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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 47| October 2000
An ear for
the future:
the privileges and challenges of interviewing
Bringing Them Home Oral History Project interviewer, Ann-Mari Jordens. Photograph: Damian McDonald
A years involvement in the National Librarys Bringing Them Home Oral History Project has brought me new insights into the role of an interviewer. For me, the greatest privilege is the deep but brief intimacy, which develops during the course of an interview. For a few hours, I come to understand aspects of the life of someone who previously was a complete strangertheir personal map of their past; their courage in coming to terms with the often traumatic events in their lives which have shaped their values, and their views of themselves and the world. We can often know a close friend for many years without discovering these things. Although I may never see the person I interview again, I will long treasure the window into their world which they opened to me.
I have also developed a new understanding of oral history. In the past I saw it as the icing on a cake I had carefully crafted from archival sources. I conducted interviews in order to test conclusions I had already reached from files relating to events or government decisions in which my interviewees had participated, or to add colour and detail unavailable from these documents. In my present role my opinions are irrelevant. I am merely a catalyst, eliciting information to which future researchers will bring a myriad of questions I can only guess at. As an interviewer I am a conduit, allowing the interviewee to speak to living Australians and those yet to be born. I am an ear for the future.
The three-year Bringing Them Home Project has ears in every State of Australia. To date, it has contracted 34 interviewers, 17 of who are Indigenous, who have interviewed 151 people. Of these, 106 are Indigenous people removed from their families as children, or parents whose children were removed. For many of these, telling their story has been part of their personal journey towards healing. It has demanded courage and caused them pain in the telling. Every one of their stories offers a unique insight into an aspect of Australian history most of us have long avoided engaging with and teaching our children about.
It is, however, also important to understand the role and values of those involved in implementing the laws and government policies which governed the lives of Indigenous Australians in the past. Of the 400 people to be interviewed, 100 will be non-Indigenous Australians. Of these, 45 have already been interviewed. They played a wide variety of rolesas foster and adoptive parents, school teachers, religious and welfare workers, policemen and patrol officers, hospital matrons, government administrators, staff in childrens homes. The variety of their experiences is enormous. Most believed they were doing their job to the best of their ability and acting in the best interests of the children involved. It is vital that their stories also be heard so that future generations do not simply see our history in terms of past victims and villains. Their stories help us understand how the culture in which we are raised not only shapes our values, but profoundly influences the way we interact with and understand those of different cultures.
I have found interviewing a very challenging experience. The project provides all interviewers with two sets of questionsone for Indigenous and the other for non-Indigenous interviewees. Before I interview a person I try to imagine what their life might have been like and shape the set questions to their particular circumstances. I try to get some feel of their experiences through preliminary conversations, and to do as much research as I can on the broader historical context and legal and administrative frameworks which shaped their lives. Despite my preparation, the interview always presents unanticipated openings, which I feel future listeners to the interview, or readers of the interview transcript, will find valuable. I try to make my questions the only time my voice is heard during the interview. My opinions are irrelevant and I express my understanding, sympathy, outrage or agreement as much as possible in non-verbal ways.
I find coping with new technology always a challenge. The Library equips its interviewers with state-of-the-art digital audio recorders, which are highly sensitive and extremely expensive. I view these machines with considerable suspicion, carefully checking throughout the interview that all the essential signs of life are present. My biggest nightmare is to conduct an interview where nothing is recorded. Its sensitivity also presents a challenge. Interviews are generally conducted in peoples homesplaces where noisy refrigerators and heaters, squeaking chairs, barking dogs and noisy traffic or neighbours can intrude. I try to exclude as many of these sounds as possible, although if not too loud, background sounds can add contextual colour to an interview.
The Bringing Them Home Oral History Project has given me the opportunity
to make my own small contribution to one of the most important challenges
Australians face today. It will help Australians understand, and work to
heal, the continuing legacy of past laws and policies which damaged the
lives, families, and culture of generations of Indigenous Australians.
Ann-Mari Jordens
(Ann-Mari Jordens has published widely on Australian history. Her most recent books are Redefining Australians (Hale and Iremonger, 1995) and Alien to Citizen (Allen and Unwin with Australian Archives, 1997). She is currently a contract interviewer and part-time researcher with the Bringing Them Home Oral History Program.)
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au