First Nations & Indigenous Peoples

Manuscript Collections

MSS 149 - Papers of Robert Adamson
An award-winning contemporary poet, and successful writer, editor and publisher, Robert Harry Adamson was born in 1943 at Neutral Bay, Sydney, and has lived on the Hawkesbury River for much of his life.
Adamson was a member of the Sydney literary scene in the late 1960s and a significant influence on the rise of the 'New Australian Poetry' in the early 1970s, through his editorship of New poetry,  1971-1976 and 1980-1981. Amongst Adamson’s many publishing endeavours are included: co-founder of Illumination Press with Franco Paisio in 1970, and Prism Books in 1971, which he co-edited with Cheryl Creatrix (Adamson), 1971-1982;  co-editor and publisher with Dorothy Hewett of Big Smoke Books in 1977; co-founder Paper Bark Press in 1986 with Juno Gemes and Michael Wilding; poetry reader for Angus & Robertson, 1993-1997, and editor of Ulitarra literary magazine, 1993-1997.

Box 20: Including Twenty-two photographs of indigenous and white Australians by Gemes, including youn men on Bora Ground, Mornington island, 1975; Percy Mumbler, NADOC March, 1981; ceremony at Gulliwinku, 1983; Hill End Pub; Tiwi dancers, Sydney Opera House, 1991; Raymond Meekes portrait; Uncle Fred, Mornington Island; David Gullipil and David Molongi at Sydney Museum, 1980; Mornington Island, 1980; Yolgnu People 'Lets educate - don't celebrate', 1988; young lad, Brewarrina, 1981; beach camp, Mornington Island, 1978; lively kids, Redfern, 1978; hunting and gathering, Mornington Island, 1978; 
Tristram Miller by Gemes

MSS 289 – Art Monthly Archives
The first issue of Art monthly Australia, (AMA) was published in June 1987; its founding editor was Peter Townsend, then the distinguished (and also founding) editor of Art monthly (UK), that country's leading magazine of contemporary visual art. Townsend modelled the Australian magazine on its namesake and it quickly became a lively and critical forum for debate on contemporary Australian art. The archive comprises correspondence, financial papers, audio tapes for ‘Art monthly Australia’. Includes material pertaining to the Aboriginal art supplements, 1990 and 1992. Correspondents include Ken Whisson, Bernard Smith, Peter Fuller, and Humphrey McQueen.

Box 1/ Folder 1 - Material for Aboriginal Art Catalogue, 1990; Box 3/Folder 15-18 - Correspondence regarding the Australian Bicentennial Authority, printing, distribution, Murray Bail, profiles and cartoons; Correspondence regarding Aboriginal art, Fine Arts Press; Correspondence regarding the Aboriginal Urban Art Supplement, 1990; Correspondence regarding the Aboriginal Urban Art Supplement, 1990, and Aboriginal Art Supplement, 1992

MSS 328 – Records of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) is an organisation which promotes the study and creation of Australian literature and Australian literary culture. Founded in 1978, the Association hosts conferences, and administers several significant literary awards. Association members have  contributed to publications including the Oxford Literary Guide to Australia (1987, revised 1993) and the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian Quotations (1990).

Box 25/Folder 293 - ASAL 99 – Aboriginal Writers, 1999, includes correspondence, news clipping.

MSS 005 - Papers of Richard Beilby
Richard Courtney Beilby (1918-1989) was born in Malucca, Malaysia and moved to Western Australia in 1928. During the Second World War he served in the AIF in North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea. Beilby's novels explored issues such as the experiences of war, and the tensions between Aboriginal and white cultures in an urban environment.

Includes several boxes of papers relating to Brown Land Crying (1975), a novel by Richard Beilby about the Aboriginal people of Perth and the south-west of Western Australia: Series 1.3/Folder 1-8 - annotated typescript notebooks containing copies of notes, interviews with and about Australian Aboriginal people and newspaper clippings, together with an index, 1969-1975, annotated typescript drafts, newspaper clippings, research material, 1968-1975; Series 2/Box-Folder 1- Folios, 1969-1973 - photocopies of research materials for The brown land crying; Series 3/Box-Folder 1 - Photographs, 1970 contains six photographs

AustLang reference: Noongar / Nyoongar people W41

MSS 291 - Papers of Black Women’s Action in Education Foundation
Founded in the 1970s as Black Women’s Action, the Black Women’s Action in Education Foundation. Initially a community information group, the group published newsletters and funded small enterprises. In 1979, the BWA raised the funds for one of the founders, Roberta Sykes, to attend Harvard University. Sykes became the first black Australian to graduate from an American university, earning her PhD in education in 1983. In 2008 the organisation changed its name to the Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation (RSIEF) and continues to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to undertake postgraduate study. 

Covering the period 1975-2000, this collection includes organisational papers of the Foundation, including membership forms and lists, correspondence, financial records, and published material and ephemera.

