Reflections on Creative Responses to Archival Collections in PARADISEC

Steven Gagau; Jodie Kell

doi:10.37683/asa.v53.11071

Steven Gagau PARADISEC, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Jodie Kell PARADISEC, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v53.11071

Keywords: Indigenous archives, Indigenous protocols and archives, Indigenous-led archival practice, Tandanya declaration

Abstract

The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a digital archive of some of the many small cultures and languages of the world, particularly from the Pacific region. The article reflects on a collaborative outreach project involving the creative response of a group of Papua New Guinean people to archival collections held in PARADISEC. The project demonstrates how reciprocity, long-term relationships and the valuing of Indigenous knowledge holders can invigorate cultural practices, adding value and meaning to the archive. This connects to the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration themes and contributes to an ethical space of engagement, encounter, respect, negotiation and collaboration.

Author Biographies

Steven Gagau, PARADISEC, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Steven Gagau is a cultural consultant, researcher and archivist with the University of Sydney. He is an Indigenous Tolai (Gunantuna) man from Papua New Guinea based at the Sydney office of PARADISEC. He works on metadata enrichment of Melanesian Pacific collections and is involved in a range of community access projects reconnecting people and communities to Oceanic cultures and histories. He develops strategies for community-led engagement, cultural outreach projects and relationships with archives, museums and libraries that hold materials of Pacific culture, language, music and history in the Oceania region.

Steven undertakes collaborative projects connecting diaspora speaker communities with institutions like Sydney University Chau Chak Wing Museum, Australian Museum, Museums Victoria, British Library with exhibitions and sound archives and advocacy Indigenous data management.

Steven co-produces the PARADISEC podcast ‘Toksave – Culture Talks’ with Jodie Kell and co-authored publications, including recently the British Library ‘True Echoes’ Project with 2024 book chapter ‘Dispersed sound archives and diaspora communities: Reconnecting with old recordings from Hula village, Papua New Guinea’, in Thieberger et al (eds.) Keeping time: Dialogues on music and archives in honour of Linda Barwick and community collaboration article in 2025 ‘Archived sound and creative engagements with Papua New Guinean cultural heritage in Australia’.

Jodie Kell, PARADISEC, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Jodie Kell is an audio engineer who manages the Sydney office of PARADISEC. She is interested in the reformulation of archival workflow to increase accessibility, findability and reusability to archival resources. Jodie has recently completed her PhD researching the role of women in music making in West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, working with and managing the all-women’s rock band Ripple Effect Band, in which she plays lead guitar.

In her work at PARADISEC, Jodie is currently involved in the Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA) an integrated national infrastructure that supports language research, with a particular interest in small community-based archives in remote communities in Northern Australia. She works on the Yawulyu mardukuja-patu-kurlangu: Warlpiri Digital Space, supporting access to archival materials for intergenerational knowledge transmission. She also co-produces the Toksave: Culture Talks podcast with Steven Gagau, a series of interviews with people who have personal and cultural connections with the PARADISEC archive.