Gympie PhD student lands historic role for First Nations people

Butchulla woman Rose Barrowcliffe, who studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast, will step into the Queensland Government’s inaugural role with a complex task of bringing to light the history of Queensland’s First Nations people that has been hidden in state archives.

An Indigenous Gympie woman and PhD student has taken a landmark step for Queensland’s First Nations people after she was appointed as the state’s inaugural First Nations Archive Advisor at the Queensland State Archives.

Butchulla woman Rose Barrowcliffe, who studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast, will step into the role with a complex task of bringing to light the history of Queensland’s First Nations people that has been hidden in state archives.

Ms Barrowcliffe said she was looking forward to the new role.

“I’m excited that my home state recognises the important role that archives have to play in truth-telling,” Ms Barrowcliffe said.

“Queensland has many diverse First Nations people, so it will be a challenge to the current archival practice to honour their many histories and priorities.

“There are many records in our state and national archives that have documented the lives of Indigenous peoples, but there has been long been a focus on sectioning off archives into ‘Indigenous’ and ‘non-Indigenous history’.

“We need to look at archives with fresh eyes to find stories that are recorded but haven't been part of history.”

Ms Barrowcliffe’s role comes as an “extension” of her doctoral research at USC, which aims to highlight the stories of the Butchulla people, the traditional custodians of K’gari Fraser Island, contained in the K’gari Research Archive collection held by the university.

USC Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Helen Bartlett congratulated Ms Barrowcliffe on her historic appointment.

“We are extremely proud as a University to have one of our talented research students recognised in this way, and to be undertaking such significant work to record the experiences and perspectives of First Nations peoples,” Prof Bartlett said.

Ms Barrowcliffe’s work will also seek to identify ways in which previously unrecorded Butchulla histories could be included in the K’gari archive.

“My inspiration for my PhD was born out of my experience of expecting to see my own family and tribe‘s history in the archive but coming away with very little,” Ms Barrowcliffe said.

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“My family, and Butchulla people, have always been on Butchulla Country. So this experience sparked my curiosity about why there was so little of us in archives and historical narratives about our Country.”

Ms Barrowcliffe will next month present a creative examination of her research through an exhibition she curated for the Sunshine Coast Horizon Festival.

The exhibition, ‘Reading between the lines: Uncovering Butchulla history in the K’gari research archive’, will be on display at the USC Gallery from 13 August to 30 October.