MSS 007 - Papers of Nancy Cato
Born in Adelaide, as well as writing fiction, Nancy Cato (1917-2000) was a poet, and freelance journalist and art critic for several Australian newspapers. In 1950 she edited the Jindyworobak anthology (1951), was a founding member with Roland Robinson and Kevin Collopy of the Lyre-Bird Writers (1948), formed for the purpose of getting Australian verse published and co-edited the Southern festival : a collection of South Australian writing (1960). Cato was actively involved in the South Australian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (1956-1964) and the Australian Society of Authors (1963-1964). The collection contains correspondence and research material for the novel Queen Trucanini (1976) by Nancy Cato and Vivienne Rae-Ellis and biography Mister Maloga : Daniel Matthews and his mission, Murray River, 1864-1902 (1976) by Nancy Cato.

Series 1/Folder 1 - Correspondence, including relating to Mister Maloga : Daniel Matthews and his mission, Murray River, 1864-1902; Series 2/Folder 36-37 - Prose, 1976-1992 including material relating to Mister Maloga : Daniel Matthews and his mission, Murray River, 1864-1902 and Queen Trucanini; Series 3/Folder 1 - Photographs, 1870-1972 contains photographs relating to Maloga Mission, Manunka Mission

AustLang reference: Walgulu / Ngambri / Ngurmal people S47

MSS 228 – Papers of Margaret Diesendorf
Margaret Diesendorf (1912-1993), was an Australian linguist, poet, editor, translator and educationist. Born in Vienna, Austria, Diesendorf migrated to Australia in 1939. She published two books of poetry, made numerous translations of other people's works, and with Grace Perry, edited Poetry Australia.

Box 7/Folder 55
Photocopy manuscript of Diesendorf’s article ‘Aboriginal Poets Writing in English: Kath Walker, Jack Davis, Kevin Gilbert’ for Creative moment, Spring 1973

MSS 058 - Papers of Bob Ellis and Anne Brooksbank
Robert James 'Bob' Ellis (1942-2016) was an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator, and University of Sydney contemporary of notable Australians Clive James, Germaine Greer, Les Murray, John Bell, Ken Horler, and Mungo McCallum. The collection contains production notes, background material and correspondence for Dreaming of Lords (1993), a documentary written by Bob Ellis and Ernie Dingo, about a team of Aboriginal cricketers’ tour to England 120 years after their predecessors in 1868.

Box 44/Folders 307-310 Dreaming of Lords notes, production notes, background material, screen play, treatment and outline, correspondence, cricket team background material

MSS 105 – Papers of Ross Fitzgerald
Australian academic, historian, author, and political commentator Ross Fitzgerald was born in Melbourne in 1944 and was awarded his doctorate in political theory from the University of New South Wales. His academic career has included various positions at Griffith University including Professor in History and Politics. During his time as an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow (1992-1996) he wrote political biographies and co-produced ABC television documentaries. As well as writing regular columns and book reviews for publications such as The Australian and The Age, Fitzgerald has appeared on ABC Radio, SkyNews and the Alan Jones Show.

Box 54/ Folder 338 - Correspondence 1990 - Notes and research material: Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee, Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

MSS 160 - Papers of David Foster
David Manning Foster was born in May 1944 in Katoomba, New South Wales to radio comedian parents. He, studied Science at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1967 with the University Medal for Chemistry, and gained a doctorate in inorganic chemistry (ANU) before becoming a full-time writer. His many award winning novels are satirical, frequently farcical and offer a cynical view of contemporary Australian culture and its postcolonial and imperial foundations.

Series 1/Folder 30 - including letters from Robin Hodgson and a paper entitled ‘The evolution of Peppimenarti around the concept of an Aboriginal Cattle Station’

AustLang reference: Ngan'gikurunggurr N8

MSS 020 – Papers of Dorothy Green
Dorothy Auchterlonie Green was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in May 1915, and moved to Australia in 1927, at the age of twelve. Green was an academic, a scholar, a critic, a writer and a poet, who contributed articles and reviews to almost all Australia's literary, cultural, and political journals and newspapers. Her contribution to Australian literature includes co-editorship of Hermes, three volumes of poetry, collections of critical essays, lectures, articles, reviews and biographies. She became the first woman lecturer at Monash University, lecturing in Australian, English and American literature (1961-1963). She then moved to Canberra and lectured in English and Australian Literature at the Australian National University (1964-1972), and the English Department, Royal Military College, Duntroon (1976-1980).

Box 29/Series 5/Folder 1 - Printed material relating to Aborigines and Aboriginal causes, 1955-1987; Box 34/Series 7/ Folder 1 - Aboriginal writers, Philip Adams and Robert Adamson; Boxes 44-45/Series 7/Folder 79-80 - Aborigines (2 folders); Box 83/Series 8/Folder 137 - Old Bush and Aboriginal songs; Series 8/Folder 144 – Paper clippings and published material - Period I: Aborigines, Bligh and the Rum Rebellion, Macarthur, convicts and emancipists, culture, earliest days, governors and social and moral Series 10/Folder 1 – Photographs, including two Aboriginal girls with their pet dog

MSS 261 – Papers of Frank and Mary Hardy
Francis Joseph Hardy (1917-1994), publishing as Frank Hardy, was an Australian left-wing novelist and writer best known for his controversial novel Power Without Glory. A communist and political activist, he  brought the plight of Aboriginal Australians to international attention with the publication of his book, The Unlucky Australians, in 1968.

