This article provides a discussion of research literature concerned with the efficacy of on-country activity, culture, language, art and performance in supporting positive social outcomes for Indigenous people. It also includes references to a number of case study examples from regional Australia of successful ‘outcomes’ that have emerged from projects drawing upon culture, language and the arts. It concludes that there is solid evidence of a correlation between positive social outcomes and activities that encourage culture, language and ‘on-country’ contact.