For the first time in history the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has expanded its reach beyond Canberra, opening a new centre in Alice Springs. The new facility will allow locals to access more than one million items of Indigenous cultural significance, preserving culture and language for generations to come.
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00:00 It's the largest collection of its kind in the world.
00:06 Over 700,000 photographic records, over 42,000 hours of audio material, over 6 million feet
00:13 of film material and a growing art and object collection at the moment in excess of 6,000
00:20 items.
00:21 Now accessible for the first time outside Canberra.
00:24 Community has a voice, the community has access, the community of the future can do research.
00:29 The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, or IATSIS,
00:34 today opening its first satellite office in the heart of Mbantua Alice Springs.
00:40 Think about the symbolism in Alice Springs being geographically the centre of Australia
00:45 and thinking about the centrality of First Nations people and the history and culture
00:50 to Australia as a nation.
00:51 The centre features an exhibition and engagement space, allowing Indigenous people to access
00:57 cultural resources on country.
01:00 I think it's significant for us in Mbantua because to have this facility here for our
01:06 future generations and us to do research on our history.
01:10 IATSIS will also work closely with local communities to preserve, digitise and store at risk cultural
01:16 material.
01:17 So that we don't lose any of our history, our language or our culture.
01:21 Six of the seven staff at the new centre are Indigenous people from right here in Alice
01:26 Springs and they hope to continue building this local workforce for years to come.
01:33 A new space to safeguard culture and language in the centre of Australia.
01:38 [Music]
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