Administration of the Aurukun archives held at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

ABSTRACT

The Aurukun archives held at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies were initially developed in accordance with a ‘before it is too late’ model. In response to national controversy over proposed bauxite mining on Wik land, the Institute reorientated its documentation strategy towards collaborating with the Aurukun community. Wik people were not so much the subjects of the archive, but collaborators in its production. The outcome was an extensive multimedia archive which underpinned the Wik native title claim in 1993. Since then the collaborative relationship between the Institute and the Wik people has lapsed. Intermittent attempts to repatriate parts of the Aurukun archives were not successful in the long term. While revising controls over key Aurukun record groups, current Institute staff became aware of the extent and some of the strengths of the Aurukun archives. The staff have been attempting to revive the community’s awareness of their archives and their interest in them. Although the community’s interests presently have a different focus, revived collaboration between the Institute and the Aurukun community could result in some form of distributed custody and control of the Aurukun archives which may be of value to Wik society.

Acknowledgements

This article is based on a talk given by the authors at the Information Technologies Indigenous Communities Symposium held alongside the National Conference of the Australian Society of Archivists, Diverse Worlds, Melbourne, 25–28 September 2017. The authors wish to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people, traditional custodians of Melbourne and surrounding lands where we gave this talk, the Ngunawal people, traditional custodians for Canberra and surrounding areas where we are based, and the Wik people, traditional owners of Aurukun and surrounding areas, and to pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Thanks to Jennifer Sheehan for drawing the Aurukun map. Thanks to John Page, Barry Howarth and Bridget Maidment for their kind advice on early versions of the text for publication, and to the two anonymous peer reviewers for their astute comments and editorial advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In order to maintain consistency, in this article we refer to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and its predecessor, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS), as ‘the Institute’. The AIAS was established in 1961 under an interim Council. Its name was changed in 1989.

2. For example, ‘Machete Kids Force Cape York’s Aurukun School to Close’, The Australian, 26 May 2016; Lauren McMah, ‘Man Dies in Aurukun as More Violence Engulfs the Troubled Community’, 28 November 2015, available at <http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/man-dies-in-aurukun-as-more-violence-engulfs-the-troubled-community/news-story/01230765fb5c3eefdd8fe5639f0f1133>, accessed 6 May 2018.

3. Susan Chenery, ‘The Fight to Save Aurukun’s Children’, Australian Women’s Weekly, August 2016, pp. 62–8.

4. Catherine Ford, ‘The Aurukun Blues of Peter Sutton’, The Monthly, May 2013.

5. Source of region of Wik interests: ‘Map 2, The Wik Region, West Cape York Peninsula’, in David Martin, ‘Autonomy and Relatedness: An Ethnography of Wik People of Aurukun, Western Cape York Peninsula’, PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, February 1993, p. xiv.

6. Marcia Langton, ‘The Hopes of the Wik People Have Been Cruelly Dashed’, The Australian, 15 November 2014.

7. The generic term Wik is used in this article to refer to Wik, Wik Way and Kugu peoples.

8. ‘Wik Region – Aurukun Place, Aurukun, QLD, Australia, Description’, Register of the National Estate, Place ID 100304, January 1996, available at <http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/register-national-estate>, accessed 20 August 2017.

9. Geraldine MacKenzie, Aurukun Diary: Forty Years with the Aborigines, Aldersgate Press, Melbourne, 1981.

10. John von Sturmer, Anthropology and the Politics of Exemption: Remarks after the Fact, lecture, Symposium: The Ends of Worlds, University of Sydney, Department of Anthropology, 25–26 March 2010, available at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl9rM-VSOQ4>, accessed 10 September 2017.

11. ibid.

12. ‘Aurukun’, in Queensland Government, Community Histories, April 2015, available at <https://www.qld.gov.au/atsi/cultural-awareness-heritage-arts/community-histories-aurukun>, accessed 2 August 2017.

13. Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Pty. Limited Agreement Act 1957 (Qld). According to Frank Stevens (‘Weipa: The Politics of Pauperization’, Australian Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3, September 1969) it was an invasion of property rights of Aboriginal people – their common-law rights and the inalienable nature of Aboriginal reserves.

14. Alcan Queensland Pty. Limited Agreement Act 1965 (Qld).

15. David F Martin, ‘The “Wik” Peoples of Western Cape York’, Indigenous Law Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 1, April 1997, p. 9.

