Photo Of Aboriginal Mother and Son, who birthed at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital Birth Centre in 2011.
This is a growing resource List for First Nations Women, and we would like to invite you to reach out or comment below with further references for Families to access.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies , Woman-centred care and Birthing on Country - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)
Better understanding the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies informs efforts to ensure mothers and babies stay healthy through pregnancy and beyond. In 2020, there were 14,605 babies born to 14,384 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers in Australia. Explore the characteristics and health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and their babies through interactive data visualizations, and in-depth information and trends on the antenatal period, labour and birth, and outcomes for babies at birth.
Enabling the context for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Birthing on Country services: Participatory action research
Birthing on Country is a metaphor for the best start in life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies and their families, an appropriate transition to motherhood and parenting for women and an integrated, holistic and culturally appropriate model of care for all
Project Summary
This First Nations-led project aims to transform intergenerational cycles of trauma to support parents in achieving their hopes and dreams for a happy, safe and healthy family. This is a highly innovative, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led project being administered by the University of Melbourne with the support of a range of partner organisations (UCRH is one of many). The project focuses on transforming cycles of intergenerational trauma and harm to positively reinforce cycles of nurture and recovery, particularly in a baby’s first 2000 days. The project will address critical, documented gaps in perinatal care by building infrastructure for culturally safe, trauma-integrated, holistic, transdisciplinary perinatal care for Aboriginal families. In doing so, it will drive health system reform and establish a transformative shift in health policies and practice and help to ensure that all Aboriginal babies have the best possible start to life.
The Molly Wardaguga Research Centre was established in April 2019 and is dedicated to the late Molly Wardaguga, Burarra Elder, Aboriginal Midwife, Senior Aboriginal Health Worker and founding member of the Malabam Health Board in Maningrida, Arnhem Land.
Molly was an important contributor to the Australian discourse regarding the importance of Birthing on Country. Her work and mentoring in Aboriginal health and research, and maternal and infant health in particular, has galvanised many advocates to improve maternity services for Indigenous Australians.
Molly's vision to support women’s cultural and birthing aspirations, especially those living in remote locations, will endure through the Molly Wardaguga Research Centre.
The Molly Wardaguga Research Centre is an initiative of Charles Darwin University.
Birth trauma Australasian Birth Trauma Association – Birth Trauma
PLEASE NOTE (This resource is not specifically for First Nations Women)
This evolving website is one way we are sharing Yolŋu knowledge and ideas about child development and child rearing from the findings of a research project conducted in a remote community in northern Australia. Yolŋu are Aboriginal people from Northeast Arnhemland in Northern Australia. Balanda is a term that Yolŋu use to refer to non-Aboriginal people. The project was funded by the Lotwitja Institute and Charles Darwin University. Click here for more information about the project and here for other resources about the findings.
Replanting the Birthing Trees to Support First Nations Parents and Babies - University Centre for Rural Health (ucrh.edu.au)
Project Summary
This First Nations-led project aims to transform intergenerational cycles of trauma to support parents in achieving their hopes and dreams for a happy, safe and healthy family. This is a highly innovative, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led project being administered by the University of Melbourne with the support of a range of partner organizations (UCRH is one of many). The project focuses on transforming cycles of intergenerational trauma and harm to positively reinforce cycles of nurture and recovery, particularly in a baby’s first 2000 days. The project will address critical, documented gaps in perinatal care by building infrastructure for culturally safe, trauma-integrated, holistic, transdisciplinary perinatal care for Aboriginal families. In doing so, it will drive health system reform and establish a transformative shift in health policies and practice and help to ensure that all Aboriginal babies have the best possible start to life.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services
Baggarrook is more than just a midwifery program – it’s a community. This National Close the Gap Day (16 March 2023) the Women’s Baggarrook midwives share how they’re improving outcomes for Indigenous families.
Mater Research, Principal Research Fellow Indigenous Health Associate Professor Kym Rae discusses child birth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and the work being done to improve health outcomes for mothers in these communities.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers are at increased likelihood of suffering complications of pregnancy, including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. They also have higher rates of babies being born early or low-birth weight,” Kym said.
The Australian Family Partnership Program (AFPP) is an intensive voluntary home visiting program supporting mothers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies from pregnancy through to the child’s second birthday. It’s an educational and social support program for first-time mothers. AFPP is here to support you and your family on your journey into parenthood. It focuses on your goals, strengths, and dreams for you and your new bub.
This Commonwealth-funded program was established by IUIH on Brisbane’s northside in 2016/17 and extended into the southside from 2017/18.
Direct website:
This has run-on effects, with Aboriginal mothers struggling to find culturally safe healthcare during the most crucial years of their babies’ lives.
Bridgette Kelly and Trish Ratajczak from Murdoch University’s Ngangk Yira Institute for Change are passionate about changing this, with both addressing these gaps in their Accelerated Master’s by Research theses.
Bridgette, a proud Kamilaroi woman, and Trish, a proud Palawa Trawlwoolway woman, have years of experience in the perinatal health space, and hope their research inspires other Aboriginal people to enter university and reclaim their rights to culturally safe healthcare.
In Trish’s thesis the Baby Coming You Ready (BCYR) program, a model of care designed to overcome communication barriers between Aboriginal women and their healthcare providers, is shown to empower women’s decisions and voices in driving strong perinatal care.
“It is not acknowledged enough, the resilience and self-efficacy of Aboriginal women,” Trish said.
Her findings demonstrated that BCYR both recognised and supported the resilience and self-efficacy of Aboriginal mothers and supported strengthening women’s perinatal mental health journeys.
Edie recently gave birth to her fourth child. After the birth she took her placenta with her from hospital and buried it close to where she was born. It is something Edie – whose name has been changed to protect her identity for personal safety reasons – has done with each of her three children. The placenta, she says, is a baby's first home, so it is buried in what Indigenous Australians refer to as "on Country" to identify that place as the baby's home. It gives the newborns their first connection to the generations of ancestors that came before then and the land they inhabit.
The 35-year-old from Brisbane, Queensland, is one of a growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who are turning to a movement known as "Birthing on Country" as an alternative to standard maternal services offered by the Australian healthcare system.
Gunawirra is a community-led organisation with 13 years of experience supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers, children and communities. We are Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people working side-by-side and culture is at the heart of our organisation and all of our programs. The effectiveness of many of our programs have been evaluated by the University of Western Sydney and the University of Sydney. Our cultural advisors and professionals work together to ensure we provide authentic, community-led services that celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and healing.
The Gunawirra multidisciplinary team primarily works in two parts. One being our Yarning Aboriginal Mothers Group and the other working closely with 26 preschool communities to provide speech therapy, art therapy, occupational therapy and social work services. Gunawirra has extended its operations to support preschool teachers at predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools to manage trauma within the classroom and teach in a culturally appropriate way.
Our Research Models of Excellence
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