Box 27/Folder 220 - ‘The eviction of Ernie Lyle’ draft - Aboriginal Affairs (information from Gerry Hand’s office when he was Minister for Aboriginal Affairs), Dept. of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report, 1988-1989 -               Information regarding ATSIC - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, and Aboriginal affairs in general; Folder 221 - Aboriginal Affairs (information from Gerry Hand’s office when he was Minister for Aboriginal Affairs - Copy of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act, 1989 - Aboriginal Australia educational material; Folder 222 - Copy of published work Aboriginal Law Bulletin, Vol. 2, no. 30, Feb. 1988, Vol. 2, no. 32, Jun. 1988 - Copy of thesis (original) ‘The Relationship Between History and Sociology : Class, Welfare, and Capitalism and the Role Aborigines Have Played in the State-building Processes in Northern Territory History’, by Gordon Briscoe, (B.A. Hons.), Dept. of History, ANU, November 1987; Box 28/Folder 223 - Copy of thesis ‘A History of Aboriginal Communities in NSW, 1909-1939’               by Heather Goodall (B.A. Hons.), Dept. of History, Univ. of Sydney, 1982; AV Box 1/Cassette - Frank Hardy 10 May 1989 - Tenancy Union and Rudall River Aboriginal community.

MSS 351 - Papers of David Headon
Historian, author, and television presenter David Headon was born in 1950. First publishing biographies, criticisms, and interviews in the early 1980s in publications such as Westerly, Meanjin, and Northern perspective, he has also edited numerous works such as Imagining the real : Australian writing in the nuclear age (1987, co-edited with Dorothy Green) and North of the ten commandments : A collection of Northern Territory literature (1991). His papers include extensive documents, research and notes relating to the latter publication.

Box 3/Folder 17-18 – Correspondence relating to North of the ten commandments; Box 4/Folder 19-21 – Documents and notes relating to North of the ten commandments; Box 4/Folder 22-26 – Documents and notes relating to North of the ten commandments; Box 6/Folder 27-28A – Research papers, photographs and index cards relating to North of the ten commandments

MSS 026 - Records of Island Magazine
Island is a quarterly literary publication produced in Hobart. Originally titled The Tasmanian Review, it was founded in 1979 as place for Tasmanian writers and writers from elsewhere to publish new work. In March 1981, the magazine was renamed Island Magazine, to more accurately reflect its status as a national magazine rather than as a regional 'review'.
Box 26/ Folder 215 - Material for Island 42, 1990, Issue 42 including ‘Dreaming, Profits and Land Use, Another Disaster for the Aboriginal People of Cape York Peninsula?’’

MSS 106 – Papers of Manfred Jurgensen
German-Australian literary scholar and writer Manfred Jurgensen was born in 1940 in Flensburg. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English and German and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy from Zürich University and a Doctor of Letters from the University of Queensland in 1991. Jurgensen has edited several literary journals, including the magazine Outrider from 1984-1996 and works of contemporary German-speaking authors. In addition to his work as a literary scholar and critic, Jurgensen is the author of creative works such as poems, plays and narratives, and in 1997 was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to literature.

Photo album 1/Folder 9 – including Aboriginal by Laurie Bray, ca 1970

THL 006 - Papers of Ian McLachlan
Ian McLachlan served as a Liberal party member in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 1998. He was Minister for Defence in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1998. The bulk of the collection relates to the 1990s Hindmarsh Island bridge legal and political controversy, concerning land sacred to the Ngarrindjeri people, when McLachlan was Shadow Minister for the Environment.

Box 1/Folder 1 - Including Fax from Doreen Kartinyeri, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement - 6 March 1995 - Letter from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) - 2 February 1996 - Copy of Key Findings - Report of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission - [no date] - Letter to Robert Tickner Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs - 19 December 1995; Folder 3 - Statement by Uniting Aboriginal and Island Christian Congress (South Australia region) and the Solidarity and Justice Unit of the Uniting Church, South Australia Synod - 20 June 1995 -
  
Letter from Ottowarrapanna Aboriginal Council Inc - 5 August 1994 - Letter from Iga-Warta Homelands Aboriginal Corporation - 8 August 1994 - Letter from list of Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) people and others - 28 August 1993 ; Box 2/Folder 4 - Faxed copy of letter from elder Aboriginal Woman, Laura Kartinyeri - 17 March 1995 -  Letter from Robert Tickner, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs - 12 May 1994

AustLang reference: Ngarrindjeri people S69
 
MSS 121 - Papers of Stephen Muecke
An academic in linguistics and semiotics, Stephen Muecke grew up in Newcastle and Melbourne before graduating from Monash University in the 1970s. He moved to Perth to work on his doctorate (a semiotic analysis of oral narratives from the Kimberleys) and it was during his research that his friendship with Indigenous elder Paddy Roe began. The bulk of this collection relates to Stephen Muecke and his work on Reading the Country: Introduction to Nomadology (Fremantle, 1984), a postmodern ethnography written in collaboration with Indigenous elder Paddy Roe and painter Krim Benterrak. It contains correspondence, notebook and literary drafts, research papers, reviews, business papers, audio recordings, still images, photographic negatives and maps, some of which did not appear in the published edition.

