There is little reason why educational research in Australia should be progressive and highly developed, given that its history and direction are subject to the economic and political determinants of an increasingly globalized and uncertain world. Educational research cannot be a neutral endeavor; it demands that researchers identify a political perspective or world view from which new knowledge is described and interpreted. Such fundamental questions have confronted the design and implementation of Nyerna Studies, a bachelor of education program being conducted in partnership between Victoria University of Technology and the Koori people of the Echuca region of Australia. The program is highly innovative and community-based, pursuing holistic and enquiry learning and projects that are negotiated around integrated areas of student interest. "Naturalistic inquiry" processes are more appropriate to generating community knowledge than the more formal processes of the physical sciences. With participatory action research, Nyerna Studies is addressing issues of community partnership and two-way enquiry learning, with opportunities for cultural interaction and influence on the educational public sphere. Participatory action research may be the only framework appropriate for democratic community research, although it is not yet legitimated within the pantheon of available methodologies and philosophies. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/SV)