Boo, hiss....

From the newsletter of Sydney's terrific Gleebooks, a note from the historian and archivist Baiba Berzins:

"The National Archives of Australia has announced that it will be closing its regional offices in Darwin (in 2010), Adelaide (2011) and Hobart (repository 2010 and reading room 2012). It is proposed to relocate the records to Sydney and Melbourne. This is heartbreaking for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory because the NAA office in Darwin houses the records relating to the Territory's Stolen Generations. As well, the Adelaide office of NAA holds significant records relating to child migrants from the 1940s to 1960s – part of the ‘Remembered Children’ to whom the PM apologised on Monday (and promised to help with link-up networks). This move is disastrous for Indigenous people, archivists, librarians, genealogists, historians and many others in those localities and goes against all principles of equity in access to Commonwealth records. Please register your condemnation of this decision with your local MHR or Senator and/or with Senator Joe Ludwig, the Minister responsible for National Archives. Further information: baibapl@netspace.net.au