Like many First Nations across Australia and internationally, the Ngarrindjeri Nation have been misrepresented, silenced and harmed by the colonial archive. In this archive, Ngarrindjeri people are frequently objectified, relegated to heritage sites of the past and disassociated from Ngarrindjeri people, knowledge and culture in the present. The impacts of these colonial biases, misrepresentations and narratives of erasure resonate today: ‘Central to the Ngarrindjeri story is the political and legal battle to be recognized by the state of South Australia as the traditional owners of Ngarrindjeri lands and waters’ (Hemming, Rigney and Berg 2019, p. 74). Challenging the slants and biases of the colonial archive has been a key aspect of Ngarrindjeri’s recent nation-(re)building approach, which aims to enhance the self governing, self-determining capacity of the Ngarrindjeri Nation. As a part of this nation building work, Ngarrindjeri (represented by the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority) are a founding partner of the Return Reconcile Renew (RRR) project, and have been heavily involved in developing the ‘RRR Digital Archive’ – an evidence bank of repatriation information and records to support Indigenous repatriation practice and research. This archive is underpinned by an Indigenous governance framework which focuses on Indigenous control over repatriation and reburial processes, and over the archive itself. Building on the work of RRR, this research brings together and adds to Ngarrindjeri’s significant work across the archives, repatriation and nation-building areas, examining the ways in which the Ngarrindjeri Nation have sought to rewrite and reconfigure the colonial archive by creating and controlling their own. With a focus on the RRR Digital Archive, the research investigates how this archive (its governance, content, structure and access model) was developed in accordance with Ngarrindjeri nation-building philosophies to reflect and support Ngarrindjeri sovereignty and meet the ‘on the ground’ use, access and sustainability needs of the Ngarrindjeri Nation. Utilising a case study approach, the research investigates the ways in which dispersed records relating to the Ngarrindjeri Nation can be integrated under the framework of Ngarrindjeri controlled archives, and what it means to do so. Underpinned by the frameworks of Critical Archival Theory and Relationality and utilising a nation-building methodology, the research seeks to further understanding of the potential shape, scope and significance of First Nations archives both in the historic and iii contemporary landscape of archives and archival praxis in Australia, and in the context of Indigenous nation-building globally. The findings of this study provide insight into the meaning and significance of Indigenous archives and offer practical ways forward for First Nations seeking to develop and maintain their own archives. The research also puts forward the idea of a ‘Ngarrindjeri National Archive’, suggesting that an Indigenous nation-building approach to developing, managing, governing and approaching archives holds significant potential in reflecting and supporting the sovereignty and nation-building agenda of a First Nation.
LA - English M3 - Ph.D. Dissertation N2 -Like many First Nations across Australia and internationally, the Ngarrindjeri Nation have been misrepresented, silenced and harmed by the colonial archive. In this archive, Ngarrindjeri people are frequently objectified, relegated to heritage sites of the past and disassociated from Ngarrindjeri people, knowledge and culture in the present. The impacts of these colonial biases, misrepresentations and narratives of erasure resonate today: ‘Central to the Ngarrindjeri story is the political and legal battle to be recognized by the state of South Australia as the traditional owners of Ngarrindjeri lands and waters’ (Hemming, Rigney and Berg 2019, p. 74). Challenging the slants and biases of the colonial archive has been a key aspect of Ngarrindjeri’s recent nation-(re)building approach, which aims to enhance the self governing, self-determining capacity of the Ngarrindjeri Nation. As a part of this nation building work, Ngarrindjeri (represented by the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority) are a founding partner of the Return Reconcile Renew (RRR) project, and have been heavily involved in developing the ‘RRR Digital Archive’ – an evidence bank of repatriation information and records to support Indigenous repatriation practice and research. This archive is underpinned by an Indigenous governance framework which focuses on Indigenous control over repatriation and reburial processes, and over the archive itself. Building on the work of RRR, this research brings together and adds to Ngarrindjeri’s significant work across the archives, repatriation and nation-building areas, examining the ways in which the Ngarrindjeri Nation have sought to rewrite and reconfigure the colonial archive by creating and controlling their own. With a focus on the RRR Digital Archive, the research investigates how this archive (its governance, content, structure and access model) was developed in accordance with Ngarrindjeri nation-building philosophies to reflect and support Ngarrindjeri sovereignty and meet the ‘on the ground’ use, access and sustainability needs of the Ngarrindjeri Nation. Utilising a case study approach, the research investigates the ways in which dispersed records relating to the Ngarrindjeri Nation can be integrated under the framework of Ngarrindjeri controlled archives, and what it means to do so. Underpinned by the frameworks of Critical Archival Theory and Relationality and utilising a nation-building methodology, the research seeks to further understanding of the potential shape, scope and significance of First Nations archives both in the historic and iii contemporary landscape of archives and archival praxis in Australia, and in the context of Indigenous nation-building globally. The findings of this study provide insight into the meaning and significance of Indigenous archives and offer practical ways forward for First Nations seeking to develop and maintain their own archives. The research also puts forward the idea of a ‘Ngarrindjeri National Archive’, suggesting that an Indigenous nation-building approach to developing, managing, governing and approaching archives holds significant potential in reflecting and supporting the sovereignty and nation-building agenda of a First Nation.
PB - Australian National University PY - 2025 EP - 235 pp. TI - Archives, Repatriation and Nation Building: Developing Ngarrindjeri Nation Archives ER -