A new landmark Aboriginal-led program providing culturally safe, long-term support for Aboriginal mothers and children in the Bunbury region has been launched by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation (SAC) in partnership with Curtin University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Co-designed with SAC, the Solid Families program uses culturally grounded, strengths-based approaches to promote healthy beginnings for Aboriginal women and their young families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It aims to empower Aboriginal women to have healthy pregnancies, and access practical supports, health education and service connections in early parenthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solid Families will provide the foundation for addressing complex challenges while delivering immediate, practical benefits for young Aboriginal mothers and their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program, funded by a Medical Research Futures Fund grant and Curtin, was launched at an event attended by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Don Punch, local Elders and community stakeholders in Bunbury last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Menang Noongar woman and Solid Families program lead Associate Professor Robyn Williams<\/a>, from Curtin Medical School<\/a>, said the program will address several Closing the Gap targets in providing culturally safe long-term, child and maternal health outreach services in Bunbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAboriginal women continue to face barriers to engaging with mainstream health, social and antenatal care services, while the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are often under-resourced and underfunded,\u201d Associate Professor Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNotably, the lack of culturally safe appropriate evidence-based programs has contributed to the rising over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people in child protection and justice systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSolid Families will promote healthy pregnancies, while supporting mothers through intensive case management informed by a cultural and trauma informed framework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Associate Professor Williams and a multidisciplinary research team \u2014 including Professor Sandra Eades, Professor Dorothy Badry (Canada), Professor Anne-Marie Eades, Associate Professor Raewyn Mutch, Professor Francine Eades and SAC Chief Executive Officer Asha Bhat \u2014 will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the Solid Families program to identify key learnings and examine the potential for expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAC\u2019s Asha Bhat and Solid Families Coordinator Patricia Hayward welcomed the launch of the program, saying they hoped the success of Solid Families would support its expansion into other Western Australian regions and eventually across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Curtin Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Professor Jonathan Bullen<\/a> said the program underscored the importance of strong relationships, genuine partnership and Aboriginal agency in delivering meaningful outcomes for Aboriginal communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSolid Families is an example of what can be achieved when Aboriginal communities have a meaningful role in shaping research priorities and how research is undertaken,\u201d Professor Bullen said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStrong relationships create the conditions for research that is relevant, trusted and has the potential to deliver meaningful, lasting health outcomes for Aboriginal mothers and children\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Yvonne Anderson<\/a>, Dean and Head of Curtin Medical School, said the School was committed to delivering equitable, evidence-based and culturally informed care that improved the health and wellbeing of mothers and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGiving babies the best possible start in life can create lasting benefits for families across generations,\u201d Professor Anderson said.<\/p>\n","post_title":"New program aims to build strong Aboriginal families from the very beginning","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"new-program-aims-to-build-strong-aboriginal-families-from-the-very-beginning","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-10-05 11:35:36","post_modified_gmt":"2026-10-05 03:35:36","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=32411","menu_order":0,"post_type":"media-release","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":32428,"post_author":"4307","post_date":"2026-10-07 09:30:00","post_date_gmt":"2026-10-07 01:30:00","post_content":"\n The discovery of an unexpectedly hot rock beneath Earth\u2019s surface is challenging scientists\u2019 understanding of how heat is distributed deep inside the planet, with potential implications for how they understand earthquakes, volcanic activity and the movement of carbon through Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An international research team focussed on a rock from northern Papua New Guinea where the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates move toward each other, causing rocks to be carried into the deep underground through a process known as subduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers found the rock experienced temperatures of about 800\u00b0C at 45 kilometres below the surface, and became about 100\u00b0C colder after reaching more than 90 kilometres deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Curtin University co-author Dr Axel Schmitt said the finding was unexpected because temperatures would normally be expected to gently increase with depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat makes this rock so interesting is that it records two very different thermal conditions at different stages of its time deep inside Earth,\u201d Dr Schmitt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt about 45 kilometres depth, the rock was surprisingly hot, but as it travelled deeper it entered an environment that was cooler than we would normally expect at that depth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers were able to reconstruct the rock\u2019s history by analysing tiny inclusions of the minerals coesite and zircon trapped inside the mineral garnet. Coesite forms under extremely high pressures, providing evidence that the rock reached depths of at least 90 kilometres beneath Earth\u2019s surface, whereas zircon provides age information on when this happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Schmitt said the findings challenged current models