The tireless work of our Principal, Russell Taylor, has been acknowledged with his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday honours.

The AIATSIS Council’s Deputy Chair, Emeritus Professor Bob Tonkinson, said the recognition is well deserved and an acknowledgement of Mr Taylor’s significant personal contribution to the Institute among his many other public appointments.

Read more from our Deputy Chair.

Over 800 participants from across Australia converged on Port Douglas QLD for the 2015 National Native Conference, making it the largest conference in its 23-year history.

Follow the links below to read about some of the highlights, view photos and videos from the event.

• Largest ever Native Title Conference
• New funding for native title announced
• The ‘next generation’ of native title issues
• Watch Noel Pearson’s address on Vimeo
• Check out photos on our Facebook page
   

Available from 1 July, this new title from Aboriginal Studies Press shares the remarkable story of one of Australia’s most respected elders and traditional land owners, ‘Big Bill’ Neidjie.

The last remaining speaker of Gaagudju language, Neidjie was committed to sharing his story with future generations as well as educating the wider community about Aboriginal culture, even breaking tradition to do so. The book will be officially launched in September, more to come…

Buy Old Man’s story: The last thoughts of Kakadu Elder Bill Neidjie

Rita Metzenrath, one of our Senior Collections Officers, was honoured at the 2015 ACT NAIDOC Awards night, winning the Non-Indigenous Person of the Year Award for contribution to the Indigenous Community.

Rita was nominated in part for her work with the AIATSIS collections, assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from across the country connect with the vast material held, but perhaps more notably for the extra steps she is always willing to take to facilitate these connections.

Read more about Rita's work.

Aboriginal Studies Press is delighted to be partnering with IndigenousX, introducing and promoting our books and materials to one of the largest social media audiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in Australia.

IndigenousX has established itself as not just a force in social media, but has also, through its website, engaged with significant audiences in the educational sector.

Read more about the partnership.

Did you know there are 27 rugby league players in the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame?

The Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 1994 to honour sports people who had achieved at the highest level of their chosen field. It was updated again in 1999 and 2009 but we think it might almost be time for another update after this year’s State of Origin series!

Find out just who is in the Hall of Fame.

The work of the AIATSIS Film Unit, active between 1961 and 1991, will feature in the coming months on NITV. During its 30-year lifespan, the Film Unit produced one of the most significant bodies of ethnographic filmic material in the world.

Upcoming screenings:

• Takeover 7:30pm Thurs 9 July
• The House Opening 8pm Fri 10 July
• Takeover 10:30pm Fri 10 July
• Collum Calling Canberra 8:30pm Tues 28 July

Buy the remastered collection at Ronin Films.

In a National Reconciliation Week lecture to the Parliamentary Library, Dr Lawrence Bamblett, Research Fellow at AIATSIS, proposed an alternative way of understanding life in Aboriginal communities through the concept of Aboriginal advantage. He declared, ‘You can all do a lot to help us by changing the way that you talk about us’.

Read more about the lecture at the APH website.

After a recent visit to AIATSIS, The Guardian writer, Paul Daley was taken by the story of Anthony Martin Fernando, whose once lost notebooks now live in the AIATSIS vaults. ASP has also published Fernando’s biography, The Lone Protestor,  written by Dr Fiona Paisley.

Paul was shocked that a photograph of such a conspicuous presence on the London streets in the early 1900s has not been found to date, and hopes his piece produced as a result of his visit will help locate an image.

Read the article on The Guardian website.

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