Indigenous Australians’ experiences during COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater Darwin Region

Abstract

This article presents a study on the experiences of Indigenous Australians living in the Greater Darwin Region in the Northern Territory during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim is to understand the impacts of the pandemic on various aspects of the lives of Indigenous Australians. A survey with open-ended questions was distributed during the period of May to December 2021 to potential participants and responses were collected either face-to-face or online. The responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis. Results of the analysis showed that the pandemic experiences can be grouped in to five key themes: restricted travel, mental health issues, vaccination contention, work and employment changes and fifthly, for some participants, the pandemic caused only minimal impact which can be interpreted as the positive impact of the border closure policy measures.