Rose Barrowcliffe has long focused on the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in archives.
The Butchulla-Wonamutta woman is a post-doctorate research fellow at Macquarie University, and her latest project, 'The Protectors', is examining records about Aboriginal place names in Queensland.
Protectors were government officials who had the power to 'manage' Indigenous people's lives.
Dr Barrowcliffe's work focuses on the period 1924-25, when the chief protector of Aborigines in Queensland wrote to all of the 'protectors' asking for a list of Indigenous place names in their area.
The researcher says there is resistance to changing place names because people feel threatened. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) "Some of the responses were, there's no Aboriginal place names, or there are no Aboriginal people in that area and the other common theme was there were Aboriginal people but they didn't know any language or history or culture," she told AAP.
"I just found that fascinating because if we look at today, there's no part of Queensland that doesn't have mob associated with it."
State Library Fellowship recipient Dr Rose Barrowcliffe at the Queensland State Library in Brisbane. Credit: Joe Ruckli/PR Image
It is also about the history of place names.
"In Australia there's so much resistance to place name repatriation because people feel threatened," she said.
"We're debunking this narrative of 'we have to hold onto this because this is part of our legacy' in place names."
Dr Barrowcliffe is compiling a podcast and a website based on her research, and being recently awarded a fellowship from Queensland's State Library will help her with this, she said.
"To be able to pull this information together in a way that does make sense about how extensive the protective system was and how pervasive and ongoing it was over time," Dr Barrowcliffe said.
Thiithaar Warra woman Lucy Deemal also received a state library fellowship for her work contextualising photographs with a First Nations perspective.
State Library fellowship recipient Lucy Deemal at the Queensland State Library in Brisbane. Credit: Joe Ruckli/PR Image
"I'm just sitting in my house, doing stuff online ... to talk to a librarian and have them send me things, it's just opened up a whole lot of opportunity," she said.
Ms Deemal said she hopes her research can help First Nations people reconnect with their memories and family histories through photographs, while adding context to make them easier for people to access and search in the future.
"Part of it is trying to bridge the gap and make a fuller memory, or a fuller perspective of what happened in those days," she said.
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