Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 2001-2011 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
27 boxes, 3 parcels, 21 items.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Julian Burnside QC is a Melbourne barrister and author. In 2001 he helped bring legal action against the Australian Government over its decision to prevent asylum seekers rescued by the ship MV Tampa from having their claims for asylum heard in Australia. He subsequently became a leading public critic of the Government's refugee and anti-terrorism laws.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Kate Durham is a Melbourne artist who founded Spare Rooms for Refugees, a program to provide community accommodation and other support to refugees. In late 2001 Durham and others began exchanging letters with asylum seekers detained on Nauru by the Australian Government. Durham and BBC journalist Sarah Macdonald travelled to Nauru clandestinely in June 2002, becoming the first independent eyewitnesses to visit the refugee detention centre and interview its occupants.
Repository
Archival history
Collection previously titled as: Papers, 2002-2011
Collection alternatively titled as: Julian Burnside Collection.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Correspondence from asylum seekers detained on Nauru; files of reports, newspaper cuttings and photographs relating to the asylum seekers; sewing projects created by the asylum seekers; paintings and relief sculptures created by Kate Durham.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged into four series by processing archivists.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Restricted access. Copying of correspondence is not permitted. Application for access to restricted material may be submitted to the Fryer Librarian for consideration.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- Persian
Script of material
- Arabic
Language and script notes
Some correspondence written in Dari or Farsi (Persian) languages in Arabic script, sometimes accompaided by English translations.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Material in this collection has been cited in:
McGowan G, Hoffstaedter G, & Creese J (2022) ‘Object Based Learning in the Social Sciences: Three Approaches to Haptic Knowledge Making’, Teaching Anthropology, 11(2):97–107, doi:10.22582/ta.v11i2.657.
Whitlock G (2024) Refugee Lives in the Archives: A Pacific Imaginary, 1st edn, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Alma MMS ID
Millennium Local System Number
Libraries Australia ID
OCLC Number
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Burnside, Julian (Subject)
- Durham, Kate, 1957- (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Revised
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A.