Removal of Aboriginal children began in South Australia during the 1840s with the boarding of Indigenous children at a school in Adelaide, set up by the South Australian Protector of Aborigines, Matthew Moorhouse. The practice of removal escalated in the 20th century with thousands of Indigenous children being taken away from their families and placed in government, church and mission institutions or with non-Indigenous families. Many of these children, often referred to as the ‘Stolen Generations’, were never to return to their families and links to their identity and communities were lost.
Aboriginal affairs in South Australia through this period was a state government responsibility and most official records relating to South Australian Indigenous people are held by the state government. References to Indigenous people in Commonwealth government records held by the National Archives are likely to be more scattered (which can make the task of locating information more difficult) and will relate to matters such as:
In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that all governments assist Aboriginal people to access archival records to enable them to re-establish family and community links that were disrupted or broken as a result of past government policies (see recommendation 53). In response to this recommendation and the 1997 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report, Bringing Them Home, the Archives established a working relationship with the Link-Up program of Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia Inc. and adopted arrangements to assist South Australian Indigenous people to access Commonwealth records. These arrangements are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The Memorandum of Understanding for access to open period records by South Australian Indigenous people was signed on 11 September 2002 by the Acting Director-General of the National Archives and the Chairperson of Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia. Similar memoranda relating to records of Northern Territory and Victorian Aboriginal people were signed in 1997 and 2000. For more information, see:
The MOU sets out arrangements to assist South Australian Indigenous people, or SA Link-Up program staff 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, where appropriate, to family members.
Photocopies of records accessed under the MOU are provided free of charge.
This MOU does not permit access to National Archives records that are less than 30 years old or to records of the South Australian government. A separate MOU between State Records SA, the South Australian government archives authority, and Nunkuwarrin Yunti sets out the arrangements for access to state government records.
Indigenous people, or their agents, seeking access to records under the MOU must first contact SA Link-Up staff at Nunkuwarrin Yunti. Before access to records is granted, the MOU requires that the Archives receives a referral letter from SA Link-Up.
Archives’ staff will deal sensitively with Indigenous researchers and will provide information on available counselling services.
South Australian Indigenous people seeking access to records under this MOU should contact either of the following:
Enid Woodley
National Archives of Australia
Tel: (08) 8409 8401
PO Box 6536 Halifax Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000
SA Link-Up Program
Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia
Tel: (08) 8223 5217
182–190 Wakefield Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Similar MOUs for South Australian Indigenous people have been adopted between Nunkuwarrin Yunti and the Lutheran Church Archives, the South Australian Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, the State Library of South Australia and State Records of South Australia. For further information about the records these memoranda make available please contact either the SA Link-Up program (see above) or one of the following:
The Archivist
Lutheran Church Archives and Research Centre
Tel: (08) 8267 1737
101 Archer Street
NORTH ADELAIDE SA 5006
The Registrar
Births, Deaths and Marriages
Tel: (08) 8204 9599
91–97 Grenfell Street
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Special Programs Officer
State Library of South Australia
Tel: (08) 8207 7200
North Terrace
ADELAIDE SA 5000
Aboriginal Access Team
State Records of South Australia
Tel: (08) 8343 6820 or (08) 8204 8798
GPO Box 1072
ADELAIDE SA 5001
Further information about Archives holdings relating to Indigenous people can be found in the following Fact sheets.
updated January 2008