Safer sex and condom use: a convenience sample of Aboriginal young people in New South Wales

Sexual Health ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Bryant ◽  
James Ward ◽  
Heather Worth ◽  
Peter Hull ◽  
Sarina Solar ◽  
...  

Background This paper examines condom use in a sample of Aboriginal young people in New South Wales (NSW) aged 16–30 years. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected using hand-held computer devices from 293 Aboriginal people attending two Aboriginal events in NSW. Results: Almost two-thirds of respondents reported having had a casual sex partner in the previous 6 months. Of these, 39.2% reported always using a condom with casual partners. Having always used a condom with casual partners varied among respondents, and was more likely among younger respondents (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–6.1) and less likely among those who used illicit drugs (AOR: 0.2, 95% CI: 0.1–0.7). Conclusions: In comparison to published studies of other Australians, casual sex appears to be more common among this sample of Aboriginal young people; however, the proportion who report having always used condoms with casual partners is very similar. This suggests that although casual sex is more common, Aboriginal young people do not engage in risky behaviour any more often than other young Australians. Further work should be conducted with those who do not always use condoms, such as those who are older and who use illicit drugs, particularly with regards to how abstinence from drug use supports protective behaviours such as condom use among this population of Aboriginal young people.


2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
SJ Holdaway ◽  
PC Fanning ◽  
DC Witter

Recent erosion in arid regions of western NSW has exposed large areas that are scattered with stone artefacts manufactured by Aboriginal people in prehistory. These exposures offer an opportunity for archaeologists to study the artefacts abandoned by Aboriginal people through time and to compare those artefacts that accumulate in different parts of the landscape. To reconstruct the nature of prehistoric behaviour in the rangelands, two approaches are needed. First, the geomorphological context of the artefacts needs to be considered since exposure of the artefacts is a function of landscape history. Second, large areas (measured in thousands of square metres) and large numbers of artefacts need to be considered if patterns reflecting long-term abandonment behaviour by Aboriginal people are to be identified. This paper reports on the Western New South Wales Archaeological Program (WNSWAP) which was initiated in 1995 to study surface archaeology in the rangelands. Geomorphological studies are combined with artefact analysis using geographic information system software to investigate Aboriginal stone artefact scatters and associated features such as heat retainer hearths, in a landscape context. Results suggest that apparently random scatters of stone artefacts are in fact patterned in ways which inform on prehistoric Aboriginal settlement of the rangelands. Key words: Aboriginal stone artefacts; rangelands; landscape archaeology; geomorphology; GIs



1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-67
Author(s):  
Virginia Macleod

Warriewood is on Sydney's northern beaches, between Mona Vale and North Narrabeen, in the Pittwater local government area.This was once a 'wet' part of the coast. Lagoons and swamps were typical of the northern beaches and east coast of New South Wales. Narrabeen Creek flows through the middle of Warriewood, and Mullet Creek marks its southern boundary. Early nineteenth-century maps mark most of the land between the south-east corner of Pittwater across to Mona Vale Beach and south, including Warriewood Valley, as swamp. The local Guringai Aboriginal people would have found these swamps rich in food supplies – fish, birds, plants and naturally fresh water.



2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Tomsen

Anti-homosexual harassment and violence are often described as ‘hate’ crimes perpetrated by homophobic people who act on an extreme and irrational contempt for the sexual identity of victims, and killings are regarded as the most typical form of these incidents. But there is little detailed international research evidence about the victims, perpetrators and the social aspects of such fatal violent incidents. The author's ongoing study in New South Wales, Australia, has filled some of these gaps. It has drawn evidence from 74 homicides with male victims that occurred in New South Wales between 1980–2000. Information sources were press records, police interviews with suspects, Coroner's court files and documents from the criminal trials of accused perpetrators. Analysis of the social characteristics of victims and perpetrators and the fatal scenarios reflect the significance of situational factors (such as alcohol, illicit drugs and anonymous sexual cruising) as well as the ‘hate’ motive in this fatal violence. Some perpetrators have serious drug use or psychological problems, whereas most killers are young men and boys from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The major scenarios of killing indicate that these crimes are linked to commonplace issues of male honour and masculine identity that are sharpened in the perpetrators’ situations by their marginal social status.



1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.W. Harris

It is uncertain when the last exclusion of children from a public school, merely for having some Aboriginal ancestry, actually occurred. In 1937, the Commonwealth and States’ conference on Aboriginal matters recommended assimilation as a general policy rather than protection, particularly with regard to the detribalized, part-caste Aboriginal people. In 1938, the New South Wales Public Service Board in its report on the Aborigines Protection Board, recommended the policy of assimilation be implemented in schools. In 1940, the Aborigines Protection Act was amended. The Aborigines Protection Board was renamed the Aborigines Welfare Board and restructured to include Aboriginal members. The complete responsibility for the education of all Aboriginal children was transferred to the New South Wales Department of Education. Almost overnight, the policy of segregation was changed to assimilation.



1985 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Wright

Lake Mungo, in New South Wales, is the home of the first known people in this country. Here, the oldest known evidence of Aboriginal people in Australia has been found. Because of its importance, it is a site which everyone should know about. To give us a feeling for Lake Mungo, Billy Reid, the illustrator of The Aboriginal Health Worker and The Aboriginal Child at School, came with me on a trip. We travelled west to the Darling River (whose Aboriginal name is Calewatta), and then south-east to Lake Mungo itself. Billy made wonderful drawings to represent the deeds and everyday life of those people. This can be reconstructed from the fossil evidence found at Lake Mungo. He has also drawn some scenes of life along the banks of the Calewatta - the river which is Billy’s own home. He hails from Bourke.



1991 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Freedman ◽  
Teresa Donaczy

Teresa Donaczy’s calm presence and quiet sense of humour cannot mask her pain. The memory of removal from her family at the age of five still haunts her. A re-union thirty-four years later, a happy marriage, nine children and thirteen grandchildren cannot erase the hurt. Born Teresa Kirby on an Aboriginal reserve in the New South Wales town of Balranald in 1936, Teresa recalls how the Aboriginal people hid their children in the bushes to avoid them being taken by New South Wales Government authorities.



2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Donnelly ◽  
Susan Quine ◽  
Brian Oldenburg ◽  
Petra Macaskill ◽  
David Lyle ◽  
...  


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