Collection

Use our collection catalogue, Mura and other resources to explore the AIATSIS Collection.

The AIATSIS Collection is highly significant both as a keeping place for culturally significant material and as a resource for anybody looking to improve their knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture.

You can search the AIATSIS Collection online or visit the Reading Room to view or listen to collection items and conduct research.

We care for a growing collection of more than one million items including film, sound, photographs, art and objects, manuscripts and books, all dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.

We welcome donations of unpublished materials relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies, culture, knowledge, and experience. We accept photographs, sound recordings, film, video, ephemera, and print materials, including manuscripts, personal papers, diaries, field notebooks, and theses.

Most of the estimated 250 Australian languages and 600-700 dialects are represented in our unrivalled language holdings. The AIATSIS Indigenous Australian Languages Collection includes published and unpublished material across a range of formats such as print, manuscript, audio and audio visual, posters, maps, serials and born digital.

AIATSIS encourages cultural institutions to implement the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration and decolonise their archives. The Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration was prepared by the International Council of Archives' Expert Group on Indigenous Matters and launched in October 2019.