practice and community engagement; and fostering, supporting and accelerating new innovations in the field of social enterprise that result in positive societal impacts.
For example, Ms Rose says she would like “to document the process for equity crowdfunding for the purchase of our building so that other social enterprises can learn from our experience” during the residency, as well as supporting her colleagues in achieving their goals.

Mr Tom Allen
Mr Allen echoes her sentiments: “One of my key goals is in helping to build and grow the Australian social enterprise ecosystem as well as providing the necessary support for people, startups and organisations which have an idea and are keen to turn that into positive social impact,” he said.
“Working with purpose-led businesses to help them grow, scale and tackle problems effectively is a passion, and I see a lot of momentum building in the space.”
Following the six-month pilot period, the Social Entrepreneurs in Residence program will be launched as an ongoing program from 2019, with the inaugural cohort helping to inform and design its implementation.
“This is a new program that the Yunus Centre will be running every year, ensuring that Griffith is connected with, and making a positive contribution to, Queensland’s fast-growing social enterprise sector,” Mr Hannant said.
“These connections will provide powerful and relevant inputs into social business learning and research at Griffith.”
For more information about the Yunus Social Business Centre and the Social Entrepreneurs in Residence program, see its website.
Griffith University’s Professor Paul Simshauser will lend his expertise in economics to the University of Cambridge as the newest member of its esteemed Energy Policy Research Group.
Professor Simshauser joins more than 60 academics from highly regarded institutions around the world as part of the group’s cabal of Associate Researchers, and is one of only two from an Australian university to claim membership.
“I was humbled to be welcomed into the University of Cambridge’s Energy Policy Research Group as an Associate Researcher,” Professor Simshauser said of the appointment.
“The group has access to some of the world’s finest minds in economics, technology policy and political science, and I am excited to contribute to its vital work in improving decision- and policy-making for the electricity and energy industries.”
Under the direction of Cambridge’s Professor David Newbery, the Energy Policy Research Group is based at the university’s Judge Business School, and is responsible for delivering “rigorous independent research output” to help steer the direction of energy policy across both the private and public sectors.
Professor Simshauser adds to the group’s already-considerable expertise with his own knowledge and experience garnered from his work as a Professor of Economics, specialising in energy economics and energy policy.
He was previously the Director-General of the Department of Energy and Water Supply, and Chief Economist with AGL Energy, one of Australia’s largest utility companies.
Professor Simshauser holds membership in the Economics Society of Australia as well as CEDA’s Council on Economic Policy, and is a Fellow of CPA Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
For more information about the Energy Policy Research Group, see its website.
New ways of improving the effectiveness of dressings and securements for the prevention of peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) failure in adults is urgently required.
This is according toProfessor Claire Rickardfrom the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research, a part of Griffith’sMenzies Health Institute Queensland, following new researchpublished in The Lancet medical journal.
PIVCs are the most common invasive medical devices used in hospitals. Around 2billiondevices are sold globally each year, and most patients who are admitted to hospital require intravenous therapy.
PIVC failure is unacceptably common: up to 69 per cent of devices require removal due to dislodgement,pain, occlusion,leakageor infection.
“PIVC failure can lead to pain and anxiety, interrupted therapy,andmorbidityand mortality associated with infection, and additional procedures are often needed to replace catheters, all of which substantially increases healthcare costs and workload,” says Professor Rickard.
TheNational Health and Medical Research Councilfunded the research which took placein Brisbaneat the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
The trial took1807eligible patients aged 18 and over who required PIVC insertion for clinical treatmentrequired for longer than 24 hours, and randomly assigned them to receive tissue adhesive with polyurethane dressing, bordered polyurethane dressing, a securement device with polyurethane dressing, or polyurethane dressing (controlgroup).
“Overall, 41 per cent of patients had all-cause PIVC failure.We compared three alternative dressings and securements with low-cost polyurethane dressings, but none of the interventions significantly reduced PIVC failure,” says Professor Rickard.
“All products tested, including polyurethane were associated with PIVC failure and often needed reinforcement. Thus innovation to develop effective, durable products is urgently needed.”
Substantial savings
Shesaysthe study indicates that substantial savings could be made for the Australian health system if clinicians use low cost polyurethane dressings for PIVCs, in the absence ofaclinical rationale for use of a more expensive product.
Professor Samantha Keogh, President of the Australian Vascular Access Society congratulated Professor Rickard and her team for completing much needed rigorous trial research in this area.
“An overwhelming majority of patients (90%) in Australian hospitals require some sort of vascular access device for delivery of essential treatment or sampling. More investment in innovative and effective vascular access practice and products is required, as well as the quality research evaluating and implementing these.
“This study highlights that PIVC failure is continuing at an unacceptably high rate which has significant implications for the patient’s IV experience, as well as for healthcare costs.”
Research published in Nature has found that fish respond to warming seas more strongly than they do to bleaching of corals.
Griffith University researchers played a key role in the study — which was led by the University of Tasmania and included researchers from James Cook University – thatanalyseddata on fish, invertebrates and corals that were collected across the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea both before and after the 2016 ocean heat wave.
It identified important changes in reef-animal communities that may affect the resilience of coral reefs, potentially reducing the capacity of corals to rebuild after mass bleaching.

Credit: Rick Stuart-Smith
Recent mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef has devastated large areas of coral, and corals are a key habitat for many types of fish.
“We know that coral reef ecosystems are changing dramatically in response to global warming, but the focus has usually been on the fate of corals, with clear impacts of mass bleaching observable from aerial images,” study leader Rick Stuart-Smith of the University of Tasmania said.
But fish also respond directly to warming waters. The fish that live on the Great Barrier Reef play a crucial role in its ecosystems, the tourism industry and fishing industries.
