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Caitlan Davis starts Episode 26 with,

"In the spirit of reconciliation Clinpath Pathology acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Today's episode of This Pathological Life, looks at Indigenous Health and its intersection with Pathology, along with health issues and challenges among Australia's first European settlers. But first...

First Australians meet the First Fleet

The American revolution forced the British to investigate alternate destinations for penal colonies. The answer came from a Botanist who travelled with Captain James Cook in 1770 to a land they called New South Wales.

With the decision made, this ‘new’ land would be forever changed.

The First Fleet took a year to prepare and eight months to voyage to New South Wales and suffered from a variety of ailments (which we examine) on the way.

What we now call Australia, is a hard, dry unexpected land, which proved difficult for Europeans to manage and adjust. 

Yet Indigenous/Aboriginals survived and thrived in this land. 

This episode explores Aboriginal medical knowledge with Dan Tyson, Chief Executive Officer at Desert Knowledge Australia from the year 1788, when the land was quite diverse in geographical areas and Aboriginal people were quite diverse in their technologies to survive. We ponder the recurring question of how when bush medicine and food is still used in many places today, why the health of the Australian Indigenous Communities remains so poor.

This is the tale of two worlds.

GUEST INTERVIEW
Dan Tyson, CEO Desert Knowledge Australia

Twitter: @dka_connect

LinkedIn Dan: linkedin.com/in/dan-tyson-8215636/

LinkedIn DKA: linkedin.com/company/dkaconnect/

Dan is currently member of the AMSANT Research Committee and a member of the Central Region Executive of the Chamber of Commerce however, and has also been a director of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT (AMSANT), and previously director and vice-chair of Katherine Regional Aboriginal Health and Related Services.

He co-founded the Aboriginal Business Industry Chamber of South Australia (ABICSA) and the Mental Health Coalition of SA. Dan holds a PhD in the field of medical anthropology and has worked extensively in the mainstream and Indigenous health sectors.

OTHER VOICES

Doris Pilkington, author, Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence

Joylene Koolmatrie, Aboriginal Healer and Psychologist

Kenneth Branagh, Rabbit Proof Fence

Rev John Brown, co-chair, National Sorry Day Committee

Sir Ronald Wilson, co-author, Bringing Them Home Report