Aboriginal mobility data project: Final report

Indigenous populations across the world are increasingly becoming urbanised (ABS 2017; Synder andWilson 2015) and this is associated with increasing mobility between urban, regional and rural areas, andwithin such areas. Mobility has two facets, that which arises out of cultural and social organisation and thatwhich can be seen as ‘itinerant’ (Birdsall-Jones and Shaw 2008). Indigenous mobility often results in whatthe non-Indigenous worldview would see as homelessness. Research indicates that such mobility raises a number of issues impacting on individual, family and community wellbeing, creating challenges for adequate service provision and access (Synder and Wilson 2015).Aboriginal people sleeping in the Park Lands of the inner city of Adelaide has been identified as a ‘problem’ for quite some time. A number of suggestions about how to provide a better service response to Aboriginal visitors to Adelaide who sleep out or sleep rough have been made, however, there is limited knowledge across the sector about which community groups are represented among the remote visitors, their reasons for traveling to Adelaide, as well as their immediate and long-term needs. Without such information it is difficult to provide solutions that respect the rights of all in the community, both at a point in time and over time.