In a recently proposed model of adoptee awareness, Branco et al (2022) describe different touchstones of critical consciousness that can be experienced by adoptees as they learn about adoption practices and consider their cultural and personal senses of belonging and identity. At the heart of one of the turning points described in the model, ‘rupture,’ the status quo is disrupted by new information or experiences relating to adoption that can bring an adoptee to question the stories and beliefs they were raised with. This questioning can often lead to active exploration of adoptee identity, such as “starting to read adoptee authors, view adoptee-centered films, or participate in adoptee-centric community spaces” (Branco et al 16). In addition to reaching outward to learn more about other adoptees and their experiences, rupture can also lead to wanting to discover more about one’s own adoption. For many, this can involve exploring records of their adoption. This presentation will share some of the findings of my research conducted with twelve transracial, transnational adoptees, focusing on participants’ encounters with conflicting perceptions of records ownership and purpose. Inspired by the conference’s theme of ‘rising to our challenges,’ I will offer preliminary suggestions for potential archivist intervention and activism on behalf of this community, and point to ways in which the adoptee perspective contributes to wider discussions within the archival community around policy and workflow development that prioritises the rights of the child. References Branco, S.F., Kim, J., Newton, G., Cooper-Lewter, S.K., and O’Loughlin, P. "Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A Model of Adoptee Awareness." Self-published manuscript (2022). https://harlowmonkeys.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/branco-et-al-2022-adoptee-consciousness-model.pdf Wilson, J.Z., Golding, F. Latent scrutiny: personal archives as perpetual mementos of the official gaze. Archival Science 16 (2016): 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-015-9255-3

In 1994 the Commonwealth of Australia officially recognised the Australian South Sea Islander community as a distinct ethnic group, while acknowledging a shared heritage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and European settlers. Today, three out of four Australian South Sea Islanders are Queenslanders. From 1863 to 1908, an estimated 65,500 South Sea Islanders were brought to Queensland as indentured labourers to service the sugar, cotton, pastoral and maritime industries. During this time, approximately one third died from disease and illness, a further 7,000 were deported and hundreds fled to northern New South Wales. As a result, many descendants today are disconnected from their history and their heritage. 150 years after the arrival of the first South Sea Islanders to Queensland, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) added 67 historically significant items from collection held at Queensland State Archives to its prestigious Australian Memory of the World Register. At the same time Queensland State Archives Australian South Sea Islanders Index 1867-1908 was launched. This early index was rudimentary but over time many additional records which reference South Sea Islanders have been identified and added to the index. The index now extends to 1948, and provides a single access point to the collection with over 64,000 entries linked digitally to original records. This ongoing project aims to discover, digitise and index more records in the collection as they are identified, and in doing so, offers enhanced searchability and access to this significant collection of records which connect Australian South Sea Islander descendants with their history and their stories. Join Queensland State Archives on a journey of discoverability through a decade of project evolution, problem-solving and ah-ha moments.

PrideNZ.com is an online community repository of over 900 digital audio recordings from Aotearoa New Zealand’s Takatāpui Rainbow LGBTI communities. In 2021, founder Gareth Watkins began the journey of depositing the digital material with the Alexander Turnbull Library, which holds the archives & special collections for Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand. This joint presentation between the Library and PrideNZ, will explore the mutually beneficial relationship between a community repository and a national institution. It will cover areas such as access, privacy, digital preservation, and the documentation of identity particularly in regards to queer and non-binary data. The presentation will also highlight some of the unexpected outcomes, including the generation of Creative Commons datasets for the collection, and proposed use of the linked data vocabulary Homosaurus in the Library's description of the collection.