History
AIATSIS has been central to the development of Indigenous Studies as a distinctive, unique and substantial field of study in Australia incorporating disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, ethnomusicology and ethnographic filmmaking.
The Institute commenced in 1961 with an interim Council. An Act of Parliament in 1964 established the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS), with a 22-member, non-Indigenous academic Council and a foundation membership of 100. The early work of the AIAS greatly increased interaction between scholars in different fields and laid the foundations of future collections and an extensive list of publications.
In 1989, the AIAS Act was replaced by the AIATSIS Act. The new Act also created a Research Advisory Committee and reduced the size of the Council to nine members.
Now with a majority Indigenous Council, the modern AIATSIS reflects the diverse nature of contemporary Indigenous cultures and issues.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to make an overwhelming contribution to the Institute’s collections and knowledge, as AIATSIS Council or committee members, informants, depositors of audiovisual material and – increasingly - as researchers.
In January 2001, the Institute moved to its current site on Acton Peninsula in Canberra.
Our Logo
The shield depicted by the AIATSIS logo (shown below) was originally purchased in the 1930s by anthropologist Ursula McConnel from brothers Malcolm, Claude and George Wilson, then living at Yarrabah nears Cairns in far north Queensland. The softwood fighting shield's design is derived from the boomerang totem of the Kunjen people from the Mitchell River region, Gult of Carpentaria. An image of the shield was adopted as the Institute's logo in 1963, and the shield itself was transferred from the collection of the National Museum of Australia to AIATSIS in 2004.
