During the twentieth century, thousands of Aboriginal children were taken away from their families and placed in government and mission institutions or with non-Aboriginal families.
In Between Two Worlds: The Commonwealth Government and the Removal of Aboriginal Children of Part-Descent in the Northern Territory (IAD Press, 1995), Rowena Macdonald has estimated that between 1912 and the 1960s two out of every three ‘part-descent’ children in the Northern Territory spent some of their lives away from their parents as a result of the policy of removal. Many were never to return to their families and links with their communities were lost.
Because the Commonwealth administered the Northern Territory from 1911 to 1978, Commonwealth records held by the Archives' office in Darwin contain much information about Aboriginal children removed from their families. These include Aboriginal population records, patrol officers' reports and records about the government-run institutions that housed Aboriginal children.
In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that all governments should assist Aboriginal people to access archival records to enable them to re-establish family and community links with those from whom they were separated as a result of past government policies (see recommendation 53). In response to this recommendation, the Archives consulted widely with Northern Territory Aboriginal groups and adopted arrangements to assist Aboriginal people to obtain access to Commonwealth records. These arrangements are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The Memorandum of Understanding for access to open period Commonwealth records by Northern Territory Aboriginal people was signed on 5 March 1997 by the Director-General of the Archives and representatives of the Northern Territory Stolen Generations Combined Reference Groups, the KARU Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agency and the Central Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (CAACCA). Similar memorandums have been signed with Victorian Aboriginal people (2000) and South Australian Aboriginal people (2002). See Fact Sheet 205 – Memorandum of Understanding with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency and Fact Sheet 209 – Memorandum of Understanding with South Australian Indigenous people.
The MOU sets out arrangements to assist Northern Territory Aboriginal people, or someone working on their behalf, to access open period Commonwealth records (that is, records over 30 years old) held in any office of the Archives for the purposes of re-establishing family and community links. Sensitive personal information that would normally be exempt from public access under the Archives Act 1983 is available under the MOU to the subject of the record or to family members.
Access to records under the MOU requires that:
If an individual breaches these conditions, the Archives will withdraw the research privileges under the Memorandum from that person. Photocopies of records accessed under the MOU are available free of charge.
The MOU does not permit access to records that are less than 30 years old or to records of the Northern Territory government.
Aboriginal people seeking access to records under the Memorandum, or their agents, must complete an application form. Before access to records is granted, the MOU requires the Archives to check with KARU or CAACCA Link-Up Officers that the person seeking access is a person or family member of a person affected by past government removal policies. Where Link-Up officers are unable to confirm this, the applicant is required to provide the Archives with a statutory declaration verifying their identity.
In addition, those undertaking research about people other than themselves must provide the Archives with evidence that they have been authorised to undertake this research or a statutory declaration stating that authorisation cannot be provided because the person is deceased.
Archives staff will deal sensitively with Aboriginal researchers and will provide Aboriginal researchers working under the MOU with information on available counselling services.
The MOU provides for the establishment of an Aboriginal Advisory Group to advise and assist the Archives in implementing, managing and reviewing the operation of the Memorandum. It consists of representatives of each of the signatories, is chaired by the Archives and meets quarterly.
Northern Territory Aboriginal people seeking access to records under the MOU are welcome to contact:
Reference Officer
National Archives of Australia (Darwin Office)
PO Box 24
Nightcliff NT 0814
Tel: (08) 8985 0300
A number of fact sheets and guides to the Archives records on Aboriginal people are available, including:
You can obtain more information from RecordSearch, the Archives database. You can also use RecordSearch to find out about the agencies that created the records and to locate more records on your subject. You might also explore PhotoSearch to find out if there are photos pertaining to your subject.
RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online or in all Archives reading rooms. Reference staff are available in the reading rooms to help you, or email ref@naa.gov.au.
Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au
updated March 2007