AustLit

'Adrian Stanley, lecturer in natural and cultural resource management, born 1965, in Naracoorte, S. Aust., talks about his family background and his earliest memories; his early awareness of his Aboriginality; his education; encountering racism at school; his father's political activism; an awareness of Indigenous issues at an early age; the Indigenous organisations his father was involved in; Agricultural College and his experiences there; life after College; moving back to Adelaide with his father, working odd jobs; establishing and working for a volunteer gardening project; the recession and lack of work available; applying for a Conservation and Park Management course at Salisbury; accepting a position as a Lecturer for Natural and Cultural Resource Management; moving to the Northern Territory after accepting this position; his experiences of teaching; the differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal attitudes to ecology; field work undertaken; the courses he teaches; Indigenous attitudes to pest control; a Bilby program he was involved in; his interest in captive breeding and marine life; the Mimosa and Olive problems.

'Stanley discusses Indigenous conservation practices; teaching Indigenous as well as western conservation methods; Aboriginal National Parks and the employment of Indigenous people in the Parks and Wildlife services; the benefits of using Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal park rangers; the importance of learning to live and work with non-Indigenous people; his intention to visit his father's country near Cherbourg; the Aboriginal sense of place and spirituality and connection to the land; his opinion on the state of the environment in Australia; how education would assist Aboriginal communities to manage land better; the mining industry in Australia; his opinion on the development of Aboriginal National Parks; wanting to continue to teach and work with Aboriginal people; the differences between the Aboriginal communities in Adelaide and the Northern Territory; his children; the knowledge he'd like to pass on to his children; his intentions to study at a postgraduate level; the future for his family.' (Interview summary)