ABSTRACT
Juanita Sherwood is an Aboriginal woman, a descendant of the Wiradjuri Nation, a daughter, a mother, a sister, and an aunt and have worked and lived in Aboriginal health and education for over twenty-five years. She likes to establish the context for her research story within the contested space of Indigenous health research in Australia. Importantly, poor research of the past has influenced how Aboriginal peoples today are viewed within the health service arena, mainstream media, and the general Australian population. These ill-informed ways of knowing about Aboriginal Australians have affected how Aboriginal health is dealt with. Elders are scholars in their own right within the First Nations knowledge system. The elders wanted her knowledge to be balanced with Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing and not just focused on the academic stuff. Aboriginal people were determining child health and education policy.
