State Records has recently updated the Adequate Records Management Standard and South Australian Recordkeeping Metadata Standard and created the Contracting and Official Records Standard.Across-Government Standards for Record Management
To promotes the availability of Freedom of Information (FOI) Induction Training as an on-line module via ERNI, State Records E-Resource Network Initiative.Freedom of Information (ERNI) Induction Training
Notifying agencies that May 2007 version of the guideline for agencies making public access determinations for official records which they control is now available.Public Access Determination Guideline for Agencies
State Records of South Australia has produced a number of guides and indexes to assist researchers with records relating to Aboriginal people. Records cover a variety of subjects including women, children, art, education, health, housing, enforcement, legislation, missions and reserves.
Availability
These Guides are available at both Research Centres and for purchase.
This five volume guide provides an overview of the records that relate to Aboriginals from the early 19th century to the present day.
It covers records from the Aborigines' Office, Police Department, and the Colonial Secretary's Office and includes records from South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Guide is useful for people researching:
Aboriginal family history
Aboriginal reconciliation
sociology
administrative history of Aboriginal affairs.
The minutes of the Aboriginal Protection Board and the Aboriginal Affairs Correspondence Files (letters received) 1866 - 1968 are two series that contain a wealth of information about Aboriginal people, and how their lives were affected by government policies and practices.
Historical researchers may find some attitudes expressed in the records distressing or offensive. Records should be viewed in their historical context and do not reflect current Government attitudes toward Aboriginal people.
The Aboriginal Resource Kit provides examples of primary sources held by State Records relating to Aboriginal people.
It contains records from 1842 through to 1970 and a list of GRG 52 Department of Aboriginal Affairs records, topical interest lists, and a detailed index.
The following subjects are covered:
Aborigines Protection Board
adoption
Advisory Council of Aborigines
assimilation
Daisy Bates
Boandik Tribe
burial customs
ceremonies
children
colonisation
corroborees
customs
discrimination
diseases
education
employment
Exemption Certificates
half castes
health
integration
inter-tribal conflict
land rights
language
law
missions
native lore
Northern Territory
paternalism
Point McLeay
prisoners
quadroons
racism
religion
reports on Aborigines
rights and treatment of Aborigines
women
youth.
The Kit provides a chronology of policies and events that affected Aboriginal society. It covers different eras of the administration of Aboriginal affairs: colonisation, protection, assimilation and the post 1967 referendum period.
The Kit is useful to South Australian secondary school students, in particular those studying S.A.C.E (South Australian Certificate of Education) Aboriginal Studies. It is also an excellent cross cultural training package.
Government Agencies have provided copyright permission for the use of the primary records reproduced in the Aboriginal Resource Kit. Information in the records can be used under Copyright Act 1968 sections 40 and 103 which make provision for fair dealing where no more than 10% of a literary work can be copied for the purposes of research and study.
The Aboriginal Resource Kit is available for purchase.
A Little Flour and a Few Blankets is a guide to records relating to Aboriginal people held in the State Records collection. It includes:
summary of legislation used to govern Aboriginal people
overview of government policies and practices
overview of key departmental figures, i.e. the Protectors and Chief Protectors, involved in the administration
photographs and imaged documents
tables which provide summaries of legislative and departmental changes in relation to Aboriginal affairs over time
series register of holdings of various South Australian government agencies
It is not intended to provide a comprehensive social or cultural history of Aboriginal affairs in South Australia. Nor is it intended to trace the impact of the administration on Aboriginal individuals, families or communities.
A Little Flour and a Few Blankets is available for purchase.