The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, publishing, and research institute and is considered to be Australia's premier resource for information about the cultures and societies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The institute is a leader in ethical research and the handling of culturally sensitive material. The collection at AIATSIS has been built through over 50 years of research and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and is now a source of language and culture revitalisation, native title research, and Indigenous family and community history. AIATSIS is located on Acton Peninsula in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
History The proposal and interim council (1959–1964) In the late 1950s, there was an increasing focus on the global need for anthropological research into 'disappearing cultures'.International Social Science Bulletin: Disappearing Cultures, vol 9, No 3, 1957, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris.Heine-Geldern, R (1959), 'The International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research', American Anthropologist, 61: 1076–1078. doi: 10.1525/aa.1959.61.6.02a00130 This trend was also emerging in Australia in the work of researchers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,Berndt, RM (1959), 'Areas of research in Aboriginal Australia which demand urgent attention', Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research, Vienna, vol. 2, pp 63–9Strehlow, TGH (1959), 'Anthropological and ethnological research in Australia', Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research, Vienna, vol 2, pp. 70–5 leading to a proposal by W.C. Wentworth MP for the conception of an Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1959.Mulvaney, DJ (2008), 'WEH Stanner and the foundation of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1959–1964', pp. 58–75, in: An Appreciation of Difference: WEH Stanner and Aboriginal Australia, Hinkson, Melinda and Beckett, Jeremy (eds), Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
The proposal was made as a submission to Cabinet,Bryson, Ian (2002), 'Aborigines, film and science', Bringing to Light: a history of ethnographic filmmaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, pp. 9–17 and argued for a more comprehensive approach by the Australian Government to the recording of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures.
In 1960, a Cabinet sub-committee assessed the proposalChapman, Valerie (1988), 'The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies', Resources for Australian Studies in the ACT, Biskup, Peter & Goodman, Doreen (eds), Centre for Library and Information Studies, CCAE, pp. 194–214 and formed a working party at the Australian National University (ANU) to consider the viability of the proposal. One of their first actions was to appoint W.E.H. Stanner to organise a conference on the state of Aboriginal Studies in Australia, to be held in 1961 at the ANU.
Academics and anthropologists in the field of Aboriginal Studies attended the conference, and contributed research papers published in a conference report in 1963.Shiels, H (ed) 1963, Australian Aboriginal Studies: A Symposium of Papers at 1961 Research Conference, Oxford University Press, Melbourne No Aboriginal people were present at the conference.
The Prime Minister at the time, Robert Menzies, appointed an Interim Council in 1961. The role of the Interim Council was to plan for a national Aboriginal research organisation and establish how this organisation would interact with existing research and scientific bodies. The Interim Council was also tasked with immediately developing a programme that would identify and address urgent research needs.'Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies Agency Details', National Archives of Australia, naa.gov.au, accessed 28 October 2014.
The Interim Council consisted of 16 members and was chaired by Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, Professor A. D. Trendall, officially recognised as the first chair of the institute now known as AIATSIS.
In August 1962, a draft constitution for the institute was submitted to the Menzies government, and rejected. The Interim Council completed a revised constitution in July 1963. Amendments to the document included the change from the title 'director' to 'principal' of the institute.
This version of the constitution would go on to form the basis for the creation of the new Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies the following year.
AIAS early years (1964–1970) The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies was established as a statutory authority'Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Independent Review', Final Report to the Department of Education, May 2014, p (i), accessed 17 March 2015. under an Act of Parliament in June 1964.'Our history', Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) website, , accessed 17 March 2015.'Interim Council for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Agency Details', National Archives of Australia website, www.naa.gov.au, accessed 28 October 2014. The mission of the Institute at that time has been described as "to record language, song, art, material culture, ceremonial life and social structure before those traditions perished in the face of European ways".Mulvaney, D. J. 'Reflections', Antiquity, Vol. 80, no. 308, June 2006, pp. 425–434
This notion is also reflected in the Institute's official functions, as recorded in the Reading of the Bill in Parliament. These were:
AIAS had a twenty-two member Council, composed mainly of academics, and had a foundation membership of one hundred. The founding Principal of the newly formed institute was Frederick McCarthy, a professional anthropologist and graduate of Sydney University who had spent nearly 30 years working in the field.'Fred McCarthy: the founding principal of AIATSIS', Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) website, , accessed 28 October 2014.
