Musgrave NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day of Celebration)

This year NAIDOC was celebrating its twenty-four years at Musgrave Park.  As a long-term Indigenous staff member of the State Library, I have now attended twenty-one years of these Fridays (minus 2014 due to a motorbike accident).

In 1994 three State Library staff members, Loris Williams, Kathy Frankland and I participated with a stall on the family Friday Fun day at Musgrave Park.  In those days it was a case of finding a space, sitting down under my umbrella, and setting up a display board with copy-prints of photographs from the collection.

NAIDOC Day, Musgrave Park, 1995. Photo courtesy of Tania Schafer

In 1995 I added a tarpaulin with a display of various hand-made, photocopied, Indigenous information guides and relevant State Library of Queensland ephemera.

By 2005 we were sharing an umbrella and tent with Queensland Museum and had progressed to collecting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content from neighbouring stalls to add to the State Library’s John Oxley Library collection, such as posters, handouts, maps, trinkets and bags.

Posters, handouts, maps, trinkets and bags handed out at the 2005 NAIDOC Day at Musgrave Park. Photo courtesy of Tania Schafer

Posters, handouts, maps, trinkets and bags handed out at the 2005 NAIDOC Day at Musgrave Park. Photo courtesy of Tania Schafer

After more than twenty years of collecting it is fascinating to view this material now. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander poster collection, for instance, has increased from one drawer to a three drawer collection exceeding over two hundred posters.

In 2015 State Library’s tent has changed in terms of size, staff and the variety of resources offered to visitors, from a family history desk to answer queries, to a children’s corner and highlights on our Indigenous Writing Fellowship.

SLQ stall at 2015 NAIDOC Day, Musgrave Park. Photos courtesy of Tania Schafer

Today the NAIDOC Musgrave Park Family Fun Day has increased in size with clothes, merchandise and food stalls, performances, and rides for children available. At the State Library we are capturing this growth through the contemporary collection of photographs and by adding material to our collection.

2015 NAIDOC Day, Musgrave Park. Photos courtesy of Tania Schafer

If you have material showing current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander historical events relating to Queensland, please consider donating to the State Library. More information is available at /about-us/collections/donations-to-the-collection.

Tania Schafer - Contemporary Collecting, State Library of Queensland