Traditional Owners gain unprecedented access to language, stories, and ceremonies of their communities

Traditional Owners of Central Australian Communities will be able to access one of the most important collections relating to Indigenous ceremonial life in the world thanks to a newly opened studio built by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).

Aboriginal Heritage Officer Franky Gorey In Studio

Traditional Owners of Central Australian Communities will be able to access one of the most important collections relating to Indigenous ceremonial life in the world thanks to a newly opened studio built by the National Film and Sound Archive. 

Co-designed with Traditional Owners the studio is located at the Strehlow Research Centre within the Museum of Central Australia in Alice Springs.

Traditional OwnerAllan Drover and Aboriginal Heritage Officer Winston Green at Strehlow Research Centre

It contains digitised versions of more than 400 reels of 16mm film and over 1000 audio recordings representing more than 800 ceremonial acts and 150 hours of language, stories, and songs from the Strehlow collection.

Back of photograph notation byTGH Strehlow

In a conversation with NITV Radio, Gill Moody Senior Manager Indigenous Connections at the NFSA confirmed that the digitisation of the material was co-designed with Traditional Owners. 

“There has been increased digitisation of at-risk material, this collection was viewed as at risk because of its age and original format. So the NFSA and the Strehlow Centre worked with Traditional Owners and co-designed the project to ensure that the material was digitised for safe-keeping and preservation ,” Gill Moody said.

Strehlow Suitcase Camel Transport

The collection was amassed by Professor TGH Strehlow, who spent more than four decades recording the ceremonial customs and traditions of Central Australian Aboriginal communities from 1932 through to the mid-1970s and is one of the most important collections relating to Indigenous ceremonial life in the world.

As a significant part of the collection relates to 'Men's-Only' sacred and secret ceremonies. The NFSA worked closely with Senior Men to develop a set of protocols to ensure the cultural safety of the material while it was being transported, preserved and digitised at the NFSA.