17 venues over 2 ½ years
The In Living Memory exhibition of photographs from the Aborigines Welfare Board, currently on display at State Records Gallery in The Rocks, has been so popular that it has been extended twice and a special travelling version has embarked on a 17 venue tour of New South Wales until September 2010.
The In Living Memory NSW Tour was officially launched in May at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre in Nowra to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the nearby Bomaderry Children's Home.
The exhibition is now touring to Aboriginal cultural and community centres and regional art galleries, museums and libraries in towns and cities throughout New South Wales, including Moree, Walgett, Brewarrina, Quirindi, Armidale, Ballina, Kempsey, Newcastle, Moruya, Bega, Wagga Wagga, Cootamundra, Dubbo and Broken Hill, as well as venues in Penrith and Hurstville in Sydney.
An audio slideshow of interviews and images from the exhibition produced by the Sydney Morning Herald for its website attracted 100 000 visits in the week of the apology.
In Living Memory features images from a series of 1000 black and white photographs from the official records of the former NSW Aborigines Welfare Board. Most of the photographs were taken to document the work of the Board and to promote its policies. The exhibition also includes images taken during the exhibition consultation process by renowned Indigenous photographer Mervyn Bishop.
In Living Memory addresses the photographs as living records with compelling histories and powerful connections to the present. The exhibition is helping to create a new purpose and place for the photographs within contemporary Indigenous life.
Order copies of photographs from the exhbition
Copies of the Aborigines Welfare Board photographs can be seen as part of the In Living Memory exhibition and at Western Sydney Records Centre. Only those photographs State Records has permission to reproduce from families, Elders and communities are available online.
You can order Aborigines Welfare Board photographs you have seen in the In Living Memory exhibition by filling out a photo order form (PDF, 115kb) and posting or faxing to State Records Reprographics Officer.
In Living Memory NSW Tour is presented by State Records & NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body
Thankyou to our tour partner Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme & tour supporter Photo Technica
Some Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities may be distressed by seeing the name or image of a community member who has passed away