Extensive material relating to Reading the Country (2014) by Paddy Roe, Stephen Muecke and Krim Bentarrak, Highlights include: Box 1/Folder 6 - Journal – Field trip notebook -1 x Spirax Students Note Book (no. 592). Front cover – ‘Stephen Muecke c/- Paddy Roe, Broome’ Contains rough notes at front and back of notebook [April 198-]; Folder 7 - Literary drafts – drafts and fragments, unfiled working notes, conversation transcripts, dialogues; AV Binder 1-2 – contact sheets, negatives, photographs slides; AV Box 3 - 7 audio cassette tapes containing recordings of conversations between Stephen Muecke, Paddy Roe and Krim Benterra

AustLang reference: Jabirr Jabirr people K8

MSS 278 - Papers of Neil Murray
Formed in Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980, the Warumpi Band was the first major rock group with mostly Indigenous members and to use Aboriginal languages in their lyrics. Founding member Neil Murray is an Australian singer/songwriter, poet, novelist and playwright who played with the band until 1999. Murray grew up in Western Victoria and after studying art in Ballarat and Melbourne, moved to Papunya where he worked as a teacher, truck driver and outstation worker, and at Kintore west of Alice Springs.

Murray’s archive contains a comprehensive range of material from the Warumpi period of his career, including draft poems and songs, notebooks, general and literary correspondence, published works containing reviews, articles and advertisements, programs, posters, compact discs, and audio and video cassettes.

MSS 003 - Papers of Mark O’Connor
Mark Kevin O'Connor was born in Melbourne, Victoria in March 1945, graduating as Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in English and Classics in 1965.  O'Connor is one of Australia's best-known environmental poets, and has taught English literature and been Writer-in-residence at various Australian universities and colleges

O’Connor’s papers contain draft poems associated with specific regions of Australia, with titles such ‘Hinchinbrook Aborigines’, 'Centralian landscapes : words for a suite of Aboriginal paintings', ‘Aboriginal Literacy’ and ‘Arnhem Land’.

MSS 011 - Papers of the Oxford companion to Australian Literature
A collection of papers relating to the writing, editing and publication of The Oxford companion to Australian literature (1985) edited by William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton and Barry Andrews.

Box 1/Folder 2 - Alphabetical biographical files: The Aborigine in Australian literature; Folder 3 -Alphabetical biographical files: Aboriginal writers

MSS 258 – Papers of Geoff Page
Geoff Page was born in July 1940 in Grafton, NSW, grandson of Earle Page founder of the Country Party. An active Labor Party supporter, Geoff Page moved to Canberra where he taught English and history (1964-2001) and was writer-in-residence at Edith Cowan University, Curtin University, the Australian Defence Force Academy, and the University of Wollongong. His poetry has regularly appeared in a wide range of journals, newspapers and anthologies, with the clash between Aboriginal and settler culture featuring as a recurrent theme in his work.

Box 24/Folder 180 - Manuscript and annotated typescript drafts of published poems, 1990-1997, 'After Flaubert', 'White Beach', 'Discovering the Seventh', 'The Show Must Go On', 'Levels and Divisions' (I Was), 'Renaissance Red', 'Thelonious Monk', 'Colonial Impromptu', 'The Squatters' Thesaurus' and 'Aboriginal Violinist, 1930s'

MSS 119 - Papers of Billy Marshall-Stoneking
Marshall-Stoneking spent 1978-1983 at Papunya Aboriginal Settlement in the Northern Territory as a teacher, where he collection and published stories and other materials in Pintupi for use in the Papunya outstations’ bilingual reading programme. Later becoming film-maker and script writer, much of Marshall-Stoneking’s work was influenced by his time at Papunya, including documentaries on Aboriginal life and culture. The archive includes audio recordings of songs, journals, and articles, and papers relating to Singing the snake: Poems from the Western Desert, with illustrations by Tutama Tjapangarti.
Box 3/Folder 18 - Manuscript, Singing The Snake, 1979-1988; Box 5/Folder 31 - Manuscript, Singing the Snake; Folder 32 - Manuscript, The Mountains Haven’t Moved also known as Singing the Snake; Box 15/Folder 119 - Manuscript Singing the Snake - Poems from The Western Desert 1979 to 1988, by Billy Marshall-Stoneking, drawings by Tutama Tjangarti; Folder 120 - 1979 editions of Tjakulpa Aboriginal Magazine; Box 16/Folder 121 - 1979 editions of Tjakulpa Aboriginal Magazine; Box 29/Folder 225-228 - Once Upon a Dreamtime (retitled Spirit Song), Anthology of Aboriginal writers. Published by Omnibus books and poems collected by Billy Marshall-Stoneking, including correspondence; Box 25/Folder 196 - Manuscript Singing The Snake - Poems From The Western Desert, and illustrations by Tutama Tjapangarti, 1979­-1988; AV Box 1/AV 3 Audio cassette - Singing The Snake, 1990; AV Box 6/AV45 - Audio cassette - Singing the Snake Poems from the Western Desert arranged and presented by Billy Marshall-Stoneking - ABC Radio National, 4 August 1991; AV Box 9 - audiocassette ‘Singing the Snake featuring the poetry of Billy Marshall Stoneking’, Netherlands Radio, March 1995

