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Project The Human Adaptability Project (1968 - 1973)

International Biological Program

From
1968
To
1973
Alternative Names
  • HA

Summary

The Human Adaptability (HA) section was one of seven arms of the International Biological Programme (IBP) and the only one to deal with humans.

Details

Within Australia, the IBP was organized by the Australian Academy of Science and was headed by Sir Otto Frankel. The local HA section was chaired by the late Professor R.J. Walsh, formerly Dean of Medicine at UNSW, and its programme of research was approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Two ANU scientists, the late Dr Bob Kirk and the late Professor Frank Fenner, served on the Academy's IBP-HA subcommittee although Professor Fenner was not actively involved in their research. In Australia, there were three IBP-HA projects: HA1 project referred to all the IBP-HA research involving Australian Aborigines. The HA2 project involved similar research in Papua New Guinea. A third HA project involved growth and development of NSW children.

Bob Kirk was appointed the national convenor of the HA 1 section and there exists in the NCIG collection, extensive correspondence between Kirk, other IBPHA researchers and other associated institutions and departments for the duration of the IBPHA. Studies undertaken as part of the HA1 section of the IBP were to have population genetics as a focus and included: demographic studies to enable forecasting of population trends in the Northern Territory (NT); a major survey on treponemal infection in the NT; the discovery of new variants of a red cell enzyme; the effects of acclimatization to work in hot, humid conditions, and the efficiency with which the body utilizes water under tropical conditions; investigating the adequacy of infant nutrition and the relationship between diet and infant health; investigation of the incidence of heart disease among Aborigines; the testing of antigens on white blood cells of importance in tissue transplantation; and detailed studies of tooth structure among selected groups in Central Australia.

In 1968, the Australian Academy of Science in collaboration with the Northern Territory Department of Health and the Welfare Branch of the administration, initiated a study of human adaptability as part of its contribution to the International Biological Programme. The Human Adaptability (HA) study aimed to increase the knowledge of the health and biological characteristics of the Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory.

Archival resources

National Centre for Indigenous Genomics

  • Correspondence, 1966 - 1970, 02B-36; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details
  • Correspondence, 1967 - 1968, 02B-35; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details
  • International Biological Programme - Human Adaptability 1, 1966 - 1971, 02B-28; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details
  • International Biological Programme Publications and Correspondence, 1965 - 1973, 06A-03; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details
  • Printed Materials, 1967 - 1968, 02B-25; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details
  • Working notes, 1969, 02B-27; National Centre for Indigenous Genomics. Details

Published resources

Articles