Narrative Now

Episode 9: Indigenous Narratives in Colonial Archives with Rose Barrowcliffe

Narrative Now Season 1 Episode 9

In this episode we speak to Rose Barrowcliffe about changes to how First Nations narratives are collected and archived in settler-colonial countries like Australia. Rose is a Butchulla doctoral researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia and the inaugural First Nations Archives Advisor to the Queensland State Archives. In this role, she has initiated work on new metadata practices, outreach, and self-determination. Rose's doctoral research focuses on the Kgari (Fraser Island) Research Archive and uses both visual and audio narratives and family stories. The episode offers a fascinating conversation about silences, visibility, surveillance, and what comes to count as ‘valuable’ records in a nation’s story about its past.