AustLang reference: Pintupi people C10

MSS 297 - Papers of Bruce Pascoe
Bruce Pascoe is an Australian Indigenous writer, publisher and anthropologist from the Bunurong clan of the Kulin nation. He has written nearly thirty books, including for children and anthropological non-fiction. In 1982, he founded Pascoe Publishing with his wife Lyn Harwood, which published the quarterly literary journal Australian Short Stories (1982 - 2000) as well as novels and anthologies of other authors. His work has won or been shortlisted for over a dozen prizes, including 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year for Dark Emu (2014).

Majority of papers comprise typewritten manuscripts for publication by Pascoe Publishing.
Box 8/Folder 41-43 including galley proofs and manuscripts of Women of the Centre, the stories of fifteen Aboriginal women; Box 9/Folder 52 - Aboriginal artwork (illustrations) by Sheila Puruntatamen; Box 11/Folder 64 - Aboriginal News, dated 6 June 1990, vol. 6 no. 3, Aboriginal artwork; Box 24/Folder 148 – including correspondence from Adele Graham, Port Augusta, story by Lallie Lennon and Chris Warren regarding Aboriginal issues

THL 009 - Papers of Philip Ruddock

Philip Ruddock is an Australian politician and a Liberal member of the House of Representatives from 1973-2016. Ruddock served continuously in Cabinet during the Howard Government, including as Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs from 2001 to 2003. 

Ruddock’s papers include a selection of official publications relating to his Indigenous Affairs portfolio.

MSS 179 - Papers of Christopher Waddington
Artist Christopher Waddington produced a series of artworks and an exhibition based on themes from Patrick White’s novels. The material includes correspondence, drawings, paintings and associated papers on themes taken from White’s principal works. Folders relating to Patrick Whites's Voss, Riders in the Chariot, A Fringe of Leaves contain artworks by Christopher Waddington and photographs thereof depicting scenes of Aboriginal people as described in the novels.

MSS 137 – Papers of William Wilde
Academic and literary historian, W.H. (William Henry) Wilde was Associate Professor of English at the Royal Military College, Duntroon with a special interest in 19th century Australian literature and poetry.  He published several studies on early poets including two volumes on Mary Gilmore, the Letters of Mary Gilmore (1980, selected and edited with Tom Inglis Moore), and Courage a grace: a biography of Dame Mary Gilmore (1988). 
Wilde’s archive comprises manuscripts, correspondence, subject files, photographs, audio recording and other research materials relating to his Gilmore biography, including original Gilmore papers.

Box 1/Folder 10 – including ‘Aborigines’ research material

MSS 231 - Papers of General Sir John Wilton
General Sir John Gordon Noel Wilton (1910-1981) was a senior commander in the Australian Army, who  served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS)1963-1966, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CCOSC), 1966-1970, during the Vietnam War. Wilton ended his career as a diplomat and in 1979 he became one of the first sponsors of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee, which advocated for a treaty between the Federal government and Aboriginal representatives.

Box 3/Folder 21 - Papers relating to the Aboriginal Treaty Committee

Oral Histories

The Australians at War Film Archive records the stories of 2,000 Australian war veterans across all theatres of conflict, as a permanent public archive for posterity. View the first-hand stories of these six Indigenous serviceman, or Search AAWFA to identify additional sources.

Ronald Dean (Dino) (AAWFA 001.488)
Interviewed on 15th September 2003    
Themes: Vietnam, Civilian Medical Aid, National servicemen, Medical orderlies, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: 1 Australian Field Hospital, Army Medical Corps

Marsat Ketchell (Jimmy K) (AAWFA 001.2355)
Interviewed on 16th August 2004    Archive number 2355
Themes: Vietnam, RAN, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: HMAS Sydney, HMAS Vampire, Vietnam

John Kinsela (Killer) (AAWFA 001.2454)
Interviewed on 1st September 2004    
Themes: Vietnam, National servicemen, Task Force, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: 106 Battery 4 Field regiment - Vietnam

Ricky Morris (AAWFA 001.2532)
Interviewed on 8th July 2000    
This interview was filmed for the television series Australians at War in 1999-2000.
Themes: East Timor, Interfet, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: INTERFET

