ILWS - Institute of Land, Water and Society

Researchers

Dr Jim Birckhead

Bsc StLouis, PhD Alta

Adjunct Research Fellow

Since he retired as a lecturer from Charles Sturt University's School of Environmental and Information Sciences in 2003, life for ILWS adjunct and private consultant Dr Jim Birckhead has never been busier. A shortage of anthropologists in Australia has meant that Jim is in high demand for his skills in working with Indigenous people, often in very remote parts of Australia .

American-born Jim grew up in a culturally-diverse old neighbourhood in St. Louis , Missouri. While studying sociology, anthropology, geography and philosophy at St Louis University , Jim researched the displaced people of the Shenandoah Parkway in Blue Ridge, Virginia, North Carolina, and then cultural change in an eastern Kentucky hollow (community that lives along a creek) at Big Rock, Kentucky . He taught geography for two years at Tennessee Technological University before undertaking his PhD in anthropology at the University of Alberta , Canada . His PhD on the serpent handling religion and ensuing interest has led to many papers and chapters on books on the subject.

In 1976 he moved to Australia to take up a position as an anthropology lecturer with what was the Goulburn College of Advanced Education (now CSU), a position he held until he retired. Much of his research work over those years focussed on Australia 's Indigenous people, and earlier in his career on Aboriginal ranger training programs, and Indigenous hunting in Northern Australia.From 1987 to 1994 he was a member of the NSW Board of Studies Aboriginal Studies Syllabus Committee.

Jim was actively involved in the Native Title Claim by the Githabul people from northern NSW. Over a six year period he worked on reports on their cultural and archaeological sites, and their genealogy, which was used in their submissions to the NSW and Queensland Governments. The NSW claim has been settled but the Queensland one is still being negotiated.

Projects that Jim has undertaken for the Institute include:

• Integrating social and economic assessments of landuse change in Boorowa, NSW, at the catchment scale. National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Professor A.Curtis, Dr D. Race, Dr J. Birckhead, S. McDonald, A.Bathgate (DPI).
• Assessing customer responses to channel automation in Central Goulburn Irrigation Areas 1­4. Water for Rivers. Prof A. Curtis, Dr D. Race, Dr J. Birckhead, M. Boyd, S. Mc Donald, P. Cooke, R. Sample.

and one that is almost complete:

• Economic and cultural value of water to Indigenous People in the River Murray Region. Water for a Healthy Country, Flagship Collaboration Research Fund, CSIRO. Dr Jim Birckhead, Wendy McIntyre (CSIRO), Romy Greiner (River Consulting), Steven Hemming ( Flinders University ) and Matt Rigney (Ngarrindjeri).

The first two of these were a different kind of applied anthropology work for Jim, with an agricultural rather than Indigenous focus. The third project, for which Jim has finished the field work, involved focus group meetings with local Indigenous people at Camp Coorong. "I think the whole Indigenous water issue is emerging as a really big issue," says Jim.

Other recent projects include a preliminary assessment project for a Native Title Claim for the Taungurong people from the Goulburn Valley; an anthropological survey for the Department of Defence at the Cultana Expansion Area near Port Augusta in South Australia (Jim was assessing the impact on sacred sites from proposed military tests); and work for organisation representing Indigenous interests (i.e. the Pilbara Native Title Service in the west, and Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in the south) assessing impacts from proposed mining claims.

Contact

Ph 0260 51 9810

Email jbirckhead@csu.edu.au