Miwatj Health

Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation was established with funds from ATSIC in line with the National Aboriginal Health Strategy.

Recurrent funding and further capital was provided by ATSIC until 1996, with other project funding mainly provided by Territory Health Services.

The transfer of responsibility for Aboriginal Health from ATSIC to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services in 1996 resulted in the majority of Miwatj Health’s funding being provided through the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services (OATSIHS). This funding accounts for over two thirds of Miwatj’s current funding.

Working for Miwatj offers the opportunity to work for a community organisation that is committed to
meeting the health needs of the Yolngu people.

Miwatj Health corporation has its own Enterprise bargain agreement which offers wages and working conditions that is reflective of working in remote communities.

Some of the advantages available to Miwatj Staff are:

Accumulated Holiday Leave
Study leave
Accomodation subsidy
Salary Sacrifice

Working in remote communities in Australia also offers the oppertunity to experience some of the most beautiful landscapes in Australia.

Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1992 to promote health and related services to the people in East Arnhemland, Northern Territory.

We are an independent, Aboriginal controlled medical service administered by a board of directors who are made up of representatives from communities in East Arnhemland and local businessmen and women.

Based in Nhulunbuy, the corporations programs are based on improving the health of Aboriginal people in East Arnhemland, whose mortality data, according to the Bureau of Statistics, have the worst outcomes of all Australians.

Advocacy Outreach

Advocacy Outreach is a program that works with the people living in the town camps around Nhulunbuy.

Whilst primarily concerned with anti-social behaviour associated with alcohol abuse, it also cares for the health and welfare of these people by assisting them to obtain medical care, providing education in hygiene and lifestyle diseases and encouraging traditional activities such as art, hunting and fishing. The program is also active in collecting litter that accumulates around the town “camps” and encouraging reasonable standards of hygiene to be maintained.

Clinical Services

Miwatj Health operates a clinic at its premises in Nhulunbuy.

Recently opened, this service is primarily for the Aboriginal people who live in and around Nhulunbuy and for those visiting from outlying communities and homelands but is open to the whole community.

The clinic is intended to complement the existing services in Nhulunbuy by offering an alternative to the Gove District Hospital Casualty Department, which mainly deals with emergency cases, and the only General Practice in the town.

Many Aboriginal people are uncomfortable using these services and Miwatj aims to provide an environment that is more attuned to the needs and cultural values of the Yolngu people.