Elley Mundraby (AAWFA 001.2344)
Interviewed on 17th August 2004    
Themes: World War II, Cold war, Australian Maritime Surveillance Operations, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Stalwart, RAN

David Williams (Dag) (AAWFA 001.2362)
Interviewed on 3rd August 2004    
Themes: Vietnam, RAN, Australian Maritime Surveillance Operations, Indigenous (all Conflicts)
Served with: HMAS Stalwart, HMAS Vampire

Rare Books

Aboriginal access to funds and services for land management : case studies - West Coast and Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
Author: Jocelyn Davies
Author: Australian Defence Force Academy
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Land tenure -- South Australia -- Eyre Peninsula; Aboriginal Australians -- Land tenure -- South Australia -- West Coast Region; Eyre Peninsula (S. Aust.); West Coast Region (S. Aust.)
Publisher: Canberra : Aust. Defence Force Academy
Date: 1991
Available at Canberra Special Collection (JQ4981 .D38 1991)

Aboriginal legends and poems for today
Author: P Lloyd-Smith
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Poetry
Publisher: Melbourne : The Ruskin Press
Date: 1944?
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.3 .L583 A3 1944)

The aborigines of Australia
Author: Roderick J. Flanagan 1826-1862
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- History; Aboriginal Australians -- Origin
Publisher: Sydney : Edward F. Flanagan and George Robinson
Date: 1883
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU120 .F5)

Across Australia
Author: Baldwin Spencer Sir, 1860-1929
Author: F. J Gillen (Francis James), 1855-1912
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Religion; Aboriginal Australians -- Folklore; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Date: 1912
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU104 .S7 1912)

All-about : the story of a black community on Argyle Station, Kimberley
Author: Mary Durack 1913-1994
Author: Elizabeth Durack 1915-
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Western Australia -- Kimberley; Kimberley (W.A.)
Publisher: Sydney : The Bulletin
Date: 1935
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR 9619.3 .D87 A65 1925)

Altjeringa and other Aboriginal poems
Author: Roland E. Robinson
Subjects: Aboriginal Australian poetry -- Translations into English
Indigenous subjects: Stories and motifs; Literature and stories - Non indigenous - Poetry; Literature
and stories - Story telling and story tellers; Menindee (NW NSW SI54-03); Australia; Milingimbi
(Central Arnhem Land NT SD53-02); Areyonga (South Central NT SG53-01); Tomerong (NSW S
Coast SI56-13); Taree (NSW N Coast SH56-14); Woodenbong (NSW N Coast SH56-02)
Publisher: Sydney : Reed
Date: 1970
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.3 .R594 A47 1970)

Arabin , or, The adventures of a colonist in New South Wales; with an essay on the Aborigines of Australia
Author: Thomas McCombie 1819-1869
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians
Publisher: London : Simmonds & Ward
Date: 1845
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU120 .M32 1845)

Australian aborigines : the languages and customs of several tribes of aborigines in the western district of Victoria, Australia
Author: James Dawson
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Victoria -- Social life and customs; Australian languages
Publisher: Melbourne : George Robertson
Date: 1881
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU 224 .D39 1881)

Australians to 1788
Author: D. J Mulvaney (Derek John), 1925-
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Antiquities; Australia -- History -- To 1788
Publisher: Broadway, N.S.W : Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates
Date: 1987
Available at Canberra Special Collection (folio DU110 .A8 1987)

The Baudin expedition and the Tasmanian Aborigines, 1802
Author: N. J. B. Plomley (Norman James Brian)
Subjects: Baudin, Nicolas, 1754-1803; Voyages and travels; Aboriginal Tasmanians; Ethnology -- Tasmania; Tasmania -- Discovery and exploration -- French
Date: 1983
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU189 .P5 1983)

The black Eureka
Author: Max Brown
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Western Australia -- Pilbara -- Economic conditions; Strikes and lockouts -- Western Australia -- Pilbara
Indigenous subjects: Employment - Law and legislation; Employment - Conditions - Industrial
relations - Trade unions; Government policy - Assimilation - 1926-1950; Government policy - State
and territory - Western Australia; Occupations - Pastoral industry workers; Pilbara area (WA SF50,
SF51, SG50)
Publisher: Sydney : Australasian Book Society
Date: 1976
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN667.P54 B76 1976)

Black eye junior
Author: Samuel Wagan. Watson
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Poetry; Australian poetry -- Queensland -- 20th century
Publisher: Woollangabba, Qld. : The Author ;
Date: c1999
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.3.W37395 B6 1999)

The Booandik tribe of South Australian aborigines : a sketch of their habits, customs, legends, and language : also an account of the efforts made by Mr. and Mrs. James Smith in Christianise and civilise them
Author: James Smith Mrs., ca. 1812-1893
Subjects: Buandik (Australian people); Aboriginal Australians -- South Australia; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs
Publisher: Adelaide : Libraries Board of South Australia
Date: 1965
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU325.A2 S6 1965)

