Aboriginal Exemption: Truth-telling, History and Healing

• Judi Wickes

  Adjunct Professor

  j.wickes@latrobe.edu.au
  
• Lucinda Aberdeen

  Dr

  lucinda.aberdeen@unimelb.edu.au
  

Project Details

The Indigenous-led project prioritises story making through the collection, creation and dissemination of life writing and family stories about the impacts and ongoing legacies of Aboriginal exemption. Central to its rationale is that historical truth-telling directly contributes to the health and well-being of Indigenous communities and supports mainstream Australia to reconcile with its past. In this way, the project aligns with Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) Advancing Health Strategy 2030 to place Indigenous knowledges and reciprocal learning with Indigenous people and communities at the heart of what MDHS does, and contributes to the truth-telling and justice focus of Murmuk Djerring, The University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Strategy for 2023-2027.

Researchers

Dr Lucinda Aberdeen, Department of Rural Health, Melbourne Medical School

Dr Ash Francisco, Dilin Duwa, Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership,  Melbourne Business School.

Collaborators

Professor Katherine Ellinghaus, La Trobe University
Associate Professor Jennifer Jones, La Trobe University
Dr Jodi Cowper, La Trobe University (Post Doctoral Fellow)
Ms. Bianca Williams, La Trobe University (Graduate Researcher)

Funding

Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP240102275).

Research Outcomes

Wickes, J. and Ellinghaus, K., 2026.  ‘Rain is the Ancestors’ Tears of Joy: ‘Home’ Through the Lens of Aboriginal Exemption’. In  in Dwelling on the Margins of Empire:Colonized and Indigenous Peoples’ Imaginaries of Home, edited by Lisa Binkley. London: Bloomsbury Academic Press, pp. 155-72.

Wickes. J. and Ellinghaus, K., 2025.  ‘“What are you digging up the past for?” Family History and the Realities of Searching through the Archives”. In  Making Public Histories: Australian History Beyond the University, Volume 2, edited by Yves Rees, Emma Robertson, Katherine Ellinghaus and Clare O’Hanlon. Melbourne: La Trobe eBureau Publications.

Wickes, J.,  Masters, C. and Shay, M. (2026,March 25). 100 years on: identity, education and the cost of ‘exemption.  EduResearch Matters. https://blog.aare.edu.au/100-years-on-identity-education-and-the-cost-of-exemption/

Relevant Publications

Print sources:

Aberdeen, L. and Jones, J.A. eds., 2021. Black, white and exempt: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives under exemption. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Aberdeen, L., Ellinghaus, K., Robinson, K. and Wickes, J., 2021. ‘Because of Her, We Can’: Gender and diaspora in Australian exemption policies. In The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History. edited by Ann McGrath and Lynette Russell. Routledge, pp. 399-418.

Wickes, J., Robinson, K. and Aberdeen, L., 2023. Living Under Aboriginal Exemption: Negotiating State Governments' Policies and Practices. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 69(1), pp.1-5.

Wickes, J. and Aberdeen, L., 2017. The Diaries of Daisy Smith: The Experience of Citizenship for an Exempted Family in Mid‐Twentieth Century Queensland. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 63(1), pp.62-77.

Internet sources:

Aboriginal Exemption website  https://aboriginalexemption.com.au/

Statelibraryqld. 2017. “Freedom: A Certificate of Exemption Story.” YouTube video, July 20, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syW1cC3F6hE