Indigenous records: connecting, critiquing and diversifying collections

1. The program was a joint initiative of the Australian Society of Archivists and the Australian Library and Information Association that recognised the importance of employing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the profession. The cadetships were established at a time when government was discussing the importance of records for Aboriginal identity and wellbeing. See for example Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, ‘Recommendations’, available at <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol5/5.html>, accessed 24 February 2014, and the National Inquiry Into the Removal of Aboriginal Children From Their Families, ‘Bringing Them Home’, 1997, available at <https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-stolen-children-report-1997>, accessed 24 February 2014.

2. State Records New South Wales, Archives Investigator, ‘Board for the Protection of Aborigines’, 1883 to 1940, available at <http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/Entity.aspx?Path=%5CAgency%5C559>, accessed 24 February 2014, and ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1940 to 1969, available at <http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/Entity.aspx?Path=\Agency\560>, accessed 24 February 2014.

3. For discussions around records and surveillance see for example L Russell, ‘Indigenous Knowledge and Archives: Accessing Hidden History and Understandings’, Australian Academic & Research Libraries, vol. 36, no. 2, 2005, pp. 161–71, and F Ross, S McKemmish and S Faulkhead, ‘Indigenous Knowledge and the Archives: Designing Trusted Archival Systems for Koorie Communities’, Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 34, no. 2, 2006, p. 112.

4. D Roberts, ‘Imperfect Evidence’, Director’s letter, in Vital Signs: In Living Memory – Special Exhibition Issue’, September 2006, State Records NSW, available at <http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/documents/vital-signs/issue-09/Vital%20Signs%20Issue%209%20-%20Directors%20Letter.pdf.>, accessed 20 February 2014.

5. The NSW government established the Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme (ATFRS) in 2006 to investigate monies held in trust by the government and administered through the Boards. The records of the Boards were being returned to individuals and families, and investigated through the ATFRS Panel and other advocates to recommend repayment of monies held in trust. The challenge for the operation of the ATFRS was the poor recordkeeping of the Boards and lack of records that provided evidence of the administration of these accounts. It was an opportune time for archival methods and practices to be adapted to link new context, new perspectives, records and analysis. However time and resource constraints did not allow for this additional work to be carried out, particularly in a time when the focus was on making repayments of monies to individuals and families. For further information on the ATFRS see ‘Guidelines for the Administration of the NSW Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme’, 2006, available at <https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/social_justice/international_docs/pdf/atf_guidelines_feb06.pdf>, accessed 23 February 2014.

6. See Monash University, ‘Statement of Principles Relating to Australian Indigenous Knowledge and the Archives’ (in particular ‘Principle 5: Recognition of Need to Set the Record Straight’), available at <http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/principles-8.html>, accessed 24 February 2014, and Monash University, ‘Exposure Draft Position Statement: Human Rights, Indigenous Communities in Australia and the Archives’ (in particular the section on the ‘Principle of the Right to Know the Truth and the Right of Reply’, available at <http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/human-rights-6.html>, accessed 24 February 2014.

7. The photographs of the Boards, which are open to public access, are an exception to this. The exhibition ‘In Living Memory: An Exhibition of Surviving Photographs from the Records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board From 1919 to 1966’ sought to index, contextualise and make stories of Aboriginal people available to sit alongside the official images. Further information is available at <https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/exhibition-romance-industry/past-exhibitions/in-living-memory/in-living-memory-exhibition>, accessed 24 February 2014.

8. See for example systems being created specifically for the management of Indigenous cultural heritage: Mukurtu, available at <http://www.mukurtu.org/>, and the Ara Irititja project, available at <http://www.irititja.com/>, accessed 24 February 2014.

9. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive, ‘ATSIDA Protocols for the Preservation, Access, Reuse and Repatriation of Research Data Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities’, available at <http://www.atsida.edu.au/protocols/atsida>, accessed 25 February 2014.

10. OCHRE (Opportunity, Choice, Healing, Responsibility, Empowerment), NSW Government Plan for Aboriginal Affairs: Education, Employment & Accountability, April 2013, available at <http://www.aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/AA_OCHRE_final.pdf>, accessed 24 February 2014.

11. Nakata and Langton (2005) also call for an ‘unsettling of established practice’

to create dialogue around complexities and to ensure that Indigenous perspectives and concerns are addressed appropriately in the management of Indigenous knowledge. See M Nakata and M Langton, Australian Indigenous Knowledge and Libraries, UTSePress, Sydney, 2009, available at <http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/19486/E-book.pdf?sequence=1>, accessed 24 February 2014.