16. See five Federal Court cases findings, October 2000 to October 2012, in the Wik and Wik Way Native Title registrations, in the Native Title Register, available at <http://www.nntt.gov.au>, accessed 18 May 2018.

17. The term ‘passive welfare’ is used by Noel Pearson in his speech, ‘Peoples, Nations and Peace’, Inaugural Mabo Oration, Brisbane, Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland, 2005, in the section titled ‘Indigenous Australians as a First World Minority’, which advocates the right of Indigenous Australian people ‘to take responsibility for achieving economic equality with other First World peoples’, available at <https://www.adcq.qld.gov.au/resources/a-and-tsi/mabo-oration/2005-inaugural-mabo-oration/Peoples-Nations-and-Peace>, accessed 20 May 2018.

18. See AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun, 75/138, Pt 1; Wentworth borrowed a 16 mm microfilm camera from the National Library to copy Aurukun births, deaths and marriage records, Record Cards of Aborigines at Aurukun Mission (MF 1).

19. Dances of Aurukun was released in 1964, Ian Dunlop director; Fred McCarthy Anthropological advisor, EL Cranstone was camera-man for the Australia Commonwealth Film Unit (ACFU_004; FC00169_1-45).

20. MS 2312, Fred McCarthy, Aurukun Dances; MCCARTHY.F02.BW, Aurukun Dances, 183 negatives; EL Cranstone, CRANSTONE.E01.CS, Ceremonial Activity in Aurukun, Including Material Culture, 26 colour slides.

21. The exhibition ‘Totemic Ceremonies in Cape York Peninsula’ was opened by Professor Stanner in September 1963. See also: Colin Roach, Photographs of Carved and Painted Wooden Figures from Aurukun and Yirrkala Taken at the Institute of Anatomy, A.C.T., 22 negatives, AIAS.036.BW.

22. ‘Report of the Conference’, in WEH Stanner & Helen Shiels (eds), Australian Aboriginal Studies: A Symposium of Papers Presented at the 1961 Research Conference, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1963, p. 462.

23. ‘Salvage ethnology’: see Anne O’Gorman Perusco in ‘Only Sticks and Bark: Ursula McConnel – her collecting and collection’, in Nicolas Peterson and others (eds.), The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2008, p. 432.

24. Beryl Craig, Arnhem Land Peninsular Region: Including Bathurst and Melville Islands, AIAS, Canberra, 1966, Bibliography series (AIAS); Beryl Craig, Cape York, AIAS, Canberra, 1967, Bibliography series (AIAS); Beryl Craig, Kimberley Region: An Annotated Bibliography, AIAS, Canberra, 1968, Bibliography series no. 3; Leslie Marchant, A List of French Naval Records and Illustrations Relating to Australian and Tasmanian Aborigines, 1771 to 1828, AIAS, Canberra, 1969, Bibliography series no. 4; Beryl Craig, Central Australian and Western Desert Regions: An Annotated Bibliography, AIAS, Canberra, 1969, Bibliography series no. 5; Beryl Craig, North-West Central Queensland: An Annotated Bibliography, AIAS, Canberra, 1970, Bibliography series no. 6; and others.

25. John van Tiggelen, ‘Another Country’, The Good Weekend, 15 March 2008.

26. Wik Mungkan-English Interactive Dictionary, List of Contributors, available at <http://ausil.org/Dictionary/Wik-Mungkan/lexicon/mainintro.htm>, accessed 23 May 2018.

27. Dereck Walpo, Aurukun, Queensland, legacy.com Guestbook, 17 December 2017, available at <https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/barbara-sayers-obituary?pid=187492550&view=guestbook>, accessed 23 May 2018.

28. ‘Peter Ucko’, Wikipedia, available at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ucko>, accessed 7 May 2018.

29. AIAS, Research and Membership Committee, Minute Book, 19 March 1975, AIAS/AIATSIS Governance Records, MS 5128/5/2.

30. Peter Sutton, Athol Chase, John von Sturmer, Dermot Smyth, Roger Cribb and David Martin were major contributors to the Institute’s Aurukun archives.

31. Kerundun to Ucko, 3 December 1975, AIATSIS Registry file, Projects – Research: Aurukun Site Mapping – Shire Council Project, 75/143.