Chunuma
Author: Mary Durack 1913-1994
Author: Elizabeth Durack 1915-
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Folklore; Aboriginal Australians -- Juvenile literature
Publisher: Sydney : The Bulletin
Date: 1936
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR 9619.3 .D87 C5 1936)

The customs and traditions of the Aboriginal natives of North Western Australia
Author: John G. Withnell
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Western Australia -- Pilbara -- Social life and customs
Publisher: Adelaide : Libraries Board of South Australia
Date: 1965
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU374 .W5)

The dead heart of Australia : a journey around Lake Eyre in the summer of 1901-1902, with some account of the Lake Eyre basin and the flowing wells of central Australia
Author: J. W. Gregory (John Walter), 1864-1932
Subjects: Water-supply -- Australia; Aboriginal Australians; Geology -- Australia; Australia -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : John Murray
Date: 1909
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU330.L3 G7)

The Euahlayi tribe : a study of aboriginal life in Australia
Author: K. Langloh Parker (Katie Langloh), 1856-1940
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- Religion
Publisher: London : Archibald Constable
Date: 1905
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU122.A2 P3 1905)

Father sky and mother earth
Author: Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1920-1993
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Folklore -- Juvenile literature
Publisher: Milton, Qld : Jacaranda Press
Date: 1981
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GR366.A87 W35 1981)

Fighters and singers : the lives of some Australian Aboriginal women
Author: Isobel White (Isobel M.)
Subjects: Women, Aboriginal Australian -- Biography
Publisher: Sydney : George Allen & Unwin
Date: 1985
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN666 .F54 1985)

John Batmans diary from March 3rd 1830.
Author: John Batman 1801-1839.
Subjects: Batman, John, 1801-1839; Aboriginal Tasmanians -- Treatment; Tasmania -- Race relations
Date: 19--
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU 222 .B3 B3 1900)

Journals of two expeditions of discovery in north-west and western Australia : during the years 1837, 38 and 39... describing many newly discovered, important and fertile districts
Author: George Grey Sir, 1812-1898
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- Rites and ceremonies; Aboriginal Australians -- Religion; Australia -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : T. and W. Boone
Date: 1841
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU101 .G73)

Legends of the Coochin Valley
Author: Enid Bell
Author: Marjorie De Winter
Subjects: Jagara (Australian people); Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland -- Folklore; Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland
Publisher: Brisbane : Bunyip Press
Date: 1946
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GR366.A87 B44 1946)

Living in Aboriginal Australia. 1
Author: Jeltje
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Poetry; Immigrants -- Australia -- Poetry
Publisher: Melbourne : Collective Effort Press
Date: 1988
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR 9619.3 .J444 L58 1988)

Medicine is the law : studies in psychiatric anthropology of Australian tribal societies
Author: John Cawte
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Psychology; Aboriginal Australians -- Health and hygiene; Mental
illness -- Australia
Publisher: Adelaide : Rigby
Date: 1974
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN666 .C38 1974)

Moyarra : an Australian legend : in two cantos
Author: G. W. Rusden (George William), 1819-1903
Subjects: Australian poetry -- 19th century; Aboriginal Australians -- Folklore
Publisher: London : E.A. Petherick
Date: 1891
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.2 .R87 M6)

Narrative of an expedition of exploration in north-western Australia
Author: Herbert Basedow 1881-1933.
Subjects: Natural history -- Western Australia; Aboriginal Australians; Geology -- Western Australia
Publisher: Adelaide : W.K. Thomas & Co., Printers
Date: 1918
Available at Canberra Special Collection (QH 197 .B342 1918)

The native tribes of central Australia
Author: Baldwin Spencer Sir, 1860-1929
Author: F. J Gillen (Francis James), 1855-1912
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Folklore; Aboriginal Australians -- Religion; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Date: 1899
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN665 .S7)

Nerangi Mundowie
Author: T. V. Tierney (Thomas Vincent)
Author: Bread and Cheese Club (Melbourne, Vic.)
Subjects: Mundowie, Nerangi -- Poetry; Aboriginal Australians -- Poetry
Publisher: Melbourne : Bread and Cheese Club
Date: 1942
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR 9619.3 .T4842 N47 1942)

Once more warriors
Author: Paul Toohey
Author: Nick Cubbin
Subjects: Australia. Army. Norforce; Australia. Australian Army -- Recruiting, enlistment, etc; Aboriginal Australians -- Australia, Northern; Australia -- Armed Forces -- Aboriginal Australians; Australia, Northern -- History, Military -- 21st century
Publisher: Surry Hills, N.S.W. : Nationwide News.
Date: 2000
Available at Canberra Special Collection (folio UA874.N6 T66 2000)

One man's view about the disappearance of the Taribelang aboriginal people from their tribal lands on Burnett and Kolan rivers, Queensland
Author: Roy G. Bettiens
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland; Taribelang (Australian people)
Publisher: Dickson, A.C.T. : Roy G. Bettiens
Date: 1988
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN 667.Q4 B48 1988)

