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First Nations Strategy 2024–28
First Nations Strategy 2024-28: A plan for reframing relationships
The First Nations Strategy will transform State Library by reframing relationships with Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures, knowledge and stories. As a library of influence and one of Queensland's key collecting and memory institution, it is important to have an overarching and coordinated approach to truth-telling, our collection commitments, and delivery of First Nations initiatives. This Strategy represents our commitment to the First Nations peoples and communities of this state.
State Library has a responsibility to collect and preserve a comprehensive record of Queensland's cultural and documentary heritage, including a reflection of First Nations perspectives. By committing to recognising, listening to and respecting the expertise and advice of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, State Library collections, programs and initiatives will share diverse Queensland histories and actively encourage respectful and meaningful engagement.
Respect for First Nations peoples and communities is central as we seek to build connection, understanding and trust through strong relationships. The Strategy opens the way and sets a clear direction for State Library to be better - embracing First Nations knowledge, sharing First Nations stories, and making decisions with First Nations peoples and communities.
State Library of Queensland's Journey
This painting is contemporary artist Chern'ee Sutton of the Kalkadoon people's interpretation of State Library’s commitment to strong relationships, stories, culture, truth and healing with Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
First Nations Strategy Action Plan
State Library will focus on 8 strategic objectives over the life of our First Nations Strategy.
A set of design principles underpins the First Nations Strategy. These design principles have been tested and confirmed with the Executive Leadership Team, Senior Leadership team, First Nations leaders, and approved by the Library Board. The First Nations Strategy aligns to these approved principles and details the activities to deliver and is embedded in the operations of State Library.
First Nations peoples' human rights, particularly cultural rights, are at the centre of State Library's commitments to First Nations peoples.
State Library will leverage existing governance arrangements through the Indigenous Advisory Group to embed culturally informed decision making and effective monitoring and evaluation of First Nations commitments.
The Senior Leadership Team, with the Director, First Nations Strategy, leads the implementation of First Nations commitments.
State Library will tailor our ways of working and communicating to meet the needs of First Nations individuals, communities, staff and partners.
The Executive Leadership Team supports the development of culturally capable staff, and commitment to a culturally safe workplace.
First Nations senior staff provide expert advice and support to branches for the design and delivery of culturally appropriate services.
About a third of Australians do not know or accept some fundamental aspect or our shared history. The lack of a shared understanding of our history is a source of ongoing trauma for many First Nations people. Truth-telling is an opportunity for First Nations peoples, governments and organsations to record evidence about past actions and for First Nations people to share culture, heritage and history with the broader community.
We will play a critical role in facilitating the truth-telling conversation for Path to Treaty. As a memory institution and a custodian of Queensland’s documentary heritage we will work closely with the First Nations Treaty Institute (Institute) and the Institute Council, to ensure Queenslanders have access to materials on the complex history of this State. State Library will play an important role in supporting the truth-telling agenda and will work closely with the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry (Inquiry) as we commit to incorporating healing approaches as an integral part of truth-telling.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 Path to Treaty |
Establish and implement a monitoring and evaluation framework with targeted and measurable indicators of progress towards treaty readiness. This will
|
Director, First Nations Strategy | July 2024 - Monitoring and evaluation framework developed |
| 1.2 Leading truth-telling and healing | Actively reflect and lead truth-telling for State Library as an organisation. This work will be aligned with the work of the First Nations Treaty Institute and the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry. | State Librarian and CEO |
2024 - Planning Phase Timeframes will align to the development of the First Nations Treaty Institute and the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry |
| 1.3 Culturally transform collection practices | The Content Strategy will be revised to strengthen mechanisms for co-design and self-determination to reflect First Nations perspectives in collections, including through significant acquisitions, interpretation and engagement. | Executive Director, Content | 2024-26 |
| 1.4 Collecting First Nations truth-telling | Scope and implement workflows to incorporate community submitted and contextualised information in catalogue records and online platforms. | Director, Content Management | 2024-25 |
| 1.5 Local truth-telling keeping places | Collaborate with Queensland Museum, Queensland State Archives and the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Councils’ request for regional keeping places. | Executive Director, Community Partnerships | 2024-27 |
