Australian Library History Forum 2016 Keynote Address at State Library of Queensland, Brisbane on the 7 July 2016

1. Diverse voices challenging our practice: the
history of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait
Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives
and Information Services
Alex Byrne
State Library of New South Wales
Australian Library History Forum
7-8 July 2016, State Library of Queensland

2. The Appin Massacre 17 April 1816
On any occasion of seeing or falling in with the Natives, either in bodies or singly,
they are to be called on, by your friendly Native Guides, to surrender themselves to
you as Prisoners of War. If they refuse to do so, make the least show of resistance, or
attempt to run away from you, you will fire upon and compell them to surrender,
breaking and destroying the spears, clubs, and waddies of all those you take
Prisoners. Such Natives as happen to be killed on such occasions, if grown up men,
are to be hanged up on trees in conspicuous situations, to strike the Survivors with
the greater terror. On all occasions of your being obliged to have recourse to
offensive and coercive measures, you will use every possible precaution to save the
lives of the Native Women and Children, but taking as many of them as you can
Prisoners.
 Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s Instructions to Captain Schaw of the 46th Regiment
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
2

3. The Redfern Statement 9 June 2016
 17 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak representative
organisations on the anniversary of Prime Minister Paul
Keating’s 1992 Redfern Speech.
 They expressed deep concern:
 that in 2016 First Peoples continue to experience
unacceptable disadvantage
 that the challenges confronting Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people continue to be isolated to the margins of the
national debate
 that Federal Government policies continue to be made for
and to, rather than with, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people
 that the transformative opportunities for Government action
are yet to be grasped
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
3

4. ALIA Values
 Promotion of the free flow of information and ideas through open access
to recorded knowledge, information, and creative works
 Connection of people to ideas
 Commitment to literacy, information literacy and learning
 Respect for the diversity and individuality of all people
 Preservation of the human record
 Excellence in professional service to our communities
 Partnerships to advance these values
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
4

5. Invasion and its consequences
 Europeans continued to arrive hungry for land and opportunity
 it was necessary to remove Aboriginal peoples from their land,
suppress their culture, erase them from the record
 paradox of humane treatment of convicts and recognition of
emancipists and simultaneous dispossession and marginalisation of
the first peoples
The rule was to inspire terror by slaughter, and then to treat
with contemptuous sufferance or marked ill-usage the remnant
of the tribe.
- GW Rusden, 1883
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
5

6. The Great Australian Silence
a code of silence was rigidly imposed on participants in punitive
expeditions … repeated references to drawing a veil over the past
– Henry Reynolds
urged the Government to 'shut its eyes for say three months' … [which]
'once done could easily be forgotten’
- West Kimberley correspondent to the North West Times 1894
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
6

7. Savage and primitive
… a curious noise, of animal gibbering, or human chatter, slight at first
… on a rise in the middle distance appeared one, three, half-a-dozen
savages, not entirely naked, for each wore a kind of primitive cloth
draped from a shoulder, across the body, and over his private parts.
… some black women … advanced, six or seven of them, from hags to
nubile girls … The natives glowered and cowered on hearing for the first
time the voice of one who might have been a supernatural creature …
The monkey-women snatched...
 Patrick White, A fringe of leaves
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
7

8. Inadequate portrayals
We pay ourselves back. You know that. Because you know our crimes
are like a stone, a stone again, thrown into a pool, and the ripples go
on washing out until, a long time after we’re gone, the whole world’s
rocked with them. Nothing’s the same again after we’ve passed
through.
Randolph Stow To the Islands
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
8

9. Imperial myths in our libraries
Works on Indigenous Australians
 over simplified the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples
 reinforced the silence about frontier violence by inserting comfortable
stereotypes
 reinforced the beliefs in an Aboriginal culture, an Aboriginal languages
and exotic but primitive belief systems
 said nothing of the lives of contemporary Indigenous Australians.
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
9

10. General ignorance
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
10
• Ineka Voigt, Doodle, Australia Day 2016

11. Libraries and Australian Indigenous
peoples
 F M Bladen (1906), Historical notes: commemorative of the building
of the Mitchell Wing, Public Library of New South Wales
 Ralph Munn and Ernest R Pitt (1935), Australian libraries : a survey of
conditions and suggestions for their improvement
 Lionel R McColvin (1947), Public libraries in Australia: present
conditions and future possibilities; with notes on other library services
 Maurice F Tauber (1963), Resources of Australian libraries: summary
report of a survey conducted in 1961 for the Australian Advisory
Council on Bibliographic Services
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
11

