Ongoing development

In 2025, the Ngukurr to Newcastle project was successful in securing an ARC Discovery (Indigenous) grant, Ngukurr to Newcastle: intercultural collaboration and influence, to build on previous research by exploring the Ngukurr Mission Archives at the State Library of NSW. It will also consolidate and build research relationships with two key partners; Ngukurr Arts and Hunter Workers . Ngukurr Arts have expressed keen interest in using this material as a catalyst for their artists to re-tell Dexter Daniels’ story and subsequent exhibitions of this work will be held at both Ngukurr Arts Centre and Hunter Workers.

In addition, the project will more fully explore the intercultural links from Ngukurr, Newcastle and the broader Australian society that have arisen during the preliminary research. Challenging the dominant deficit-centered viewpoints of remote Aboriginal communities, this research will work with communities as sites for lively intercultural exchanges. It will support community members to collect and document stories about the people who were, are and continue to be influential. In doing so, it will tell national stories and histories from Indigenous Australian perspectives with a view to contribute to the truth-telling process of Australian national development.

Collaborative engagement with the community will ensure that these stories are preserved in accessible, creative and performative forms so that they are available for future generations and future leaders. Accomplished playwrights, Dr Ray Kelly, and Mr Brian Joyce, who are also Chief Investigators on the project, will write a play about Daniels to be performed at the Darwin Festival.

Expected outcomes

At the completion of the project in three years, we expect to have:

  • A set of archival resources, oral histories and stories from young people which can be translated into Kriol and taken to Ngukurr Community to fulfill the communities expressed need for access to their own histories and to form a catalyst for further collaborative story telling in the Ngukurr community.
  • High quality scholarly publications and a range of mainstream publications written and/or published in collaboration with community members including an illustrated book in Kriol.
  • Other creative outputs which involve bringing history alive through a play and/or a series of art works.
  • A digital archive which preserves the material we discover and makes it accessible for future generations.