32. Discussion on Aboriginal land held at AIAS Biennial Conference, 17 May 1976, PMS 4296. (Ucko to Viner, 2 June 1976, AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun Site Mapping – Shire Council Project, 75/143).

33. Ucko to Viner, 2 June 1976, AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun Site Mapping – Shire Council Project, 75/143.

34. von Sturmer to Ucko, 28 June 1976, ibid.

35. Swartz to von Sturmer, 23 September 1976, ibid.

36. Familiar Places, David and Judith MacDougall, Director, Editor & Camera, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1980 (AIAS_047).

37. Takeover, David and Judith MacDougall, Director, Editor & Camera, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1979: rushes and trial print (Accession No. FC00220_1–227).

38. Resolution moved Professor Rigsby, seconded Dr Beckett, 11 May 1978, AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun Consultation – Communities, 75/138, Pt 4.

39. MF 187–188 in The Moravian Mission in Australia Papers, 1832–1916, MF 163–188.

40. In the period 1982–85, Rev. James Stuckey deposited historical photographs of Aurukun, known as the MacKenzie Collection, 1905–65, MACKENZIE.W01-10.BW. See also: F Allan Cane Collection, photographs taken of daily life in missions in northern Queensland, 347 negs, 1930s–1940s, CANE.F01.BW; and Nancye Grant, People and Activities at Presbyterian Missions, 49 prints, 2 drawings, 1950s–1960s, DAVIDSON G01.BW.

41. Oral history relating to Aurukun and the Rev. Bill and Mrs Geraldine MacKenzie (UNITING_C01).

42. NF Nelson, A Walkabout, 1936 (PRESBYTERIAN_001); Keith Burton, Aurukun: A Day at Aurukun Presbyterian Mission North Queensland, 1966 (AOMD_001); Run into the Future, 1968 (AOMC_001).

43. AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun Shire Mapping – Shire Council Project, 75/143.

44. Martin, ‘The “Wik” Peoples’, p. 9.

45. Roger Cribb, ‘The Aurukun Database Project’, paper for seminar at the Institute, 6 July 1987, 7 pp. (pMs 4521).

46. Sutton, ‘The Aurukun Project’, Records of the South Australian Museum, vol. 24, no. 1, 1990, p. 69.

47. Kathleen Hinchley, Aurukun Oral History Project, 1982, HINCHLEY_K01.

48. John Richard von Sturmer, Collected Papers, Diaries and Field Notebooks, 1969–1978, MS 2539; and Aurukun and Cape York Papers, 1968–1990, MS 3514; Peter John Sutton, Papers, 1973–1980, MS 2323. See also Sutton’s extensive research papers held at the SA Museum Archives.

49. Australian Society of Archivists 2017 Conference, ‘Diverse People, Diverse Collections, Diverse Worlds’, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 25–28 September, available at <https://www.archivists.org.au/learning-publications/asa-2017-conference/asa-information>, accessed 13 May 2018.

50. AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun, 75/138, Pt 1.

51. Judith MacDougall to Eric Wilmot, 11 March 1982, AIATSIS Registry file, 75/138, Pt 4.

52. EF Kunz to Donald Peinkinna, 9 June 1981, and Jennie Adams to Diane Smith (von Sturmer), 5 August 1984, AIATSIS Registry file, Aurukun, 75/138, Pt 4.

53. Takeover, and many other titles made by the Institute’s Film Unit, are distributed on DVD by Ronin Films in Canberra.

54. Curtis Pitt (Treasurer, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and Minister for Sport, Queensland), ‘Aurukun Learning Hub Connects Community and Culture’, Media Release, 24 November 2016, available at <http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2016/11/24/aurukun-learning-hub-connects-community-and-culture>, accessed 20 May 2018.

55. Rio Tinto’s current East Weipa and Andoom mines worked parts of both ML 7024 and ML 7031, north of Wik country, but they are now close to worked out.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ewan Maidment

Ewan Maidment is an honorary visiting fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, Canberra. He recently retired as Senior Archivist in the Print and Manuscript Collection at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Previously, he was executive officer at the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and an archivist at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, both based at the Australian National University, Canberra.

Fiona Blackburn

Fiona Blackburn is Senior Archivist in the Print and Manuscript Collection at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She has worked in heritage, prison and public libraries, generally managing Indigenous collections or in community engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.