Summary: Negotiating the Sacred | John Bradley <strong>‘The things we dare to presume’ Family, identity and country</strong> John Bradley The intervention into Indigenous communities has drawn Australia’s gaze to northern Australia. Indigenous communities have been portrayed as lacking in social capital, human values; they are seen to be violent and dysfunctional places while through silence the rest of Australia is seen to be functional. This presentation seeks to explore some life from within one particular community in the south west Gulf of Carpentaria and present another view of what communities are doing, where despite adversity and the lack of Governmental ears in regard to what may ‘needed’, issues of identity and what the sacred may be in 2008 are still important issues that are worth constant engagement. <em>Biographical note</em> John Bradley is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies at Monash University. The majority of his research has been undertaken in the southwest Gulf of Carpentaria with particular emphasis on the marine and island environments of the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, the country of the Yanyuwa people. Much of this work has dealt with the value of intangible heritage and how it can be utilised in regard to joint protection of both biological species and heritage sites. My most important contributions to this field has been in regard to ethno-biology, Indigenous language maintenance, land and sea rights and documenting Indigenous knowledge. His recent work has involved working with the Yanyuwa people in the storyboarding of 400 kilometres of song lines and 30 other major texts with a view to animation. He is also a member of a UNESCO panel that is concerned with the future of Indigenous knowledge in the 21st century.