Ourselves writ strange
Author: Alan Marshall 1902-1984
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; Aboriginal Australians -- Northern Territory; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland -- Dunwich; Aboriginal Australians -- Northern Territory -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland -- Social life and customs; Australia -- Description and travel
Publisher: Melbourne ; London : Cheshire
Date: 1948
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN665 .M27 1948)

Papua or British New Guinea
Author: Hubert Murray Sir, 1861-1940
Subjects: Indigenous peoples -- New Guinea; New Guinea -- Social life and customs; New Guinea -- History; New Guinea -- Discovery and exploration
Publisher: London : T. Fisher Unwin
Date: 1912
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU744.5 .M8 1912)

Peoples & problems of the Pacific
Author: J. Macmillan Brown (John Macmillan), 1846-1935
Subjects: Indigenous peoples -- Islands of the Pacific; Islands of the Pacific -- Social life and customs;
Islands of the Pacific -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : T. Fisher Unwin
Date: 1927
Available at Canberra Special Collection (GN662 .B72 1927)

Piccaninnies
Authors: Mary Durack 1913-1994, Elizabeth Durack 1915-2000
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Juvenile poetry; Children's poetry, Australian
Publisher: Australia : s.n.
Date: 1940
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR 9619.3 .D87 P53 1940)

Queensland, Australia : a highly eligible field for emigration and the future cotton-field of Great Britain, with a disquisition on the origin, manners and customs of the aborigines
Author: John Dunmore Lang 1799-1878
Subjects: Agriculture -- Queensland; Aboriginal Australians -- Queensland -- Social life and customs; Queensland -- History; Queensland -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : Edward Stanford
Date: 1864
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU260 .L3)

The red centre : man and beast in the heart of Australia
Author: H. H. Finlayson (Hedley Herbert), 1895-
Subjects: Natural history -- Australia; Aboriginal Australians -- Government relations; Australia -- Description and travel
Publisher: Sydney : Angus and Robertson
Date: 1945
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU390 .F5 1945)

Report on the work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia
Author: Baldwin Spencer Sir, 1860-1929
Subjects: Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition (1894); Aboriginal Australians -- Australia, Central;
Geology; Botany; Zoology
Publisher: London : Dulau ; Melbourne : Melville, Mullen and Slade
Date: 1896
Available at Canberra Special Collection (Q115.H6 R4 1896)

In savage Australia : an account of a hunting and collecting expedition to Arnhem Land and Dampier Land
Author: Knut Dahl 1871-
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Northern Territory -- Social life and customs; Northern Territory -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : Philip Allan
Date: 1926
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU102 .D25)

Savage life in central Australia
Author: George Horne
Author: G Aiston
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Aboriginal Australians -- South Australia
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Date: 1924
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU125 .H6 1924)

The songlines
Author: Bruce Chatwin 1940-1989
Subjects: Chatwin, Bruce, 1940-1989 -- Travel -- Australia; Aboriginal Australians -- Social life and customs; Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Social life and customs
Publisher: New York : Viking
Date: 1987
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU105.2 .C43 1987)

The spectre of Truganini
Author: Bernard Smith 1916-
Author: Australian Broadcasting Commission
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; Aboriginal Australians -- Government policy; Aboriginal
Australians -- Land tenure; Australia -- Civilization
Publisher: Sydney : Australian Broadcasting Commission
Date: 1980
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU120 .S64 1980)

The story of Australia : past and present: in pen and picture
Author: James Colwell 1860-1930
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; Pioneers -- Australia -- Biography; Australia -- History; Northern Territory -- History; Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Northern Territory -- Discovery and exploration; Australia -- Economic conditions; Australia -- Politics and government; Northern Territory -- Description and travel
Publisher: Sydney : S.F. Clarke Publishing Co.
Date: 1925
Available at Canberra Special Collection (DU112 .C64 1925)

Walg : a novel of Australia
Author: B. Wongar
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Fiction
Publisher: New York : Dodd, Mead
Date: c1983
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.3 .W62 W3 1983)

We call for a treaty
Author: Judith Wright 1915-2000
Subjects: Aboriginal Treaty Committee (Australia); Aboriginal Australians -- Civil rights; Aboriginal Australians -- Government relations; Aboriginal Australians -- Legal status, laws, etc
Publisher: Sydney : Collins/Fontana
Date: 1985
Available at Canberra Special Collection (JQ4081 .W74 1985)

The white kangaroo : a tale of colonial life
Author: E. Davenport Cleland (Elphinstone Davenport), 1854-1928
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; South Australia -- History
Publisher: London : Gardner, Darton
Date: 1898
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.2.C5625 W45 1898)

Windabyne : a record of by-gone times in Australia
Author: Reginald Crawford
Author: George Ranken
Subjects: Crawford, Reginald; Country life -- Australia; Ranchers -- Australia; Aboriginal Australians
Publisher: London & Sydney : Remington
Date: 1895
Available at Canberra Special Collection (PR9619.2.R24953 W5 1895)











Compiled by Special Collections: March 2023
Last updated: February 2024