Fifteen years after Fitzroy Valley women led a landmark alcohol reform campaign, the same leaders are changing how child health research is conducted in remote Australia.

A new paper in the Journal of Community Health charts the partnership between the Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre in Fitzroy Crossing - a remote Aboriginal town in Western Australia's Kimberley region - and the University of Sydney.

It was led by Bunuba woman June Oscar, who now heads the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice, and Gooniyandi-Kija woman Emily Carter, chief executive of Marninwarntikura, working with Professor Elizabeth Elliott and other researchers.

The study recalls how local women demanded answers about their children's health.

"We needed to know what was happening to our children," Ms Oscar said in the study.

"We knew something was wrong, but no one had ever listened to us properly."

Their push sparked a long-term collaboration that put community leadership and data ownership at the centre of research.

It began soon after Fitzroy Valley women won alcohol restrictions in 2007, following years of harm in the community. When children later struggled in school, families called for an inquiry into developmental issues.

That became the Lililwan Project - Australia's first community-led study into Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

It was followed by Picture Talk, Jandu Yani U and Bigiswun Kid, a series of studies on child health and wellbeing.

Each project was guided by local governance, with data held in Fitzroy Crossing and used to advocate for better services.

"Our work is about research that delivers outcomes for the people, not just another report that sits on a shelf," Ms Carter said in the study.

The paper covers the 2009-2023 partnership, describing it as a model for how Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations can shape national research agendas. It found Aboriginal leadership at every stage improved both research quality and real-world outcomes.

Through the Marulu Strategy - meaning "precious, worth nurturing" - the women of Fitzroy have helped shift how child health and FASD are understood across Australia.

"Community knowledge and culture must sit at the centre of how we care for our children," Ms Oscar wrote.

"That's the only way to create real change."