Aboriginal Australia
Aboriginal Australian records and archives
Public records about Aboriginal Australians are often more difficult to find given the history of how they have been treated by the government, so we created a specific page to facilitate access to these records.
Content note
Language
There are words and descriptions in resources highlighted in this session which may be culturally insensitive and which might not normally be used in certain public or community contexts. Terms and annotations which reflect the author's attitude or that of the period in which items were written may be considered inappropriate today in some circumstances.
Deceased persons
The resources covered in this guide contain images, sounds and names of deceased Indigenous people.
- My ancestors are in our memory institutions, but their voices are missing by Nathan SentanceNathan is a Wiradjuri man and librarian and archivist currently working in a museum – this article highlights our decision to list First Nations-led community archives and history projects before institutional archives.
“Galleries, libraries, archives and museums are considered sites of memory, spaces to engage with history and identity, but for me these places are sites of forgetting, erasure and distortion. They are built on stolen land. Their names validate the place names that colonisers used to confirm their occupation of stolen land and to nullify the history that took place before colonial invasion.
My ancestors are in these memory institutions, but their voices are missing from the words written, the art created and the cultural objects taken. All of their cultural knowledge and their history is recorded and interpreted through the colonisers’ lens.” - Nathan Sentance
- Archival Decolonist (Nathan Sentance)Nathan is a Wiradjuri man and librarian and archivist currently working in a museum and this is his blog on decolonising the galleries, libraries, archives and museums sector in Australia.
Identifying keywords and events
- AIATSIS ThesauriCreated to help people find information in the AIATSIS collection , but can also be a useful way to find keywords to try using for subject, language and place
- Finding the meaning of an Aboriginal word (State Library of Victoria)Particularly useful for language and tribe information in Victoria.
- Australian Indigenous Language Collection guideParticularly useful for finding sources by Australian Indigenous people rather than just about them.
- Indigenous languages (State Library of NSW)Includes historic word lists, records and an easy to use map of Australia which points to a tribes' location.
Community publications and archive projects
- Koori Mail archiveArticles from 1991‐ present.
- KooriwebCurated by Gary Foley.
- Storylines (WA)State Library of Western Australia project led by local Aboriginal communities.
News and media archives
- IndigenousX (Guardian Australia)Guardian Australia partnership with IndigenousX to showcase the diversity of Indigenous peoples and opinions from around the country.
- ABC Online: IndigenousCurrent News Items, links to ABC Indigenous radio and TV programs, Arts & Events. There are Special topic pages on the Stolen Generation, the Apology, and the Intervention.
- National Film and Sound Archive Indigenous collectionFind out more about the NFSA Indigenous collection.
- The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Ethnographic CollectionAIATSIS is the world’s premier institute for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, past and present. The AIATSIS Collection includes some of the most significant works of ethnographic film produced in Australia.
- Koori MailNational Indigenous newspaper published fortnightly. 100% Aboriginal-owned and 100% self funded
- Koori Mail ArchiveTwenty years of the Koori Mail digitised - 1991-2011
- NITV - National Indigenous TelevisionProvides a nationwide Indigenous television service via cable, satellite and terrestrial transmission means and selected online audio visual content. The content for these services is primarily commissioned or acquired from the Indigenous production sector.
Reason In Revolt: Source documents of Australian Radicalism
Victorian collections
Victorian Collections
- Access Victorian CollectionsSearch or browse from the home page.
- Bunjil Park Aboriginal Education & Cultural CentreExplore the objects in this collection from Neilborough, VIC.
- Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for LanguagesThis collection features the most complete holding of materials on Victorian Aboriginal languages in existence, and is the only place prioritising Community as well as historical and linguistic materials.
Museum Victoria Collections
- About Museum Victoria CollectionsFind out about the context around Museum Victoria's collections, including what has (and has not) been digitised and why. You can also explore the collections by browsing them from this site.
National collections, resources, and consultation
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) collections, guides and exhibitions
- Remembering the Mission DaysLearn about the Aborigines’ Inland Mission and its influence over Aboriginal people from 1905 to 1966, as well as the government regulations controlling Indigenous Australians during that period.
- A M Fernando NotebooksView digital copies of the London notebooks of A M Fernando 1929–30.
- The Referendum Australia Had to HaveA tribute to the thousands upon thousands of voluntary campaigners who worked tirelessly for a decade, educating a nation, towards a referendum Australia had to have, which was held on 27 May 1967.
- The 1965 Freedom RideIntroduces you to the Student Action For Aborigines organisation and explains how students from the University of Sydney drew national and international attention to the poor living conditions of Aboriginal people and the racism that was rife in New South Wales country towns from 12 – 26 February 1965.
- Back to my Country ‐ The GagudjuManHonours the life and work of Bill Neidjie for his people, his country and all Australians, and showcases some of the AIATSIS collections.
- From Wentworth to Dodson ‐ an interactive timelinePresenting 50 years of AIATSIS and significant events for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from 1964 to present day.
- Land, Rights, Laws: Issues of Native TitleIssues paper illuminating the history of Native Title.
Australian Museum
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection (Australian Museum)First Nations cultural material and objects in Australian Museum collections.
Public Records Office of Victoria
- Aboriginal Victoria research guideYour gateway to finding records on Aboriginal Victoria.
- Walata tyamateetjGuide to government records about Aboriginal people in Victoria.
- Finding Your StoryResource Manual to the Records of the Stolen Generations in Victoria.
- Tracking the Native PoliceAccess an online exhibition curated using records from PROV.
Key indexes
Informit - Indigenous Collection
- Informit Indigenous collectionIncludes a mix of primary and secondary sources related to Australian Indigenous peoples the areas of education, law, history, Indigenous Studies, politics, health, criminology, family and society, and more.
Scholarly search strategies
Phrase searching: This requires terms to be searched in the exact order specified within the “quotation marks”
- “1967 Referendum”
Truncation: A truncation symbol allows you to fine word variations or alternate spellings by adding a truncation symbol to the end of terms:
- Australi* = Australians, Australia, Australian, Australiana
Wildcard: Substitute a symbol for a single letter (character) of a word with (use for alternative spellings):
- Organi?ation = organisation or organization
Use AND to combine key words, places, events and/or concepts and narrow your search: “1967 Referendum” AND “Aboriginal activis*”
Use OR to find synonyms and other related words and broaden your search: aboriginal OR indigenous
Use NOT to exclude certain words: Aboriginal NOT Canadian