This book provides a comprehensive account of a unique pioneering longitudinal study of human growth that continues to contribute to our knowledge and raise new questions 60 years after it commenced. Although over 200 scientific publications have arisen from the study, this book describes, in a single volume, the key researchers involved, the Australian Aboriginal people from Yuendumu who participated in the study, and the main outcomes. The findings have provided new insights into how teeth function, as well as factors affecting oral health and physical growth. General readers, as well as students and researchers, will find much of interest in this volume.
'My expectations were high, and I was not disappointed. The book is neither a history nor a collection of papers published by the band of researchers who descended on the Warlpiri people of Yuendumu over 20 years. Rather, it is a history, a guide to the logistics of the operation, a biography of the major players involved, as well as a critical analysis of the work that stemmed from this monumental study.'
Professor Jules Kieser, University of Otago, New Zealand, Annals of Human Biology, 39(1), Jan-Feb 2012, p. 88
'I was one of the children of Yuendumu who took part in this study. I am proud to know that the work we helped with has improved dental work around the world. I hope that this work will directly benefit our own children in the future.'
Bess Nungarrayi Price — Chair of the Northern Territory Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council.
'As this book shows, a number of visitors with a research agenda were hosted at Yuendumu through the years, adding their contributions to the continuing effort of faculty at The University of Adelaide. This book is a valuable record of what was done there during the project.'
William R. Proffit — School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina.
'There have been few, if any, publications that bring together all aspects of a long-term study outlining the problems, personalities, strengths and continuing study of the data collected.'
John T. Mayhall — Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto.
'Yuendumu: legacy of a longitudinal growth study in Central Australia is a text relating two accounts: on one hand this is an account summarising dental findings from the study of a unique population; on the other it is a depiction of the experiences of researchers visiting a community with a vanishing way of life.'
R. Mannan, British Dental Journal, 213, 2012, pp. 483-484
