About Danila Dilba

Who We Are

Danila Dilba Health Service (DDHS) is an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) established in 1991 to provide culturally appropriate, comprehensive primary health care and community services to Biluru (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) people in the Yilli Rreung (greater Darwin) region of the Northern Territory.

Our Vision

A society in which Biluru people of the Yilli Rreung region experience health, wellbeing and quality of life outcomes that are equal to, or greater than that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Our Purpose

To improve the physical, mental, spiritual, cultural and social wellbeing of the Biluru people of the Yilli Rreung region through innovative, culturally safe and effective comprehensive primary health care programs and services.

Our Values

The core values that underpin DDHS services and activities are:

  • Respect
  • Trust, honesty and integrity
  • Fairness, transparency and accountability
  • High professional standards, ethics and quality

Our Name

The name Danila Dilba Biluru Butji Binnilutlum was given by the Larrakia people, who are the traditional owners of the Greater Darwin region. In the Larrakia language Danila Dilba means ‘dilly bag used to collect bush medicines’ and Biluru Butji Binnilutlum means ‘Aboriginal people getting better from sickness’.

We are an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation, and we hold ourselves accountable for representing Biluru people. Our cultural protocols and practices continue to guide how we deliver our services in the best way possible.

Our Logo

The Danila Dilba logo was designed by Larrakia Elder, the late Reverend Wally Fejo. It carries a unique story:

“The fish are in a school and are excited when jumping around and convey to us our exciting, healthy life. The turtle going back to lay her eggs represents the people. The stick represents a hunting tool used to find her eggs. The overall circle emulates looking inside a dilly bag from above. The snake brings the underlying threat of danger to our wellbeing and reminds us that we should always sustain ourselves and be on guard for our health.”

The story of Danila Dilba Health Services (DDHS) began in the 1970s— a time of great activism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia.

After Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974, people were evacuated to southern cities where local Aboriginal medical services had already been operating. After experiencing many years of racism in mainstream health services, as well as an unmet need for culturally safe and accessible primary health care, Darwin Aboriginal people were impressed by the culturally safe services being delivered in southern Australia. They became motivated to establish one in Darwin.

DDHS grew out of the community, with people holding meetings, lobbying government, lodging petitions and even holding a ‘sit-in’ of government offices for a culturally appropriate primary health service for Biluru in the Yilli Rreung region.

Persistence and dedication paid off. After starting with just one clinic and seven staff, DDHS grew to the quality health service it is today.

Danila Dilba is Darwin’s only Aboriginal community-controlled health service. We operate a network of eight clinics, plus a mobile outreach clinic, and employs more than 240 multidisciplinary staff across the region – delivering high quality, integrated health services that include a range of specialist and allied health, social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) services, as well as health promotion and education.

More than 12,000 people use our services each year which is made up of around 5,000 families.

DDHS is part of a national network of 145 ACCHOs which operate more than 300 clinics across Australia. ACCHOs provide 3.1 million episodes of care per year to almost 410,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Sadly, the NT recorded the worst results of any Australian jurisdiction in the mid 2024 Productivity Commission Update Report on Closing the Gap targets. Currently, eight out of the 17 targets have actually gone backwards since the National Agreement on Closing the Gap was signed in 2020.

Currently, the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is not on track to close by the target year of 2031.

ACCHOs like Danila Dilba play a crucial role in addressing this inequality. Through collaboration with our Board, our members and our clients, we design and deliver culturally appropriate health services which respond to the needs of our community.

Barb Cummings, Founding Member, Danila Dilba’s First Client:

“My earliest time in Danila Dilba started in the late seventies really. I was working as a field officer with DAA and the concept arrived about the need to have our own medical service. And with the late Sally Ross and who was from Alice Springs but she worked as a health worker in the Katherine region, and I knew the population here in the Darwin region. So we chose to set up a committee a Board of people who would be able to you know direct and look at establishing such a service. That’s how it all started right from there. Rhonda Calma and myself who worked in the town camps, we did a survey in the town camps to gauge an opinion of those people as to whether or not they would like to have their own medical service, and they agreed they didn’t want to go to the hospital… they were happy to have their own medical service.”

Sutti Ah Mat, Founding Member:

“For a long, long time there were a number of us that wanted to have their own community controlled medical services because of the obvious reasons where we were going to the hospital, & we felt that we weren’t getting that type of service that we should have been getting because of cultural reasons. I guess in a lot of cases a lot of our mob weren’t going to the hospital seeking doctors. It’s about us self-determining what we want to see happening at the service. We decide on the priorities for the type of service that we provide and if we have situations where we have an outbreak of some sort of illness, we’re able to respond much quicker, because we’re on the ground & we’re listening to the community. And that’s important, that we listen to the community. I think it’s a very good model because our numbers increased quite substantially, and that’s a good indication that the service that you’re providing is meeting the needs of the clients.”