Resources and publications

This short manual attempts to provide a general guide to the grant writing process. It focuses on the first half of the process, covering the steps that lead to the submission of your grant proposal. In addition, it provides web resources that, although may not specifically apply to your organization, can be useful in understanding the general procedures of grant writing and in getting you started.

'Against native title' is about a divisive native title claim in the town of Ceduna where the claims process has thoroughly reorganised local Aboriginal identities over the course of the past decade. The central character in this story is senior Aboriginal woman Sue Haseldine, who, with her extended family, have experienced native title as an unwelcome imposition: something that has emanated from the state and out of which they gained only enemies. But this is not simply a tale of conflict. Threaded throughout is the story of a twice-yearly event called 'rockhole recovery'; trips that involve numerous days of four-wheel drive travel to a series of permanent water sources and Dreaming sites. Through rockhole recovery Sue Haseldine and her family continue to care for, and maintain connections to country, outside of the native title process.

This is a vivacious and very human story, which pursues a controversial and much neglected line of enquiry in which native title is not necessarily seen as a force for recognition and Indigenous empowerment.

To purchase this resource from the AIATSIS shop please follow this link. 

This AGM roadmap has been updated to reflect the significant rule changes that have recently been made for virtual meetings. It remains a user-friendly tool that can be adapted to your entity’s specific needs. In addition to a clear list of deliverables, the roadmap provides you with a regulatory background for each step and prompts you to take action within automatically-generated deadlines.

Native title involves an interface between the Australian legal system and Indigenous legal, cultural and political systems. The assertion and management of native title rights involves collective action by sometimes large and disparate groups of Indigenous people. Contentious politics makes such collective action difficult and the courts will often be asked to decide whether group decisions have been validly made. In the last two decades a vast and complex body of law and practice has developed to address this challenge.

Authorisation law is a set of principles about how the views and intentions of native title claimants or holders are translated into legally effective decisions. This book sets out the legal rules and their application in various situations: native title claims, native title agreement-making, decision-making by native title corporations, and compensation applications. It also addresses key practical, ethical and political dimensions of native title decision-making.

This book will be useful for native title practitioners including lawyers, judges and native title holders. It will also be relevant to academic research into the ethical, political and anthropological dimensions of Indigenous governance.

Checklist to help prepare for large community meetings.

This template can be used to establish a plain English Code of Conduct for board members or your general PBC staff.

This board induction checklist provides a downloadable template for your PBC to formalise the induction process of new board members. It contains suggestions on documents to be included in an induction kit and when and by whom the new board is inducted. 

All of the statements in this document are about the best-practice processes and systems your organisation has for managing disputes and addressing complaints, grievances and appeals. Tick your level of agreement or disagreement with each and then note what priority it is for your organisation.

This collection of papers examines the dilemmas and challenges involved in the Indigenous struggle for the development and recognition of systems of governance that they recognise as both legitimate and effective.

Country, native title and ecology all converge in this volume to describe the dynamic intercultural context of land and water management on Indigenous lands. Indigenous people’s relationships with country are discussed from various speaking positions, including identity and knowledge, the homelands debate, water planning, climate change and market environmentalism. The inter-disciplinary chapters range from an ethnographic description of living waters in the Great Sandy Desert, negotiating the eradication of yellow crazy ants in Arnhem Land, and legal analysis of native title rights in emerging carbon markets. A recurrent theme is the contentions over meaning, knowledge, and authority.

This step-by-step instruction manual is packed with practical advice for managers and supervisors who are on the frontline of hiring and retaining staff. 

The Good Governance Guide is a practical resource for anyone involved in the decision-making process in Victoria’s local government sector. It focuses on the areas where good governance has the most impact and offers suggestions for how it can work.

The objective of this Good Governance Principles and Guidance for Not-for-Profit Organisations (Principles and Guidance) is to share with the NFP community some key principles that are a useful starting point for NFP boards when considering what constitutes good governance practice (with regard to their particular circumstances).

This guide is for people who are, or are thinking of becoming, board members of a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). It focuses on good governance and how it helps charities in the context of their obligations.

Bridging historical scholarship and Aboriginal oral tradition, this innovative book tells the story of the Gugu Badhun people of the Valley of Lagoons in North Queensland. It provides new insights into Aboriginal–European interactions, and new understandings of how Aboriginal people sustained their identities and exercised agency.

It lays bare violence and oppression, but also recognises the inter-racial cooperation and friendships which were equally part of Gugu Badhun experience. It tells of a people whose options were limited by state power and public racism but who remained proud and undaunted, making their own decisions for their collective and individual benefit.

Much of the story is told in the words of Gugu Badhun people themselves. Interviews are interspersed with commentary and analysis by the four authors, one of whom, Yvonne Cadet-James, is herself a Gugu Badhun elder.

This collaborative approach has produced a timely book for an Australia in which notions of Indigenous autonomy and self-determination are being re-imagined and re-configured.

To purchase this book please visit the AIATSIS shop via think link.

This guidance offers suggestions reflecting the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and associated regulation. Companies will need to consider their individual circumstances, including their constitutions and any other relevant matters.

This resource aims to support the many local community initiatives that could go a long way to addressing our communities’ needs and dreams — if only the resources, time and money were available. 

This Best Practice Guide is designed to provide practical guidance for government parties on the behaviours, attitudes and practices that can achieve flexible, broad and efficient resolutions of native title. It identifies a range of common factors indicative of successful broader land settlements that may be applied or adapted to the circumstances of particular settlements.

This revised comprehensive review of AIATSIS sets the highest standards of ethics and support for human rights in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research. While the principles in the 2012 edition are largely retained, they have been reorganised into a new framework and augmented to reflect emerging standards and developments.

This guide provides a general overview of the National Landcare Programme (NLP) investment, which includes investing in projects that build on our partnerships with Indigenous people and communities so they have the opportunity to fully participate in land and sea management, drawing on their significant and unique knowledge, skills and responsibilities.