Dear all,

I'm tremendously excited to announce that I have recently signed with
CSIRO Publishing to produce a book to examine, for the first time in any
systematic and (hopefully) comprehensive way, the bird knowledge of
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The book's
working title is /Aboriginal Bird Knowledge/ - though I hope to come up
with something a little more catchy over the next year or so! I'm
planning on getting the book to CSIRO Publishing by around June 2008.

I plan to present historical information (from the oral traditions,
anthropological and linguistic records and ornithological material etc,
of which I've already gathered a lot of material), alongside
contemporary information gathered through contacts and meetings with
Aboriginal people and groups over the course of the next 9 months or so.
I plan to do two long road-trips covering most of the country meeting
and talking with people. I'll also do a few smaller trips to places that
I can't reach easily by car. I look forward to being able to present a
progress report at the AOC 2007 in Perth in December.

The layout of the book will broadly follow that used by Mark Cocker in
his recent encyclopeadic work on British bird knowledge (which I regard
as an ethnoornithology of the British Isles and peoples) titled /Birds
Britannica, /and with a couple of chapters reflecting Aboriginal uses of
birds, and reflections on Birds in indigenous art and culture/. /In
Cocker's book birds were examined by family groupings and I think this
will allow for ease of reference and also a more convenient way to group
knowledge from different language groups from across the country rather
than just by local language groupings.

I'm very aware of the issues related to the use (and potential for
misuse) of Aboriginal traditional knowledge and have proposed several
ways to address possible concerns:

1 - In compliance with the recently released Code of Conduct prepared by
the /International Society of Ethnobiology/ (of which I am a member and
thus bound by) I will seek the prior and informed consent of all
participants in the project;
2 - I'll provide copies of photos, tapes and other research material etc
to all participants or their nominated places of safekeeping (local
Keeping Place, Museum, representative organisation etc);
3 - I'll also lodge a copy of all research material with the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Islander Studies (AITSIS) in Canberra; and
4 - I will preserve individual and group copyrights and intellectual
property and provide written credits and acknowledgments for all
contributions.

There may be other things I need to do in this regard and I'd welcome
any suggestions or comments on this part of the process.

What I'd like to ask this group for are any suggestions or comments you
might have on this project that might be of assistance. I'll be doing
extensive pre-trip contacts and an email and snail-mail mailout plus
drawing on my contacts over the years in order to find the rights people
to talk to during my research.

I'd particularly welcome any suggestions along the following line:

1 - important or relevant people, communities or organisations you think
I should contact;
2 - previous or current research, publications etc relevant to this area;
3 - examples of the application of traditional ornithological knowledge
in practice;
4 - any local resources of relevance;
5 - any other research areas or approaches I might have overlooked; and
6 - anyone who might want to meet and/or provide a bed/in-kind support
etc during my cross-country treks - as always it is the local
connections that are important and any tip, suggestion or new contact
can be important.

I'll set up a blog/webpage to record comments and progress over the
course of this research, particularly what I hope will be the great
field trips to many parts of the country I've yet to visit, and will
advise of the address when this is done. I also have a dedicated email
address (BirdKnowledge@...) to which I'd prefer email for this
project sent.

Thanks to you all and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Robert Gosford
Aboriginal Bird Knowledge book project
LPO Yuendumu
via Alice Springs
NT 0872
Australia
Email: BirdKnowledge@...