Photographic treasures provide ‘landmarks’ for island culture

 

  Napau Pedro Stephen, Mayor of the Torres Shire Council
  Photo: Torres Strait mayor, Napau Pedro Stephen, looks through photographs from the AIATSIS After 200 Years collection. (Image by Daniel Walding)

 

A visit last week to Thursday Island was a rare chance for Torres Strait Islanders to browse through thousands of archival and contemporary photographs and to hear hundreds of hours of audio recordings drawn from AIATSIS priceless collection.

AIATSIS holds the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander images in the world and was showcasing images and audio recording specific to the Torres Strait as part of its Return of Materials to Indigenous Communities (ROMTIC) program.

Over the four-day visit some 450 clients dropped in to view the materials and requested some 3000 items.

In particular, the visit focused on a collection of over 2500 colour and black and white images taken across the Torres Strait Islands in 1986 as part of the Institute’s publication After 200 Years.

The images were snapped by photographer Emmanuel Angelicas who photographed everyday life across the Torres Strait including visits to Dauan Island, Thursday Island, Murray Island, Badu Island, Saibai Island, York Island, Yam, Moa, Horn Island, Jervis Island and Mabuaig Island.

Clients were also able to browse through over 300 hours of audio recordings specifically from the Torres Strait and a database of over 100,000 images already digitised from the Institute’s collection.

Also of significant interest were photos from collections held by AIATSIS taken as part of AC Haddon’s expedition to the Torres Strait in 1890s. One client was able to identify islanders photographed  by Haddon as part of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition of 1889.

Coordinated by AIATSIS Audiovisual Archive’s Access Unit, the access visit was the first time in the Institute’s 50 years history that such photographic treasures have been taken back to the Torres Strait.

Many who attended were excitedly surprised to find photos of themselves, family members, relatives and friends taken back in 1986 or decades before. For many, it was an emotional reconnection that spanned generations - seeing photos of sons and daughters, parents, grandparents and even great grandparents for the first time.

Many saw photos of themselves as children, or as students, office workers, bar staff, dancing as part of traditional ceremonies or just enjoying island life.

 

  Selina Dorner looks through photographs from the AIATSIS After 200 Years collection.
  Photo: Selina Dorner looks through photographs from the AIATSIS After 200 Years collection.. (Image by Daniel Walding)

 

Some clients heard audio recording of fathers and grandfathers singing traditional songs or speaking in traditional languages.

For many, the recollections of old times ensured generous laugher, many smiles and even a few tears.

One of those who dropped in was Napau Pedro Stephen,  Mayor of the Torres Shire Council, who said that the thousands of historical and contemporary photographs on the Torres Strait Islands that are held by AIATSIS are important ‘landmarks’ for his people.

“In the Torres Strait we are people that are always navigating, we are seafarers and as part of our navigation we look at landmarks that we navigate through our passage through our reef.”

“Seeing this material provides us the opportunity to see faces of our families especially those who have passed on, and that gives us the opportunity to navigate in our own life’s journey as a family,” Mayor Stephen said.

In summing up the importance of the visit, Mayor Stephen reflected on how viewing the photos was an emotional reunion and reconnection with the history of the Torres Strait.

“A picture tells a thousand words - it’s stirred my heart to see families that I worked with, all the uncles and aunties and it gives me a time of reflection.”

“It’s part of our cultural revitalisation - sadly our children are influenced by so many different cultures that sometimes they forget the depth of their own culture.”

“AIATSIS has helped our people to walk down the corridors of time and our culture says you really can’t go ahead without knowing where you’ve come from,” He concluded.

The AIATSIS Audiovisual Archive contains approximately one million items.

These include 45,000 hours of recorded sound, over 650,000 photographic images, 6000 video titles and 6.5 million feet of motion picture film and over 1000 artefacts.

The majority of the items held in the Audiovisual Archive represent the primary results of field research funded by the AIATSIS Research Grants Program as well as historical and contemporary items which have been deposited by individuals, families or organisations for safe-keeping and appropriate access.

The material is unique and irreplaceable and provides an invaluable link between past, present and future generations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Last financial year, AIATSIS copied and returned almost $100,000 worth of materials to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.