“There were broad regional changes in fish communities that were consistent all the way from the far northern reefs to the southern reefs,” study co-authorDrChris Brown of Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute said.
“Fish are cold-blooded organisms, so there are certain temperatures that suit them best. They don’t like the water to be too hot or too cold.”
One of the groups of fish that responded strongly to the heatwave were herbivorous fish. These fish eat algae, which assists coral recovery following bleaching.
The study found herbivorous fish declined on the northern reefs, most likely because waters became too warm for them. They may have increased slightly at cooler southern reefs.
The team were able to conduct this analysis because of extensive data on corals and fish provided by the Reef Life Survey (RLS) citizen science program.
DrStuart-Smith said the observations suggested that recovery processes would depend on functional changes in reef communities, which in turn depended on how temperatures changed the makeup of fish and invertebrates that lived on the reefs.
“These findings underscore the importance of building the reef’s resilience through local management actions,”DrBrown said.
“Doing so is not only important for the reef’s corals, but also its fish community.”
As well as considering how to conserve and restore corals in areas affected by bleaching,DrStuart-Smith said there also needed to be consideration on how to maintain or build the broader fish communities that provided reef resilience.
“This may mean considering where particular species in these important groups are subject to overlapping pressures such as fishing, warming and habitat loss, to better plan protected areas or manage human pressures like pollution for a warmer future,” he said.
The study was led by researchers from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University were partners in this study. Analyses were supported by the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program.
Reducing the high rate of suicide within the construction industry has been the successful outcome for Griffith Masters of Suicidology graduate Jorgen Gullestrup.
Named this week as the 2018 Winner of the14th Annual LiFE Award recognising excellence in suicide prevention by Suicide Prevention Australia, Mr Gullestrup says he is ‘delighted and very humbled’ by the award.
“I am very humbled to be recognised for my work but I would like to emphasise that suicide prevention is not just something done by one or two people, but a collective exercise involving many people and which relies on many of the correct conditions being in place.”
MATES in Construction
It was ten years ago that Mr Gullestrup, a graduate of Griffith’s Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), developed the MATES in Construction program with the help of the Building Employees Redundancy Trust.
The program’s vision is to be Australia’s leading industry suicide prevention organisation focusing on raising awareness, building capacity, providing help and research.
Within the first five years of operation, an 8% reduction in Queensland construction industry suicide rates was achieved. Jorgen has presided over the expansion of the program from Queensland which is now reaching over 138,000 workers across four Australian States.
Starting his career in the construction industry, Jorgen saw first-hand the impact of suicide on the workers, their families and friends. Following the 2006 AISRAP investigation into suicide in the Queensland Commercial Building and Construction industry, Jorgen (who, at the time was State Secretary of the Plumbers Union) decided it was time to take action to save the lives of construction workers.
“Suicide and what can lead up to it is a very lonely and dark place for an individual to experience,” says Mr Gullestrup, who had his own personal experience of mental illness and suicide attempts during his early life.
“My employer at the time was very understanding of me and really supported me to get through my plumbing apprenticeship. That experience has always lived with me, so when I saw several mates within the industry take their own lives, I knew more had to be done.”
Through his involvement with AISRAP, Mr Gullestrup made the decision to study for the Graduate Certificate in Suicide Prevention which then later led into undertaking the Masters of Suicidology in 2014.
“I loved studying on both of these programs with AISRAP, which was a great experience after spending my whole working life on manual work.
“The academic work really gave me the background knowledge and confidence to put my arguments forward. Now I can be robust in what I believe in.”
“It’s not too difficult to identify the core leadership capabilities of Jorgen’s that have resulted in this great and deserved success,” says AISRAP senior lecturer Jacinta Hawgood.
“Jorgen is one very authentic, driven and intelligent person who has equality and fairness at his core, while fiercely protecting people’s right to live a life ‘worth living’. His contribution to saving lives and changing the building construction culture to one of care and compassion should be a model for many more industries.”
A unique creative writing prison program at Junee Correction Centre (JCC) in New South Wales is helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men strengthen their connection to culture.
Established in 2011, the ‘Dreaming Inside: Voices from the Junee Correctional Centre Prisoner Writing Program’ is the only prison creative writing program that specifically targets Indigenous inmates.
Griffith Law School academic Professor Elena Marchetti, who is evaluating the program as part of an Australian Research Council grant, said it provided the men with an opportunity to use creative writing as a form of expression and exercise a form of agency by publishing their poems and stories in books without censorship.
“It also enables them to engage with Elders and other community members, fostering a connection with culture,’’ Professor Marchetti said.
Each year, the latest volume is launched at an event hosted by the Wollongong Art Gallery as part of the Sydney Writers Festival and at the JCC with men who are present at the May workshop.
The books have grown from 38 pages in 2013 to 252 pages in the latest volume with contributions from 59 men. Five men contributed to the first volume.
The contributions speak about childhood memories and experiences, hardships and discrimination, government intervention in the personal lives of the men in prison, how and why the men became caught up in the criminal justice system and views about how the devastating legacy of colonisation has impacted on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The program was conceived in 2010 by Aboriginal Elder Aunty Barbara Nicholson who said being in the captive space allowed for a strengthening of culture.
“The only requirement for participation in the program is that the men be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and have no active association alerts or restrictive protection status,’’ Professor Marchetti said.
“Its longevity is because it’s community driven and involves Elders who are respected by the men in prison.”
The project forms part of a larger ARC Future Fellowship project evaluating Indigenous-focused criminal justice programs in ways that acknowledge and privilege the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
The Dreaming Inside books can be purchased from the South Coast Writers Centre.