State Library Victoria invites Indigenous Victorians interested in research to attend an online information session about two $15,000 fellowships to research family history or Indigenous culture, held at 2pm today. The two fellowships are Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Research Fellowship and the Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal Family History Fellowship. The fellowships and information session are open to people who identify as Indigenous Victorian Aboriginal. The session will be led by Koori Librarian Maxine Briggs, who will help applicants understand how they can use the Library’s collections in their research and encourage them to apply for one of the 2022 State Library Victoria fellowships.
Taungurung and Yorta Yorta woman Maxine Briggs said that "family history research was uniquely challenging and urgently important for Indigenous people. Separation of Indigenous people from their family and country by colonists was intended to suppress Indigenous knowledge and culture,” Ms Briggs said. “In the colonial period Indigenous people were moved between Missions and Protectorates to break their connections with family and country, to prepare them to join the new society, or as a punishment for political activism. “We want Indigenous researchers to use resources from that period to recover links to family and rebuild Ancestral knowledge. This research is critically important for our continued survival and wellbeing.” People who identify as Indigenous Victorian can register to attention the session on the State Library Victoria website.
Maxine yarns up about how this will help Aboriginal Victorians with specialist journalist Hayley McAdam on 3KND's ON TRACK.
To register or for more information, visit https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/fellowships