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This proceedings contains approximately 100 conference papers and workshop summaries on rural health, education, and community development. The majority of the papers are concerned with conditions in rural Australia; about 20 examine rural issues in the United States; while a smaller number cover Canada, New Zealand, and European countries. A basic assumption of the conference was that rural education, health, and community and economic development can come together as a new area of study, creating new models for collaborative work on human issues in rural communities. Rural areas in both the developed and developing worlds are receiving more attention and funding than ever before. However, despite the varied and numerous programs in place in a number of countries, sparse collaboration across disciplines, cultures, and international boundaries fragments and limits the results of rural efforts. This conference was a necessary step toward collaboration and provided a thematic framework to begin to coalesce discipline-based presentations on rural issues. Such issues are related to education, health, culture, law and public policy, science and technology, social and environmental justice, communications and information equity, women's concerns, and sustainability and distance learning. A conference overview points out three major conference themes: creating community, the necessity of ethical and moral foundations, and the need for new forms of professional training and practice. The proceedings includes a list of delegates. (SV)

A conference was held to develop a plan of research into rural education in Australia and to form a consortium of rural education researchers. Part I of this proceedings contains an introductory paper, "Rural Education: The State of the Art" (Steve Clark), which analyzes research in rural education in Australia in recent decades with regard to four themes: schooling (teachers, students, school-community relationships, accommodation); technology; educational delivery (equal opportunity, curriculum, decentralization, service delivery, models); and the dichotomy between education in rural areas and rural education. Part II contains papers or summaries of papers on Australian rural research, criteria for prioritizing research, education of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, education and training needs of rural women and girls, applications of communications technology in education, symbiotic relationships between rural schools and their communities, education in rural Scotland, national assessment of the Country Areas Program, and a model of educational delivery in remote areas. Part III outlines the "think tank" discussion and decision making process; summarizes working groups and plenary sessions; presents reflections of working group members; lists and ranks all research recommendations of the working groups; and lists immediate research priorities in the areas of schooling, community, delivery, technology, and special needs groups. Appendices contain the conference schedule, list of participants, and description of research activities at the University of Western Australia. (SV)