Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.
Rita Metzenrath is the Senior Collections Officer at AIATSIS and has had previous roles as the Reference Librarian. Rita has a particular interest in Indigenous Astronomy, Indigenous military service and the cultures of the Torres Straits.
This blog post reflects on how the repatriation of sound recordings from the Waterman Collection, held in the AIATSIS Collection, inspired the creation of this classic song. ‘Treaty’ was a worldwide hit and was the first song by a mainly Aboriginal...
War ServiceHistoryIndigenous Australian LanguagesCollection
23 Apr 2019"We found a white man on an island long ago" A first-hand account of the rescue of U.S Air Force Flight Lieutenant Clarence Sanford on 14th March 1942 by Rirratjingu clan leader Wandjuk Marika and his two fathers, Waninya and Milirrma* is told in...
In 2016, AIATSIS acquired a tiny woven object only 16cm in diameter for our Art and Object Collection. Its small size belies the complex story behind its creation. Swan Hill Tower Hill Pine Trees Mat, 2016, Marilyne Nicholls. ATS 1055...
War ServiceIndigenous Australians: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peopleBlack DiggersCollection
11 Nov 2018AIATSIS pays our respects to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders who served and died in all wars. Each year on the 11th November Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and...
Torres Strait Islander cultureTorres Strait IslandsDanceCulture
16 Oct 2018“…our only security is our cultural knowledge that we must carry with us and live by to pass it on to our children and they to their children, so that in the distant future we will still be proven owners of our homeland Zenadth Kes and with cultural...
Stolen GenerationsOral historyNational Apology
21 Sep 2018Please note that this blog contains the images and voice of someone who has passed away. This post is dedicated to the thousands of stolen children who have come home, or are still searching, or sadly, for those who never found their way home…...
MusicTorres Strait Islander culture
3 Aug 2018You are listening to the echo of the drums, connecting you across the bridge in time… This is warupa uu “the echo of the drums…” (Ephraim Bani in Gab Titui Cultural Centre 2011) The drum has been used in sacred and secular music...
Poster, Keep him my heart: a Larrakia-Filipino love story, a play by Gary Lee, Darwin High School Tank, August 1993. Designer: Gary Lee, MS 5025, Series 3, Item 4 (Photo 1) The Gary Lee collection: ephemera 1991-2012 contains a number of...
Ave Maria or Hail Mary in Arrernte, MS 3764 Series 5, Item 6 On 10 May 1959, Catholic priest Father Tom Dixon visited Arrernte man Rupert Max Stuart at the Adelaide gaol with the expectation of preparing the prisoner for execution 12 days later...
ActivistsCollectionWik caseSeaofHandsPetitionsReconciliation
10 Nov 2017On 12 October 1997, Australia awoke to the biggest art petition the nation had ever seen. Assembled on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra were thousands of plastic hands bearing the names of individual Australians that had signed the Citizens’...
CollectionArchives and archivingLanguageHistory
21 Aug 2017The AIATSIS Collection holds a very precious copy of what is considered to be the first known use of written English by an Aboriginal Australian. It is a copy of what is known as the 'Bennelong Letter' and represents a seminal work in Australian...
“In playing a game at ball which they kicked about - the different totems present two different sides and there were men and women on each side eg Garchuka men and women against Wurant men and women. Johnny remembers that he, his mother, and her mother...
War ServiceCeremoniesFrontier conflictNew ZealandANZAC DayBlack Diggers
5 May 2017In a tranquil and reflective bush setting on the slopes of Mount Ainslie just behind the massive Byzantine Revival style of the Australian War Memorial is a small plaque on a lichen covered rock outcrop which reads: "Remembering the Aboriginal...
AIATSIS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, culture and community.
We pay our respects to elders past and present.
