In remote Indigenous communities in Australia there are minimal labour market opportunities, with the majority of jobs under the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), and limited education and training services. Yet Indigenous communities are under increasing pressure from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the government to build sustainable communities with a social, cultural and economic capital base, and share responsibility for community well-being and capacity building. Simultaneously, the delivery of primary and secondary Indigenous education is under great scrutiny as outcomes fall behind commensurate levels in the wider Australian society. There is also increasing emphasis on ensuring that "culturally appropriate" vocational education and training (VET) opportunities in remote Indigenous communities are made more accessible, so that Indigenous people can gain the employment skills to ultimately take control of their communities. Conversely, adult literacy is increasingly seen as a major factor affecting the participation of Indigenous people in training and the subsequent delivery and management of services in remote communities. This study investigates and describes how both the English and the local Indigenous language are used in reading and writing by adults, through a case study of a community-controlled health service in a remote Indigenous community in the Northern Territory. In addition, it analyses the social context of literacy use (Barton 1994; Barton & Hamilton 1998; Reder 1994; Street 1993, 1995); that is, how (for what purposes and functions) people use reading and writing in everyday life in the community. Although Western education has a short history in the region--schooling was first introduced in the area in 1969--access to schooling for all children was only made available as late as 2003. The case study in this report highlights the challenge faced by remote Indigenous communities. For these communities, the challenge is to achieve social and economic sustainability without losing the core values of Indigenous law, culture and language. Remote communities can no longer afford to be excluded from the broader national context and this report is not suggesting an isolationist approach. It does, however, suggest that the key to sustainability is to find a way to maintain local coherence, and the core values within remote localities, while simultaneously developing models of appropriate community development. Training and employment are essential elements in this future scenario, but emerging models for remote Indigenous communities must integrate training and employment pathways that reflect community realities and tolerate alternative definitions of employment that are characteristic of diverse localities. Appended are: (1) Interviewee profiles; (2) Research questionnaires; (3) National Reporting System; (4) NRS writing assessment samples; (5) Types of literacy practices; and (6) Literacy environment diagrams. (Contains 3 tables and 16 figures.)