We have an enduring relationship with Indigenous Councils to deliver place based, community led library services through a network of Indigenous Knowledge Centres. State Library will partner with councils to ensure Indigenous Knowledge Centres reach their true potential. We will enhance our support to Indigenous Knowledge Centres to elevate their role in First Nations communities and in relation to cultural knowledges and participation, truth-telling, language maintenance and generation, and social and economic participation.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1. Indigenous Knowledge Centres engagement plan strategy | Develop and implement a dedicated Indigenous Knowledge Centres engagement plan which empowers First Nations communities to lead action plans and exercise agency in the management and control of information, knowledge and access and use of technology. | Manager, First Nations |
2024 - Engagement plan developed 2025 - Implement actions from engagement plan |
| 2.2 Elevate Indigenous Knowledge Centres | Support Indigenous Knowledge Centres to grow and become digital and social hubs for their communities. | Director, Digital Inclusion | 2024-25 |
| 2.3 Indigenous Knowledge Centres engagement and services |
Co-design new Service Level Agreements between State Library and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander councils for Indigenous Knowledge Centres which:
|
Manager, First Nations |
2024 - Co-design process 2025 - Service Level Agreements signed and implemented |
State Library will reimagine kuril dhagun and examine the role, space, and operations of kuril dhagun to ensure it honours and welcomes Queensland’s First Nations people and communities. We will also pursue opportunities to ensure it is a space of authentic learning, where visitors can experience the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and stories.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 Build kuril dhagun as a truth-telling space, that supports and enables truth-telling, healing, and treaty readiness through storytelling |
Remove systemic barriers to collaboration and implement strategies to utilise kuril dhagun as an important place for providing and promoting inspirational First Nations experiences through truth-telling, storytelling, and the co-design of inspired cultural spaces. |
Executive Director, Experience | 2024 - Develop and action plan outlining strategies to renew kuril dhagun |
| 3.2. Activate kuril dhagun as a First Nations space |
Build a renewed kuril dhagun program which includes:
|
Manager, Visitor Experience |
2024 - 25 (Priority 3.2 is dependent on the finalisation of Priority 3.1) |
There are many different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations and groups living throughout Queensland in the areas in which we operate. Therefore, we will adapt our ways of working and communicating to meet the diverse needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and communities.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 First Nations engagement and partnerships | Co-design with First Nations communities and enterprises to identify and overcome barriers to engagement and encourage increased engagement with State Library collections, programs and services. | Director, First Nations Strategy | 2024 - ongoing |
| 4.2 First Nations public library services | Lead elevation of First Nations' perspectives in public libraries. | Manager, Public Libraries | 2024 - ongoing |
| 4.3 First Nations visitors’ experience |
Implement changes that enhance and value First Nations visitors’ experience and engagement in person and online, including:
|
Executive Director, Experience | 2024 - ongoing |
| 4.4 Brisbane Traditional Owners engagement |
Engage in a partnership with Brisbane Traditional Owners through:
|
State Librarian and CEO (in collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Group) | 2024 - ongoing |
| 4.5 Enable the Indigenous Advisory Group | Support the Indigenous Advisory Group to provide strategy implementation governance for the First Nations Strategy. | Manager, Strategy and Governance | 2024-28 |
We are committed to improving our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employee recruitment, retention, and cultural safety. We will achieve this by advancing, creating and enabling a culturally safe environment through the respectful review, reflection, and implementation of improved policies and practices.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 Enhance attraction and retention of First Nations staff | Implement the First Nations Recruitment and Retention Strategy 2023 – 2025 including monitoring targeted and measurable indicators of progress and evaluation framework to demonstrate and articulate how it “enables a process for truth-telling, healing, self-determination, and ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures are at the centre of everything State Library does”. | Director, People and Culture | 2024-25 (aligned to the First Nations Recruitment and Retention Strategy Action Plan) |
| 5.2 Build cultural capability |
Develop a program of cultural capability training that includes:
|
Director, People and Culture |
2024 - Phase 1: Review, develop and update 2025 - Phase 2: Implement and evaluate |
| 5.3 Enhance attraction and recruitment | Improve retention rates and increase representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across all portfolios at all levels of State Library through training, career progression, development opportunities and support to ensure clarity and focus of roles. | Executive Leadership Team | Ongoing (aligned to the First Nations Recruitment and Retention Strategy Action Plan) |
| 5.4 Retention through innovative career opportunities | Encourage participation in formal and informal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander networks. | People Leaders | Ongoing (aligned to the First Nations Recruitment and Retention Strategy Action Plan) |
| 5.5 Leadership at all levels | Deliver quarterly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce reporting to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT. | Director, People and Culture | June 2024 - ELT Meeting and then quarterly |
State Library is committed to intentional collecting for the Memory, Information and Public Library collections. First Nations histories and contemporary stories are respected and made accessible with a priority to collect content created by First Nations peoples.
