CityLibraries hosting Indigenous family history workshops

Date: Wednesday, 14th October 2009

CityLibraries is taking on the challenging but rewarding task of tracing Indigenous family histories by hosting a series of workshops next month.

The three workshops, at Tony Ireland Stadium, Riverway, will feature a specialist in community and personal histories, archivist Kathy Frankland from the Department of Communities.

The first workshop will be for librarians and other professional staff so they can broaden their skills and assist with such inquiries, while the second and third gatherings will be for Indigenous people wanting to know their family origins.

Ms Frankland said the actual task of tracing Indigenous genealogy could be surprisingly easy.

“There are an amazing amount of records created by government and religious organisations as well as information found in births, deaths and marriages, books and manuscripts,” she said. “At Community and Personal Histories we try to provide a ‘one-stop shop’.

“For thousands of Indigenous people who were under the Act [Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897] there are personal records, head office records and regional records.

“The level of documentation on a given individual can be quite a shock, but the genealogical information held in the records can have tremendous, positive outcomes.

“It can help with native title by proving continuous occupation and it can identify and locate living relatives and re-unite people from the Stolen Generations. Ultimately it can be a very healing process.”

The workshops will discuss collections including the Norman B. Tindale collection and the Anna Shnukal collection. The Tindale collection, compiled by an anthropologist in the 1930s, includes maps, genealogies and photographs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who lived on reserves, including Palm Island, Yarrabah, Doomadgee and Mornington Island.The Anna Shnukal collection, held by the Department of Communities, consists of more than 400 genealogies for families from the Torres Strait.

The workshop will also explore tracing peoples’ non-Indigenous heritage and will include a session on records relating to South Sea Islander peoples.

Ms Frankland encouraged people, including those some distance away, to take part.

“We’re anticipating a lot of interest,” she said. “Last time we hosted a similar event in Townsville we had 150 people come along, so I’d encourage people to make a booking and bring along whatever papers they do have.”

The public workshops will be held from 8.30am to 3pm on 4-5 November. Lunch is included. Bookings can be made by calling Kerry Clarkson on 4727 8329 or Annette Burns on 4727 9661.