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Guides

Resources on Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People

Printed Materials

Introduction

The National Library of Australia has large collections of Australian and overseas material useful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Library receives on Legal Deposit most published material in Australia. This includes items relating to the Australian people, including Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The Library collections are accessible through the Catalogue, electronic resources and a unique and rich variety of reference and information services.

To gain access to the collection users have several options:

Printed materials published in Australia

There are titles held by, about, for, and relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultures and languages - both fiction and non-fiction. There are also early books from before 1800 which describe the situation of Aboriginal people (from the colonists' perspective) and include some word lists for Islander people.

Printed material published overseas

Substantial collections of relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are held, especially in the area of language, ethnology, anthropology, history and culture. Also overseas periodicals within these subject areas are held.

Government Publications

Australian and overseas national and state material (including Parliamentary papers, debates), reports and other government items are obtainable through the Reading Room. Indexes and guides to these publications are available through printed and electronic sources in the Main Reading Room. There are also annual reports from ASTIC Regional Councils in Australia

Newspapers

Extensive holdings of Australian newspapers of the 19th and 20th centuries - country and city (including specific Aboriginal contents papers) are held. There are many on microfilm. These are useful sources of information and comment. Examples include The Australian Abo Call, April - September 1938 (NX 227) and Koori Mail, 1991 to date (Nef 305.89915 KOO).

Maps

Extensive collections of maps include those relating to parishes, boundaries and land ownership (called cadastral) as well as topographic maps (of both natural features such as water holes and man made features). The 1940's Tindale maps of Aboriginal tribal boundaries are one example of map holdings. Aerial photographs from the 1920's to date show Aboriginal and other settlements.

Music

The extensive collection of all types of sheet music printed in Australia includes popular and folk music and modern Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music including Yothu Yindi and Coloured Stone.

Ephemera

This includes leaflets, brochures, posters and other material often disposed of soon after use. It includes a selection of post-1970 items on Aboriginal land rights, heritage, health and education.

Newspaper clippings

These include items mainly from post-1960's newspapers. The following files are maintained from major Australian urban and rural papers:

Pamphlets

The McLaren local history collection includes over 700 books and 4,500 pamphlets on Australian church, business and institutional history as well as brochures on towns and country centres eg. Casino available through the Petherick Reading Room where similar collections can be located. The Ferguson Collection also includes local histories.

Non-Print Materials

Oral Histories

Taped recordings about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, include interviews, descriptions of rituals and recordings of folk music. They have been recorded by Kevin Gilbert, John Meredith, Peter Read and Chris Sullivan. Access restrictions apply to some materials. Interviewees include Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Jack Davis.

The Cultural Context of Unemployment Collection, a recent social history project, includes many interviews with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Access restrictions apply for 100 years.

Manuscripts

These include Daisy Bates' papers relating to Aboriginal people of Western and South Australia and papers of notable Aboriginal people as Neville Bonner, Charles Perkins, Kevin Gilbert and Sally Morgan. There are also papers of non-Aboriginal Australians dealing wholly or largely with Aboriginal people, such as Charles Duguid, Stephen Hawke, Judith Wright and Dr Barry Christophers. Access restrictions apply to some materials.

Pictorial works

There are many original Pictorial works depicting Aboriginal people. Two examples are the paintings by Augustus Earle (e.g. 'A Bivouac of travellers ...', 'Waterfall in Australia', 'King's Table Land ...", 'Portrait of Bungaree ...' and Mr Cowell's farm ...') and T.R. Browne.

Photographs include the Axel Poignant and Baldwin Spencer collections dealing largely with Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory.

NOTE: The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) staff have identified pictures which may be sensitive and should not be exhibited.

Films and Videos

A select list - Aboriginal studies - of over 300 items held by the Film and Video Lending Service was compiled in September 1993 and includes items from the 1920's to the 1990's dealing with all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Catalogues

Search the Library's on-line Catalogue. Some appropriate subject headings are:

                                                        No. of Titles  
Aborigines, Australian                                      577  
   Related:  Aboriginal Australian police                     3  
   Related:  Aboriginal Australian prisoners                  5  
   Related:  Aboriginal Australian soldiers                   5  
   Related:  Aborigines, Australian - Treatment             179  
   Related:  Aborigines, Australian cultural                 18  
             assimilation                                                  
   Related:  Aborigines, Tasmanian                           63  
   Related:  Adnyamathanha (Australian people)                3  
   Related:  Alyawarra (Australian people)                    3  
   Related:  Aranda (Australian people)                       2  
   Related:  Assimilation (Sociology)                        92  

There are over 30 other headings.

Indexes

Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS) is a list by subject of articles published in Australian magazines including many items of interest.

Electronic Sources

A CD-ROM (Compact Disc - Read Only Memory) looks like a music CD and contains information in a compressed electronic format. CD-ROMs include index listings, full text and non-print data. They can be accessed through the catalogue, in the Main Reading Room.

Two titles are AUSTROM and AUSTLIT (covering Australian literature) which index a variety of periodicals and books.

Other sources include CD-ROMS for the New South Wales, Tasmanian and Victorian Pioneer indexes to births, deaths and marriages and Long time, olden time (which contains interviews with Aboriginal people of the Northern Territorys history, collected and edited by Peter and Jay Read) on both cassettes (NLmt1128) and CD-ROM (NLmt1290), published in 1991.

Reference Collection

Catalogues and lists of published materials, bibliographs, indexes, dictionaries and record guides of interest to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are maintained in the Reference collection in the Main Reading Room. A recent acquisition is the two volume Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia (Canberra, Aboriginal Press, 1994) located at RF 994.0049915 E56 with an CD-ROM package attached. A more detailed arrangement and content of this collection is described in Guides for Readers I - Reference Collection.

Other Sources

The Australian Archives, The National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies are institutions with further information resources and knowledge. The National Library of Australia has many other national and international connections to assist users.

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