Our role as custodians of Queensland memory, particularly through truth-telling processes, will include making accessible our diverse collections, incorporating inclusive descriptive language and ensuring sensitivity information and access reflects First Nations sovereignty. We are committed to connecting First Nations communities with collections.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.1 First Nations data strategy | Ensure the review of the Content Strategy incorporates Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and respects data sovereignty and data governance in the management of collection materials and access. | Director, Content Management | 2024-26 (Aligns to Content Strategy timeframes) |
| 6.2 First Nations digital inclusion | Implement a major initiative in partnership with local governments to address digital inclusion and ensure that First Nations Queenslanders have access to State Library’s services and collections. | Director, Digital Inclusion | 2024-35 (Aligns to Digital Inclusion Strategy timeframes) |
| 6.3 Partnerships to build First Nations collection content | Foster programs and partnerships that create pathways to collect First Nations voices and contribute to a trusted record of Queensland. | Director, Queensland Memory | 2024-28 |
We are committed to the integrity and authenticity of First Nations culture by honouring First Nations truth, stories, and knowledge in our programs, exhibitions, and public spaces. Programming at State Library foundationally embraces and celebrates the diversity, cultures and knowledges of First Nations peoples. First Nations cultures and perspectives that respect, empower and connect communities is a key pillar underpinning events, partnerships and public programming.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 First Nations public programs | Curate an annual public program that celebrates and makes visible First Nations knowledge, stories, perspectives, cultures, communities and businesses, including through partnerships. | Director, Activation |
2024-27 2024 - Program plan developed 2025 - Initial program delivered |
|
7.2. Storytelling experiences |
Commission storytellers to develop work that explores State Library collections through a First Nations lens. | Executive Director, Experience | 2024-28 |
| 7.3. Elevate First Nations participation in awards and fellowships | Harness awards process, event, and fellowship liaison to support truth-telling, co-design and self-determination. | Executive Director, Content | Ongoing |
We will grow the social and economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
| Priorities | Deliverables | Responsibility | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 First Nations supply chain | Incorporate requirements to provide information on First Nations employment in new major supplier arrangements. | Manager, Compliance and Assurance | 2024 - Requirements developed and incorporated |
| 8.2 First Nations procurement | Actively include First Nations businesses in procurement processes to meet or exceed the target set in the Queensland Government Indigenous Procurement Policy. | Senior Leadership Team | Ongoing |
Monitoring, evaluation and governance
An Action Plan will activate the First Nations Strategy across the 8 strategic objectives. State Library has invested in the establishment of a First Nations Strategy branch to provide strategic leadership in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy. A monitoring and evaluations framework will be developed to provide assurance to our First Nations partners and communities that State Library is delivering a positive impact.
The Library Board and Indigenous Advisory Group will receive regular updates on the progress and implementation of the First Nations Strategy and Action Plan.
Visit this page, State Library's blog or social media channels for updates.
The Public Sector Act 2022 (s23) outlines the requirement for State Library to develop, publish and report each year on a Reframing the relationships plan.
Read more about the Library Board of Queensland and Indigenous Advisory Group, State Library's governing bodies who support the achievement of a guiding principle in the Libraries Act 1988 that respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are affirmed.
First Nations Initiatives
Learn about State Library's First Nations initiatives including Indigenous Knowledge Centres, kuril dhagun, and black&write!
From the blog
Implementation framework
State Library has developed a framework that provides a high-level overview of the linkages between the Queensland Government's whole-of-government reforms and State Library's strategic direction and First Nations initiatives.
Key documents
The Queensland Government has committed to a suite of First Nations whole-of-government reforms that aim to improve outcomes and close the gap for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
