Our history, our nation: Why the National Archives must be preserved

These records provide evidence of Aboriginal people asserting their rights (as First Nations people) and their place within the nation. Aboriginal people have also featured in declassified ASIO files, providing an incredible record of who met, when, and what was discussed.

Aboriginal activist Gary Foley noted with some glee that ASIO “has done us a bit of a service” reacquainting him with old spy photographs, reminding him of old friends and long-forgotten participants in the struggle.

The NAA holdings document the shifting relationship between Aboriginal people and the Commonwealth government.

These records map changing attitudes and policies, illustrating the move from early protectionism to assimilation. The latter is documented in the glossy Commonwealth government pamphlets carrying titles such as “Our Aborigines”, and advocating assimilation and absorption policies.

Read more: The ‘frontier wars’: Undoing the myth of the peaceful settlement of Australia

Anyone interested in international responses to Australia’s treatment of Indigenous people, and Commonwealth governments’ reactions to these, need only look at the NAA collection.

The National Archives also contains many military records, evidence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ wartime activities, and their service to our country. These records are invaluable for understanding the role played by First Nations people during World War II.

Historians and authors have used the NAA records, particularly from the Northern Territory, to illustrate how important Indigenous labour has been to the success of the pastoral industries.

Other important records housed at the National Archives are medical records, particularly from the Northern Territory.

For example, researchers can locate records of Machado-Joseph disease, a neurological disorder that afflicts Anindilyakwa (on Groote Eylandt) and Yolngu (Eastern Arnhem Land).

Machado-Joseph disease, although usually rare, is found quite frequently in these Northern Territory communities. In the affected families, individuals experience late-onset disease (usually after having had their own children), and it’s always fatal.

This genetic disease was introduced by Makassan traders, and probably originated in either Portugal (Azores) or China. The concerned families want to know when and how the disease arrived, and how it might be predicted. They’re hopeful the answers might be found in the archives.

‘Valuable but fragile’ information

The National Archives of Australia holds valuable but fragile information about Indigenous peoples’ histories. Its value as a collection cannot be overstated.

Because the NAA is a repository of state records and administration, and of Commonwealth programs and initiatives, it’s a rich resource for social history, for records of the lives of ordinary people.

If anyone wants to write a history from the ground up, the NAA is a vital resource.

More than that, though, the NAA collections holds the stories of Australia, of each of us – it’s where we can seek to interrogate our pasts and seek reconciliation.

These are our archives – Indigenous and newcomers, settlers, immigrants, and recent arrivals. All have a stake in these collections.

Read more: Indigenous archaeology and the landscape knowledge that sustains oral histories

Preserving the archives is an act of patriotism. Among the degrading film, magnetic tape, paper archives and hundreds of kilometres of files, lies our histories.

We don’t know what future researchers might find, what stories they might tell about us, what thrilling and exciting discoveries are yet to be revealed.

I implore the federal government to fully commit to the digital transformation of these fragile records and provide the $67 million over the next seven years. It will maintain the integrity of our history, and the capacity for us to tell our stories about our nation.