As we move forward with the shaping of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research agendas and directions in Australia we are confronted with many issues basic to the beginning of any discipline: the problem of small numbers; the complexity and enormity of the problems; the diversity in the intellectual field; the limited albeit developing expertise; the limited opportunities for intellectual dialogue; and, of course, the absence of resources to build a professional base. The issue of our relative absence from developing academic knowledge traditions over the last two centuries, and our recent entree to the higher education sector, understandably, compounds our beginning point. This paper was the basis of a keynote address at the third Indigenous Researchers' Forum in Melbourne in 2001 and, in the main, is part of an ongoing conversation that speaks to the developing issues.