The creation of the AIAS provided an opportunity for greater cross-discipline interaction in fields relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies in Australia.
The Institute's founding principal, Fred McCarthy, was an advocate of film as an important part of research methodology as early as his tenure as curator of anthropology at the Australian Museum in Sydney in the 1940s. This was evident in the contributions he made during his involvement in establishing the AIAS and also as its principal, in continuing to support the development of the AIAS Film UnitBryson, Ian (2002), 'Capturing a changing culture: The first phase of the Film Unit', Bringing to Light: a history of ethnographic filmmaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, p 18-19 and championing ethnographic film in global forums.
In the early years of the AIAS, the Film Unit largely outsourced early filmmaking work to other companies, or worked in collaboration with the Commonwealth Film Unit (as early as 1962).'Australian Ethnographic Film', Australian Screen Online website, accessed 28 October 2014. But over the next 30 years, the Film Unit would go on to produce "one of the largest assembly of ethnographic films created in the world".'AIATSIS Collections: Film', Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) website, accessed 17 March 2015
In keeping with the AIAS official function "to publish and to support the publication of the results of research", a publishing arm of the institute was established in 1964. Publishing under the name Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, the publishing arm released a range of papers and research findings, including in the fields of linguistics, demography, physical anthropology, history and musicology.
The early work of the AIAS is credited with increasing interaction between academics in different fields, as well as establishing the foundations for the extensive collections AIATSIS holds today. But before 1970, there had never been an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander member on the AIAS Council.
Self-determination and the Institute (1970–1989) "Money and other resources are in short supply for Aboriginal control of their livelihood, but not, it seems, for discussing it." – Eaglehawk and Crow letter, 29 March 1974The 1970s marked a period of change for the AIAS. This began with the appointment of the first Aboriginal member of the AIAS Council in 1970.Lambert, Jacqueline, A History of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies 1959 -1989: An analysis of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people achieved control of a national research institute, thesis submitted for the Doctor of Philosophy, Menzies Library, Australian National University, November 2011, p. 106 Phillip Roberts, an Alawa man,"Indigenous Rights: Phillip Roberts", National Museum of Australia website, accessed 10 November 2014Pilling, A. R. (1963), "I, the Aboriginal", Douglas Lockwood, American Anthropologist, 65: 1152–1153. doi: 10.1525/aa.1963.65.5.02a00280 served on the council from September 1970 until June 1972.Lambert 2011, p. 106
This was followed in 1971 with a second Aboriginal Council member, Senator Neville Bonner, who served on Council until 1974 and for a second term in the late 1970s. And again in 1972, with the appointment of Dick Roughsey to replace Phillip Roberts at the end of his term.Lambert 2011, p. 128
The appointment of Phillip Roberts to the Council reflected a growing pressure for an increase in Aboriginal representation within the institute. But the move did not allay the belief held by some Aboriginal activists that the AIAS was engaging in 'tokenism' in the extent to which Aboriginal people were involved in the administration of Aboriginal Studies.Widders, Thompson, Bellear & Watson (1974), Eaglehawk and Crow: an open letter concerning the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 29 March, AIAS, cited in Lambert 2011, p. 142
The changes to the Institute that would take place in the following decade were also influenced by the shifting social and political landscape in Australia.Lambert 2011, p. 107 The Aboriginal rights movement was growing and Aboriginal people were demanding a voice on Council, consultation with communities and an increased focus on projects relevant to the needs of Indigenous people.
In 1972, the Whitlam government was elected. Their policy of self-determination for Aboriginal people echoed calls for greater Aboriginal involvement in the administration and functions of the AIAS.Rolls, Mitchell & Johnson, Murray, Historical Dictionary of Australian Aborigines, Scarecrow Press, Maryland, 2011, p xxvPratt, Angela, 'Make or Break? A Background to the ATSIC Changes and the ATSIC Review', Parliament of Australia website, accessed 10 November 2014 The new government was also responsible for a significant boost to AIAS funding.Bryson, Ian (2002), Recording culture in transition, Bringing to Light: a history of ethnographic filmmaking at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, pp 52–73
The appointment of Peter Ucko in 1972 as Principal of the AIAS has since been described as the beginning of an increase in involvement of Aboriginal people in the workings of the institute.