'Sorry Books' registered as historic documents
19-08-2004 (Paris)
A collection of 461 Sorry Books recording the thoughts of thousands of Australians on the unfolding history of the Stolen Generations has been formally recognized as having powerful historical and social significance. The books are among nine significant documentary heritage items recently inscribed on the Australian Memory of the World Register – part of UNESCO’s Programme to protect and promote documentary material- that records or reflects significant milestones and events in Australia’s history.
Chair of the AMW committee, Dr Jan Lyall, said this year’s inscriptions on the register were an exciting illustration of Australia’s evolution, telling important stories about our distant and recent past. 'The Register provides an insight into aspects of Australian life which help inform and explain who we are as a nation,' Dr Lyall said.
The ABC’s Australia All Over presenter Ian 'Macca' McNamara announced the new additions to the Register at a ceremony hosted by the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, and presented representatives from each of the institutions, which have custody of the documents, with a formal citation.
The new materials inscribed on the Register are:
• Displaced Persons Migrant Selection Documents, 1947-1953 held at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra. The collection comprises 170,700 personal dossiers of displaced persons who emigrated to Australia between 1947 and 1953.
• Story of the Kelly Gang 1906 Australia’s first narrative film held by ScreenSound Australia in Canberra. The nine-minute fragments are all that remain of the film along with a promotional booklet, which gives context to the story.
• Australian Children’s Folklore Collection held by Museum Victoria in Melbourne. The 13 collections document Australian childhood culture spanning 140 years, with specialized material from the 1950s, 70s and 80s - possibly the largest collection of its kind in the world.
• Ballarat Reform League Charter 1854 held by the Public Record Office Victoria. The charter incorporates a record of events in gold rush Victoria and the history of democratic Chartism.
• South Australian Company Deed 1836 held by the State Library of South Australia. The deed represents a history of imperial Britain and colonial South Australia.
• Lawrence Hargrave Aeronautical Papers held by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Hargrave’s aeronautical journals and drawings illustrate his lifelong project to develop a practical flying machine and power plant in Australia. His ideas influenced many of the world’s aviation pioneers.
• PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive 1996-ongoing held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. PANDORA is one of the world’s earliest and most effective WWW-archiving apparatus capturing a selection of the web culture of individuals, organizations and events since 1996, just three years after the invention of the WWW.
• Port Phillip Association Records held at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. The records are the foundation documents of European settlement in the Port Phillip and Melbourne region.
• Sorry Books 1998 held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra. Many books produced after 1998 are still to be located but it is estimated that more than half a million signatures were generated as part of the campaign.
Early in 2005 custodians of nationally significant documentary heritage materials will again be invited to submit nominations for possible inscription on the Register. Experts on the Australian Memory of the World Committee assess the nominations.
Materials previously inscribed on the Register are: The Endeavour Journal of Captain James Cook; The Mabo Case Manuscripts; The Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Plan of Canberra; The archival records of the Australian Agricultural Company, the nation’s oldest surviving commercial entity; The Cinesound Movietone collection of weekly cinema newsreels from 1931 to 1975: a living record of Australia’s life and times; Constitutional documents: an assembly of key items charting the development of Australian democracy.
The ABC’s Australia All Over presenter Ian 'Macca' McNamara announced the new additions to the Register at a ceremony hosted by the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, and presented representatives from each of the institutions, which have custody of the documents, with a formal citation.
The new materials inscribed on the Register are:
• Displaced Persons Migrant Selection Documents, 1947-1953 held at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra. The collection comprises 170,700 personal dossiers of displaced persons who emigrated to Australia between 1947 and 1953.
• Story of the Kelly Gang 1906 Australia’s first narrative film held by ScreenSound Australia in Canberra. The nine-minute fragments are all that remain of the film along with a promotional booklet, which gives context to the story.
• Australian Children’s Folklore Collection held by Museum Victoria in Melbourne. The 13 collections document Australian childhood culture spanning 140 years, with specialized material from the 1950s, 70s and 80s - possibly the largest collection of its kind in the world.
• Ballarat Reform League Charter 1854 held by the Public Record Office Victoria. The charter incorporates a record of events in gold rush Victoria and the history of democratic Chartism.
• South Australian Company Deed 1836 held by the State Library of South Australia. The deed represents a history of imperial Britain and colonial South Australia.
• Lawrence Hargrave Aeronautical Papers held by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Hargrave’s aeronautical journals and drawings illustrate his lifelong project to develop a practical flying machine and power plant in Australia. His ideas influenced many of the world’s aviation pioneers.
• PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive 1996-ongoing held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. PANDORA is one of the world’s earliest and most effective WWW-archiving apparatus capturing a selection of the web culture of individuals, organizations and events since 1996, just three years after the invention of the WWW.
• Port Phillip Association Records held at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. The records are the foundation documents of European settlement in the Port Phillip and Melbourne region.
• Sorry Books 1998 held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra. Many books produced after 1998 are still to be located but it is estimated that more than half a million signatures were generated as part of the campaign.
Early in 2005 custodians of nationally significant documentary heritage materials will again be invited to submit nominations for possible inscription on the Register. Experts on the Australian Memory of the World Committee assess the nominations.
Materials previously inscribed on the Register are: The Endeavour Journal of Captain James Cook; The Mabo Case Manuscripts; The Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Plan of Canberra; The archival records of the Australian Agricultural Company, the nation’s oldest surviving commercial entity; The Cinesound Movietone collection of weekly cinema newsreels from 1931 to 1975: a living record of Australia’s life and times; Constitutional documents: an assembly of key items charting the development of Australian democracy.
Related themes/countries
· Australia
· Memory of the World: News archives 2004
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