The history of Aboriginal Education in the Northern Territory is not well known. We are growing a digital archive of material related to Aboriginal Education in the NT. We have a collection for each community that has, or has had, a school.
We collect a wide range of materials, including images (photos, slides, negatives), documents, audio, and movies. We do NOT work with material that is of a secret sacred nature.
We will digitise your collection and return a digital copy to you and to the communities from which they originated. We then want to load them to Galamarrma our digital keeping place for ongoing access and we will keep a preservation copy. If you don’t want to keep the originals any more, we will put you in contact with Library & Archives Northern Territory to see if they would like them.
While the sensitivity to images of Aboriginal people who have passed away has lessened over time, it varies from family to family and community to community. We always try to get material back to the community who can provide advice if there are any issues. While it may take some time to do this, our experience is that there are rarely issues, and people are very keen to see photos of their family. We can load material to the Northern Territory Digital Keeping Place as ‘restricted’ for as long as needed. (Restricted material can only be viewed by Administrators)
Content is just as important as quality. You would appreciate that it was probably us educators had the cameras in the past. Some of the most popular images in Galamarrma are ‘happy snaps’. Over time, photos and slides can lose colour due to storage conditions. With your permission, we can enhance them, including converting faded images to black and white, and potentially recolouring using AI tools.
Of course you can, but we prefer to. We have worked in collaboration with the expertise and equipment of the Library & Archives Northern Territory for almost 15 years. We can create both preservation and access copies. These copies differ in file type and size. With your permission, these high resolution files may be used for developing new media such as calendars, timelines, and stories.
We are a volunteer organisation with limited finding and there are the costs associated with storage and digital return. Material will be digitised and processed free of charge, however it would be helpful if you pay the costs of getting your collection to us and cover the costs to have it returned to you.
Becoming a Member of the Northern Territory Education Mob is one way to help with our costs and staying in touch.
Becoming a Member of the Northern Territory Education Mob is one way to help with our costs and staying in touch.
You will need to complete a Materials Donation Form. Contact us to receive a copy. The form gives us information about you, your collection and what we can do with it. This information will be permanently attached to your digital collection.
The more information you can provide, the richer your collection becomes. Making a list and sending us a digital copy of that list helps. Sorting your collection, preferably by date and by media type (eg slides with slides, photos with photos) is helpful. Adding information (2B pencil is best) to the back of photos such as where it was taken, who is in it (full names) and what each item is about is also helpful. We understand this is time consuming, but YOU are the best authority on your collection!
The more information you can provide, the richer your collection becomes. Making a list and sending us a digital copy of that list helps. Sorting your collection, preferably by date and by media type (eg slides with slides, photos with photos) is helpful. Adding information (2B pencil is best) to the back of photos such as where it was taken, who is in it (full names) and what each item is about is also helpful. We understand this is time consuming, but YOU are the best authority on your collection!
You decide what happens with your material. If you want it back, we will send it back with a digital copy. Usually, we will give you a high-resolution access copy: JPG/PDF/MP3/MP4 of everything you give is. We will work with you to work out the best way to get your material back to you.
If you want some back and some not, just make it clear what you want back. If you want, you can offer your collection (original material or digital) to the Library & Archives Northern Territory.
If you want some back and some not, just make it clear what you want back. If you want, you can offer your collection (original material or digital) to the Library & Archives Northern Territory.
We will, at a minimum, get your collection back to you (material and or digital) and the community your material comes from. We also expect to be able to publish it on Galamarrma once it has gone back to the community and people have had a chance to check it for any sensitive content. Any material that does not contain images of Aboriginal people will be published to Galamarrma as soon as possible.
With your permission, and depending on the community and the content, we might also share it on our social media platforms. This is particularly helpful if you have worked in multiple communities and you can’t remember what community an item is from.
With your permission, and depending on the community and the content, we might also share it on our social media platforms. This is particularly helpful if you have worked in multiple communities and you can’t remember what community an item is from.
You can if it does not damage them as it saves on postage costs. However, because of the equipment, we can also digitise the whole album, and the individual images without taking them out.
It depends on a lot of factors including the size and media variety of your collection and what else we have to do at the time. We work around school celebrations which have deadlines and it you are not in a hurry, we will prioritise the celebration and then get back to yours as soon as possible.
Slides and negatives are particularly hard to see until digitised. When we digitise images, we give each image a unique number. If you are at all concerned, we can give you back the images before we give them to anyone else or do anything with them. You can tell us which images you don’t want to share using the unique number.
You may have material which has published documents. Copyright laws will determine what we can do with these. We will digitise them if we are allowed to - or we will ask permission of the copyright holder. From experience most are very supportive and want a digital copy themselves!
Sometimes people might have given you copies of, for example, their photos with permission to use them. If you know which images they are, it is helpful to identify who the photographer was so they can be properly acknowledged.
Sometimes people might have given you copies of, for example, their photos with permission to use them. If you know which images they are, it is helpful to identify who the photographer was so they can be properly acknowledged.
Yes, the collection will be acknowledged as yours and the copyright on your material will remain yours. The Donor agreement documents the permissions that you give us. We would ask for permission to use your copyrighted material for non commercial purposes, preferably under a Creative Commons licence as it provides maximum flexibility in how the material can be used. We will never use your material for profit.
You can use our contact form (see the link at the bottom of this page) or email us at [email protected]