The gap reversed: a review of site of death in the Top End.

IndigenousAustralians comprise 2.5% of the population of Australia, but 32.5% of people in the Northern Territory. Studies have documented the critical importance for Indigenous people from rural and remote areas of “finishing up” (the culturally appropriate reference to death and dying) on “country” (ancestral community and lands). Transferring sacred knowledge, providing culturally appropriate care, and returning their “animal spirit” to the land are all facilitated by dying on country. Finishing up on country in rural and remote NT usually takes place in dwellings in the person’s ancestral community and lands, either in their own home or the home of a relative or close communitymember who has assumed responsibility for their care.