Distrust in the archive: reconciling records

Abstract

This article explores the role of archives in the construction of Australian Indigeneity, past, present and future, with reference to the colonial and post-colonial culture of the archive in Australia, the possibilities for refiguring the archive present in post-colonial thinking, Indigenous ways of knowing, and digital technologies, and the role of reconciling research in that process. It presents the main findings of an Australian Research Council–funded project, Trust and Technology: Building Archival Systems for Indigenous Oral Memory, and draws on Ph.D. research undertaken by Shannon Faulkhead relating to the role that written and oral records play as sources of the narratives of the Koorie people of Victoria in south-east Australia. In conclusion, the article proposes new legal, policy and professional approaches that support Indigenous frameworks of knowledge, memory and evidence. It also discusses the implications of the findings of the Trust and Technology project for archival theory, practice and education.