12. Model school library shelf list
 A list and collection of about 2,000 titles for school libraries in New
South Wales
 The only works listed on Indigenous Australians, listed under
Dewey 919.4 were:
Mary Durack and Elizabeth Durack, Chunuma: the story of
an aboriginal child, Sydney, The Bulletin, 1936.
Mrs Jeannie Gunn, The little black princess of the Never-
Never, Melbourne, Robertson and Mullens, 1936.
Tarlton Rayment, Prince of the totem: a simple black tale for
clever white children, Melbourne, Robertson and Mullens,
1933.
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
12

13. Horton Report 1976
Recommendation 27
 Consultations should be undertaken concerning the library and information needs
of Aborigines at the national level, by the proposed Public Libraries and
Information Council with government departments and Aboriginal groups, and
that State Library Authorities should undertake a similar role at State level and
that funds be provided within the proposed Program to support suitable projects
arising from these consultations.
Recommendation 40:
funding for action research, demonstration projects and innovatory services
 to special groups, such as migrants, the illiterate and the functionally illiterate, the
institutionalised and the housebound, the blind and the partially sighted, the
geographically isolated, Aborigines, young adults, small business and local
government.
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
13

14. The ATSILIRN Protocols
1. Governance and management
2. Content and perspectives
3. Intellectual property
4. Accessibility and use
5. Description and classification
6. Secret and sacred materials
7. Offensive
8. Staffing
9. Developing professional practice
10. Awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and issues
11. Copying and repatriation of records
12. The digital environment
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
14

15. Coming together
 It is my view that you need to look
carefully at the way Aboriginal people are
portrayed in libraries, and you need to
reach out to Aboriginal people and show
us that we are welcome to participate in an
area which we were excluded from for a
long time.
- Mick Dodson 1993
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
15

16. 2015 survey of Indigenous services in NSW
public libraries
 only 20% had Indigenous Australian employees working in their library
 34% had organised cultural competency training in the last two years and 39% planned to
have Australian cultural competency training in the future
 68% had organised programs and/or events targeted for the Australian Indigenous
community in the last two years
 32% had spaces or features designed to encourage Indigenous Australian clients to visit
 nearly half of the respondents have been involved in collaborations with Indigenous
Australian groups and/or organisation in the local area
 only 51% were aware of an Aboriginal Liaison Officer in their local council
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
16

17. 2015 survey of Indigenous services in NSW
public libraries
 56% have a Collection Development Strategy which includes Indigenous Australian
resources but others report a more general policy, or no strategy in place
 K-12 students seemed to be the main users of the library's collections related to
Indigenous Australian culture – presumably to address aspects of the curriculum
 69% arranged their Indigenous collections with a particular label to be easily recognised
and 23% house Indigenous collections in a dedicated area of the library
 34% have an awareness of the ATSILIRN Protocols; some report that a few staff members
are aware of them, but they do not currently use them; interestingly, 73% think they
would benefit from training on implementing the ATSILIRN protocols
 84% do not have shared ideas, information and/or strategies on how to better engage
their library services with Indigenous Australians
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
17

18. “We treat everyone the same”
 … migrants, the illiterate and the functionally illiterate, the
institutionalised and the housebound, the blind and the
partially sighted, the geographically isolated, Aborigines,
young adults, small business and local government.
- Horton Report, Committee of Inquiry into Public Libraries 1976
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
18

19. Four key areas
 include Indigenous peoples in decision making and policy formulation
and, where relevant, in governance and operations
 recognise cultural diversity and consult with community representatives
to provide culturally appropriate access to information and services
 offer employment opportunities at all levels and in all areas with
education and training to foster careers
 implement cross cultural awareness programs reflecting the diversity of
Indigenous peoples and the local Indigenous community
- Statement on Libraries and information services and Indigenous peoples, ALIA 2009
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
19

20. SHARE – an agenda for action
 Share - tell of the first nations, recognise their languages, and work with
them to document their stories
 Hear – long term commitment to listening to and collaborating with
Indigenous communities
 Access - develop our collections and services responsively to offer the
information and ideas desired by Indigenous Australians and to present
those that they want to share
 Respect - engage with the Indigenous peoples in our communities, listen
not ‘communicate’
 Engage - reach out to our communities and examine our policies and
practices boldly so as to find more inclusive approaches
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
20

21. End the silence, advance reconciliation and
achieve our shared vision
 In furthering the goals of free flow of information, library and
information services must engage with indigenous clientele and with
issues arising from indigenous knowledge and the experiences and
priorities of indigenous Australians.
- Policy on Libraries and Information Services and Indigenous peoples ALIA 2009
Aust Library History Forum 2016 - Alex Byrne - Diverse voices challenging our practice
21