At the end of term 1, Year 11 Modern History classes were given the opportunity to visit the Queensland State Archives as part of the Australian Frontier Wars unit.
The Archives currently holds an exhibition by First Nations artist, Judy Watson, Skeletons. Watson, a Waanyi woman, has long looked at the dispossession and institutionalisation of Indigenous peoples and cultures, collected for ethnographic exhibitions of museums around the world. The Skeletons exhibition reflects on the implied secrecy of the idiom 'skeletons in the closet,' and uses records from the State Archives, dating back to the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement in the early 1820s. These artefacts, which were scanned to be projected over a range of materials, and collated as part of a digital map. The installations were accompanied by a narration that described brutal and inhumane acts suffered during the Frontier Wars.
Archives staff then led discussions about each of the installations, providing contextual information and explaining the importance and relevancy of the content. Students were guided through a tour of the archives, viewing primary documents and the processes to document, maintain and restore them. The Archives staff then gave a masterclass on effectively using resources and navigating the States Archives database. These experiences will prove invaluable for upcoming the upcoming research task on Frontier War conflict.