'Given the events of the last six months, a blank sheet of paper, and an editorial to write, I am seized with panic. What can I possibly say in 873 words or less? Some reflections then, in no particular order. The words of the song, 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone' are not strictly appropriate. It being the Institute, hasn't, at the time of writing, gone, and we certainly know what we've got—an institution which is unique in the world. We have however, been pushed, once again, into pondering the nature of that uniqueness, and considering what the effect of certain changes would be.' (Editorial introduction)
Contents indexed selectively.
'The Aboriginal Treaty Committee began work early in 1979, on a voluntary basis, to convince the public and politicians of the need for a properly negotiated Treaty with Australian Aborigines. When the Fraser government fell in 1983 and the first Hawke government succeeded it, Labor had made many promises to Aborigines. Many of our supporters believed that these promises would be kept.' (Introduction)
'The developments described by Judith Wright in the article above have produced a response in public awareness and in the Australian media which have helped bring the issue of Aboriginal dispossession before many who had previously been uninformed or indifferent. There have been some signs that politicians themselves have felt obliged to respond also if only in the equivocal terminology of "compacts" of uncertain significance. ' (Publication abstract)
'In February 1965 a group of young people, all but one members of Sydney University's Student Action for Aborigines, set off on a tour of a dozen New South Wales towns selected as places where Aborigines were notoriously ill-treated or segregated. The students' purposes were to conduct a sociological survey of conditions, and, where necessary, to hold demonstrations against particular examples of segregation. By the end of a fortnight, Australia's press was covering the daily confrontations, Charles Perkins was a national figure and conditions in rural towns were the subject of urgent debate amongst white citizens and administrators of Aboriginal affairs. Perhaps most important, young Koories in the towns had seen what was possible to achieve by demonstrations and publicity. Today the Freedom Ride is well known as an event, but little is known about the details. Perkins' autobiography A bastard like me is still the only published eye-witness account readily available.' (Introduction)
'I went to work at the library of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1984 on a C.E.P. as an assistant. During my time there I found photos of my mother as a young girl standing on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. This discovery led me to look for more information on my family tree, therefore I applied for a one year grant from the Institute to begin this work. I received the grant in October 1987.' (Publication abstract)
'I feel a little like the prey of time, it lulls you into a false sense of security and then swoops. When in 1986 I set out to learn to write, to learn to produce radio stories, to learn to use a word processor, in general to gain skills that would make me a competent information person, I didn't realise where my project would take me and the time involved.' (Publication abstract)
'In his review of Uluru: an Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock, Erich Kolig asks whether anyone had ever said that religion is a reflection of traditional economic roles...'
'He was a barramundi before he became a person. His father speared the fish, his mother ate some of it, and the spirit became the baby who grew into the man known as Hobbles Danayari. On his right temple he had a small mark which was where his father had speared the fish.' (Introduction)
'The Institute's Pictorial Collection, the largest collection of Aboriginal photographs in the world, currently houses 200,000 images. It is made up predominantly of photographs taken by Institute-funded researchers, and as a result is biased towards remote, northern Australia and traditional activities.' (Publication abstract)
'In 1944 Ronald and Catherine Berndt were employed by the Australian Investment Agency (popularly known as Vestey's; hereafter referred to as AIA) to conduct a survey of the Aboriginal labour force on a number of the company's pastoral properties in the Northern Territory. The expressed purpose of the survey was to ascertain the extent to which the Aboriginal labour force might be dwindling and to suggest ways in which numbers might be augmented. In the Berndts' view, it seemed possible that Aboriginal and AIA interests could coincide: the company wanted a productive work force and many Aboriginal people either wanted 'employment' or had no option but to be 'employed'.' (Introduction)
