Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam, Wattie Creek, Northern Territory, 16 August 1975
(A8598, AK21/4/80/9)The National Archives of Australia holds large quantities of files, also known as records. Some contain information about Indigenous people, mainly in Victoria and the Northern Territory.
We hold a large number of records on Indigenous people in Victoria because the Victorian government handed the responsibility for Aboriginal affairs and associated records to the Commonwealth government in 1975. Our Melbourne Office holds Victorian records dating from 1860.
Records on Indigenous people in the Northern Territory are held because the Commonwealth administered the Territory from 1911 until self-government was reached in 1978. Northern Territory records are held in our Darwin and Canberra offices.
The Archives also holds records on the development of Australian Government policies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, as well as more recent records on the amendment of the 1967 Constitution to allow the Australian Government to legislate for all Aboriginal people.
