::fc-announce:: Living Memory: surviving photographs from the records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board, 1924-66

[Geert Lovink]

> From: "Charlton, Susan" <producer at records.nsw.gov.au>
>
> In Living Memory
>   
> an exhibition of surviving photographs
> from the records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board
> from 1924 to 1966
>  
> presented by
> State Records NSW &
> NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs
>  
> open
> 8 September 2006 — 30 June 2007
> State Records Gallery
> 2 Globe Street The Rocks
>  
> enquiries + key images + interviews
> Susan Charlton, Creative Producer, State Records
> ph: (02) 8247 8624; mob: 0438 938 809
> email: producer at records.nsw.gov.au
>  
> In June 1977, the official records of the former New South Wales 
> Aborigines Welfare Board were transferred to the protection of State 
> Records, the NSW Government archives institution. Along with the 
> Board’s correspondence, reports and ledgers, there were approximately 
> 1000 loosely stored black and white photographs of Aboriginal people 
> taken between 1924 and 1966. These images are the surviving 
> photographic records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board.
>  
> In Living Memory — an exhibition based on the photographs — opens to 
> the public at State Records Gallery in The Rocks on 8 September 2006.
>  
> The Board photographs do not provide a complete picture of Indigenous 
> life from the 1920s to the 1960s. Some people and places are 
> represented by many photographs; others by a few or none at all. 
> However, the process of meeting with Indigenous communities to 
> research, develop and present the exhibition has begun to bring new 
> life to those historical records that have survived. In Living Memory 
> is helping to create a new purpose and place for the photographs 
> within contemporary Indigenous life.
>  
> Official Records/Personal Lives
> Although little contextual information accompanied the photographs on 
> their arrival at State Records in 1977, it is clear that most were 
> taken to document the work of the Aborigines Welfare Board and to 
> promote its policies. The collection includes images of children from 
> the bush visiting Sydney for annual summer camps; wedding photos of 
> couples getting married on reserves and stations throughout Western 
> NSW; and studio portraits of young Aboriginal women.
>  
> Knowing today that most of these women were taken as girls from their 
> families and trained at Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls’ Home as domestic 
> servants leads us to wonder about the true personal experience of all 
> the people captured in the official public images. Other photographs 
> more clearly reveal the poverty and hardship of children’s homes; the 
> bleakness of official housing and education; and the hard labour for 
> men and boys working on the land.
>  
> And yet, there is also evidence of pride, resilience and joy, despite 
> the intrusion of the authorities in every aspect of Aboriginal 
> people’s lives. Some photographs with personal inscriptions were sent 
> by young women back to the matrons of homes they had grown up in. 
> Other photos were submitted by the readers of Dawn magazine (published 
> by the Board between 1952 and 1969), with hope they might be published 
> and seen by lost relatives.
>  
> Family, Community, Culture
> Much of the detail we do know about the images comes from personal and 
> official inscriptions which appear on the reverse sides of about half 
> of the photos; and from links that have been made since with other 
> Aborigines Welfare Board records. Important information is also coming 
> from the memories and experiences of people pictured in the photos or 
> from the confirmation of their families and communities. All of this 
> valuable detail is going into a photographic database, which will 
> enable visitors to the exhibition to search for individuals, places 
> and institutions pictured in the images.
>  
> Though the policies of successive governments aimed to dismantle 
> Aboriginal culture, Indigenous people have always found ways to 
> reunite with family and community and to create contemporary links to 
> their culture. Today the Board’s written records and photographs are 
> valuable for the leads and clues they may provide to help in this 
> process.
>   
> Consent, Advice, Support
> Decades after the photographs were taken, they still produce mixed 
> emotions for Indigenous viewers — from the delight of seeing rare 
> evidence of community and culture to the sad reminder of loss and 
> separation. Because of these sensitivities, the entire exhibition 
> process involves the consent, advice and support of many strands of 
> the Indigenous community, including the NSW Department of Aboriginal 
> Affairs for guidance and protocols; an advisory group for ongoing 
> input and support; and the approval and contribution of individuals 
> and communities represented in the Board’s photos.
>  
> Whilst all of the photographs are open to the public, permission is 
> required to tell individual stories or to highlight the photos in 
> promotional materials and the media. The exhibition team has met with 
> Elders, families and communities around NSW to gain approvals from 
> people pictured in the photos, their oldest surviving relative or 
> representatives of their community.
>  
> The exhibition team includes three staff members from State Records. 
> Kirsten Thorpe, Archivist — Aboriginal Liaison, is a Worimi woman who 
> has worked at the archives for seven years, assisting Indigenous 
> people to research their family records. Sue Newman, Project Officer — 
> Aboriginal Liaison, is a Dungatti woman, who has found family in the 
> photographs and also works with the Indigenous records. Creative 
> Producer, Susan Charlton, curates State Records' exhibition program 
> and edits its magazine Vital Signs.
>  
> Indigenous photographer Mervyn Bishop has also joined the exhibition 
> team to consult with NSW Aboriginal communities on different ways the 
> photographs displayed in the exhibition might come to their area. 
> Personal photos of families and communities taken by Merv during his 
> road trips around NSW for the exhibition will be an interesting 
> counterpoint to the Board’s official photos. Also part of the team are 
> Indigenous designer Alison Page and her colleague Margie Rahmann, who 
> are taking great care to create an exhibition design that welcomes 
> families and communities from all over New South Wales.
>  
> Members of the Exhibition Advisory Group include Lola Edwards and 
> Glendra Stubbs from Link-Up, Keith Munro from the Museum of 
> Contemporary Art; Melissa Jackson and Ronald Briggs from the State 
> Library of NSW; and Tracy Bradford and Richard Aldridge from the 
> Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
>  
> Welcome
> The exhibition team at State Records Gallery hopes to create a 
> respectful exhibition experience that honours the Aborigines Welfare 
> Board photographs as a record of the past that is still very much 
> alive today. The photos were taken within living memory and are being 
> exhibited in loving memory. State Records and the NSW Department of 
> Aboriginal Affairs welcome you all to visit In Living Memory.
>  
> __________________________________________________
>  
> Some Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities
> may be distressed by seeing the name or image
> of a community member who has passed away.
> ______________________________________________________________
>  
>  
> In Living Memory: surviving photographs from the records
>  of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board, from 1924 to 1966
>  
> Friday 8 September 2006 – Saturday 30 June 2007
>  
> presented by State Records NSW &
> NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs
>  
> State Records Gallery
> Sydney Records Centre
> 2  Globe Street (off George Street)
> The Rocks
>  
> FREE ENTRY
>  
> 9 am – 5 pm, Mon – Fri
> 10 am – 4 pm, Sat
> Closed public holidays
>  
> Enquiries:
> Susan Charlton
> Creative Producer
> ph: (02) 8247 8624
> mob: 0438 938 809
> email: producer at records.nsw.gov.au