International Council of Archives

My name is Ben Heaslip and I am an Archival officer with the National Archives of Australia, based in Darwin in the tropical North.  It’s the Dry season up here at the moment, and temperature-wise it’s about as perfect as you’ll find anywhere. A bit cool at nights sometimes it must be said! I came to Information Management after stints as a primary school teacher, child care director, factory worker, bank teller, dish washer, children’s support worker, child care trainer and time on a Barossa Valley vineyard and a Huon Valley apple orchard.

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I joined the National Archives 18 months ago after a year’s traineeship at the Charles Darwin University library, while completing a Graduate Diploma in Information Management. One of the great things about working in the Darwin office is the great variety of tasks we do – a large range of reference work, including supporting researchers doing some fantastic projects, access examination, data entry and digitisation, lending, storage and retrieval, and a bit of gardening in our lovely courtyard.
It is a time of change for the Darwin office as we are in the midst of preparing to collocate with the Northern Territory Archives Service next year. This will see the two largest repositories of NT records housed in the same building, and will offer a terrific service to members of the public and our researchers. As an archivist the opportunity to be involved with a whole new set of records is also enticing. Many of the records of the NT Archive service were transferred from the National Archives upon self-government in 1978, primarily relating mainly to health, education and policing.

 One of the main collection of records we house here are those relating to the administration of Aboriginal affairs. Whereas in most states of Australia this was the responsibility of state governments, the NT was administered by the Commonwealth of Australia from 1911 – 1978.
Whilst these records provide a valuable record of the history of Aboriginal people in the Northern territory in the twentieth century, they are particularly relevant as Commonwealth policies of removal of Aboriginal children from their families during this period means these records can play a vital role in reconnecting families.
The National Archives’ Bringing Them Home name index was a project started over a decade ago, and involved significant numbers of files relating to Aboriginal people. This index enables us to easily locate records about Aboriginal people, and assist them to find information about themselves and their families. To be involved in this process, in however small a way is a profoundly moving experience and dispels any doubts about the value of records and archives.
It also raise the issue of access to personally sensitive records in the age of the internet. As much of the information is often highly sensitive, knowing that if it is opened to access could potentially lead to its being seen in a very public way, changes the way you view that information, and opens up important questions about sensitivity and privacy, and procedure and legislation that was written in a pre-internet age.
The other main records we hold relate to mining, the pastoral industry and the administration of public services, which are the main economic drivers of the Territory. Oh, and cyclones. As a new entrant to the world of archives I am looking forward to the conference in Brisbane and see it as a great opportunity to see what’s happening in the world of archives and the chance to meet many wonderful people from all over the world.

Ben Heaslip.