of the thermal conditions within subduction zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFinding this change from relatively hot conditions at shallower depth to colder conditions deeper down was unexpected,\u201d Dr Schmitt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne possibility is that intense shearing where the tectonic plates meet generates additional heat at relatively shallow depths. Another is that the subduction zone had not yet cooled to the lower temperatures expected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Schmitt said subduction zones are sites of earthquakes and volcanic activity, and play an important role in Earth\u2019s long-term carbon cycle, carrying rocks and elements deep into the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe findings suggest the thermal structure of these zones may be more complex than previously thought, helping scientists better understand how subduction operates over millions to billions of years,\u201d Dr Schmitt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnderstanding these temperature changes helps us build a clearer picture of the extreme conditions deep inside Earth, where tectonic plates collide and drive processes that shape the planet\u2019s surface.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The research was led by G\u00f6ttingen University and involved an international team of researchers, including from Curtin University\u2019s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The paper, \u2018Geothermal gradient change during subduction recorded by ultrahigh-pressure eclogite<\/em>\u2019, was published in Nature Geoscience<\/em>, and can be found here: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41561-026-02110-1<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"Mysterious hot rock deep underground threatens to throw out the rule book","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"mysterious-hot-rock-deep-underground-threatens-to-throw-out-the-rule-book","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-10-06 15:44:05","post_modified_gmt":"2026-10-06 07:44:05","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=32428","menu_order":0,"post_type":"media-release","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":32422,"post_author":"4490","post_date":"2026-10-06 10:15:07","post_date_gmt":"2026-10-06 02:15:07","post_content":"\n Only two of Australia\u2019s 11 dedicated children\u2019s intensive care units provide formal follow-up support for families after the sudden death of a child, according to a new study led by Curtin University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers found families who lose a child in intensive care can be left without consistent support once they leave hospital, with most units relying on doctors, nurses and other clinicians to provide bereavement care alongside their usual jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The national survey revealed just two of the 11 dedicated paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) in Australia had a formal bereavement follow-up service, while three provided no follow-up service at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the eight units that provided some form of follow-up, most relied on informal support from clinicians rather than a structured evidence-informed service from dedicated bereavement staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lead researcher and Curtin University PhD candidate Arielle Jolly<\/a>, who also works at The Child and Adolescent Health Service<\/a>, said the death of a child was devastating for families, who could need support well beyond their time in hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen a child dies, their family is left to cope with an intense and life-changing grief,\u201d Mrs Jolly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost children who pass away are cared for at the end of life in an intensive care unit, where doctors, nurses and allied health clinicians provide complex care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile families receive important support in hospital, our research shows there are gaps once they return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBereavement care is happening, but in many cases it depends on staff fitting it around their other responsibilities or providing support in their own time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The research found all 11 intensive care units provided memory-making activities and end-of-life photography, while 10 involved siblings in the care of their dying brother or sister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, ongoing support after leaving the PICU was less consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the eight units that provided some form of follow-up, all offered families a phone call and five offered a return visit to the hospital to meet with their treating team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only one unit reported having paid, dedicated time for staff to deliver bereavement care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Fenella Gill<\/a> from Curtin\u2019s School of Nursing<\/a> said families needed greater continuity of care after the sudden death of a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPICU nurses and other clinicians often form very close relationships with families during some of the most difficult moments of their lives,\u201d Professor Gill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen a child dies, those relationships do not necessarily end when the family leaves the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProviding structured follow-up can help families feel supported while also giving clinicians clearer guidance about how to provide the best bereavement care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Jason Sharbanee<\/a> from Curtin\u2019s enAble Institute<\/a>\u00a0and the School of Population Health<\/a> said more consistent approaches were needed to ensure families were not dependent on individual clinicians providing ongoing support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFamilies should not have to rely on whether an individual clinician has the time or capacity to stay in touch,\u201d Dr Sharbanee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to better understand what families need after they leave hospital and ensure intensive care units have the funding, staffing and training to provide this support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This study highlights existing gaps in PICU bereavement care, with the researchers conducting an innovative research program to develop and test an Australian-first, evidence-informed bereavement service, designed with bereaved families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n