WORKING GROUPS

First Nations Special Interest Group

The First Nations Special Interest Group was established in 2020 for CAARA’s response to the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration and includes representation from eight Australian states and territories, National Archives of Australia and Archives New Zealand. The role of the Special Interest Group is to build upon themes and commitments outlined in the Declaration for implementation across CAARA institutions.

The Declaration calls on archives around the world to re-imagine the meaning of archives as an engaging model of social memory; to embrace Indigenous worldviews; to decolonise archival principles with Indigenous knowledge methods; to open public archives to Indigenous interpretations; and aims to see public archives as ethical spaces for encounter, respect, negotiation and collaboration without dominance or judgement.

CAARA and its member institutions support the themes and commitments enshrined in the Declaration. They commit to improving services to Indigenous peoples ensuring practices are inclusive and creating spaces that support ethical and respectful dialogue with a focus on engagement, learning and collaboration across CAARA organisations.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Special Interest Group are to:

  • build upon themes and commitments outlined in the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration for implementation across CAARA institutions
  • promote a common approach and respectful ethical relationships between our respective institutions and Indigenous communities
  • provide advice to CAARA Executive Board, promote collaboration and cooperation among CAARA members around Indigenous issues
  • seek to identify and respond to emerging trends in the provision of public access to records relating to Indigenous communities and issues, and advise CAARA Executive Board accordingly.

Resources and Services

CAARA organisations are unified in their support for First Nations peoples, providing resources and services to our First Nations peoples and communities across Australia and New Zealand. We support the creation of ethical spaces of encounter, respect, negotiation and collaboration and we are committed to opening up our archives.  The following are links to our organisations’ website information about First Nations peoples.

 

Contact Details
Phyllis Williams (Chair)
National Archives of Australia

MEMBERS

Phyllis Williams

Chair

National Archives of Australia

Taila Roth

Co-Chair

National Archives New Zealand

Beth Lonergan

Archives ACT, Territory Records Office

Linda Bell

Library & Archives NT

Karin Haveman

State Library and Archives of Tasmania, Libraries Tasmania.

Tsari Anderson

Public Record Office Victoria

Kathryn King

Queensland State Archives

Becky Bligh

Queensland State Archives

Tamara Wenham

State Records of South Australia

Tara Collier

State Records of South Australia

Fiona Sullivan

State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales

Gerard Foley

State Records of Western Australia

PROJECTS

Project Name Project Objectives/Deliverables Projected Completion Date
Summary of Jurisdictional responses to the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration - 5-years on

On Friday 25 October 2019 at the inaugural International Council on Archives Indigenous Matters Summit, the International Council on Archives Expert Group on Indigenous Matters presented the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration to call on the jurisdictional archives of the world to acknowledge and adopt the themes and commitments of the Declaration for immediate action.

CAARA jurisdictions responded to the call of the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration and have undertaken the following work across each of the themes – Knowledge Authorities, Property and Ownership, Recognition and Identity, Research and Access and Self-Determination and will continue to build on this work.

The Summary of Jurisdictional responses to the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration – 5-years on lists the actions and ongoing work CAARA organisations are doing in response to the declaration.

 Ongoing
Coming Soon

Coming Soon…

 TBC