Sharing Central Australian Histories with Respect: A Wikimedia Australia and Alice Springs Public Library Collaboration

Since late 2023 Wikimedia Australia has partnered with Alice Springs Public Library in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) to make a significant local photographic archive publicly available through Wikimedia Commons. The Central Australian Historical Images (CAHI) collection includes approximately 3,000 photographs and is made up of just over 30 smaller collections collected from individuals and families. 

Mparntwe is a small town of approximately 35,000 people in the Northern Territory and its Traditional Owners are the Arrernte people, specifically people of the Mparntwe, Antulye, and Irlpme estates. It was first colonised by ‘Europeans’ in the 1870s following the construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line which led to the opening up of the land surrounding it, to the pastoral industry and to mining at places like Arltunga, Ruby Gap and Winnecke. These developments led to widespread displacement of many Aboriginal people and communities who were forced off their lands, but also due to the catastrophic impacts on the resources they had relied on for thousands of years. To survive  many Aboriginal people were forced onto the missions like the one at Ntaria (Hermannsburg) or to work, unpaid and often mistreated, at the stations that had displaced them. 

Bridging Representation and Regional Gaps

Wikimedia Australia has long advocated for increased content and support for Wikimedia contributors from the Northern Territory as it is poorly represented on Wikipedia. The Northern Territory covers more than 1.4 million square kilometres – and it is roughly the size of France, Spain and Italy combined, yet it has a population of just 250,000. In 2019 there were only 1,700 pages relating to the Territory compared to more than 10,000 for nearby Western Australia. This is particularly significant as the population of the Northern Territory is over 30% Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander compared to the national average of just under 4%. Much important knowledge, history and information has not been included and is missing. 

To address this Wikimedia Australia supported the creation of WikiClub NT in 2016, led by Wikimedian Caddie Brain, who travelled throughout the region hosting edit-a-thons, teaching how to edit and explaining why it is important. On a personal note this is also how Alice Woods, the Education and Projects Officer for Wikimedia Australia, was first introduced to editing and got ‘hooked’. Since the start of the WikiClub NT, pages relating to the Northern Territory have increased significantly to just over 5,000. The addition of the Central Australian Historical Images collection is helping to enrich and illustrate many of these pages.

Culturally Respectful Processes

Before the Wiki Commons project commenced, the CAHI images had never been made available online and were only accessible on the Library’s internal intranet system within the physical library space. In 2019, in order to prepare for the collection to be made available publicly online, the library completed a Cultural Sensitivity Assessment of the images to ensure that the images containing Aboriginal peoples (Australia’s First Nations people) could be made available. (Further information on Culturally Safe Libraries Program and ATSILIRN Protocols is available here.) This process involved extensive community consultation and guidance, as the library worked alongside Braydon Kanjira, a Traditional Owner and Arrernte Senior Ceremonial Leader, from Ntaria (Hermannsburg). Many of the images in this collection depict Arrernte people and/or Arrernte Country, so ensuring cultural considerations and safety was critical. 

The images were assessed and divided into three categories in a system known as ‘traffic-lighting’ – green for open access, orange for provided with cultural warnings, and red for restricted access. Only images marked as green (open access) would be included in the Wiki Commons project. The majority of images that were excluded contained imagery of sacred or secret Aboriginal knowledge, customs or items. This means that a small number of images have been excluded from this project. 

In addition to following guidelines set by the Library’s Cultural Sensitivity Assessment, Wikimedia Australia also referred regularly to the Guidelines for First Nations Collection Development by Tui Raven, which were released as this project commenced. This Guideline aims to assist libraries (and in this case Wikimedia) in adopting reparative and anti-racist practices and understanding Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) in order to make content more accurate and discoverable. The Guidelines informed decisions regarding removing offensive terminology from the captions and, where possible, providing better detail and context about what is taking place in the photo –  where it is (including the Aboriginal place name),  who it depicts and improved descriptions of what is depicted. This is particularly important for images of Aboriginal people, as they were often only identified in the loosest terms and derogatory language.  The identification of many people, places and other contextual improvements were made possible as a part of the Cultural Sensitivity Assessment.  

Highlight: Moses Tjalkabota

One of the standout images of the Jessie May Gunn Collection is of Moses Tjalkabota (c.1869 – 1954), also known as ‘Blind Moses’. He was a Western Arrarnta man who was born east of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) and became an influential evangelist. He was a master storyteller who attracted large crowds when he preached around Central Australia.

Continuing Consent

Additionally Wikimedia Australia, where possible, contacted the original donors or their families to ask permission to upload these images to Wikimedia Commons. Although there were existing donation agreements in place. ongoing consultation is incredibly important in regards to Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). In one instance this meant that an image collection was excluded from this project. 

As at the time of writing this (June 2025),  29 of the collections have been uploaded and the remaining are waiting on consultation and clarity regarding copyright agreements.

So far, 277 images have been added to 131 pages over 10 Wikimedia projects.  These pages receive an average of about 250,000 views per month and we hope this will continue to grow over the years as they are incorporated into more Wikipedia pages and across different language versions. Anyone reading this post is very welcome to assist!

Acknowledgements

Wikimedia Australia would also like to specifically thank all of the staff at Alice Springs Public Library for their hard work, support and goodwill. We particularly thank Jordan Phillips, Dunja Ganama, Ella Turner and Carl Mirtschin.

Highlighted Collections:

• The George Bastian Collection

George Bastain was a builder who moved the Mparntwe in the 1930s and was involved in building and photographing much of the infrastructure for the growing town.

• The Dale Conrick Collection

This is one of the smaller collections within CAHI but contains some truly beautiful images taken in the 1950s. 

• The Johannsen Collection

The Johannsen Collection  from members of the Johannsen family, pastoralists and miners, in Central Australia and the largest collection in it was taken by Trudy Hayes. The images include photographs of numerous places around the Northern Territory and many family photos including her father Gerhardt Johannsen and brother Kurt Johannsen.