Published 19 November 2009 · Main Posts Archive closures – letter to Senator Ludwig Jennifer Mills Dear Senator, I am very disappointed to hear that the National Archives will be closing their offices in Darwin, Adelaide, and Hobart over the next two years due to budget cuts. As an author I find this objectionable. The planned closures will make it harder for regional authors to research primary material. Will we have to fly to Canberra to conduct research? Because the NT was administered by the Commonwealth between 1910-1978 I understand the NAA also holds the records relating to the Stolen Generations. As well, the Adelaide office of NAA holds significant records relating to child migrants from the 1940s to 1960s – part of the ‘Remembered Children’ to whom the PM apologised recently (and promised to help with link-up networks). This move is disastrous for Indigenous people, archivists, librarians, genealogists, historians and many others and goes against all principles of equity in access to Commonwealth records. I am asking for your assurance that all NT records will remain in the NT, to be administered by NT Archives or another heritage body. Similarly other regional archives must remain in the regions to which they belong. Sincerely, Jennifer Mills Alice Springs Please register your condemnation of this decision with your local MHR or Senator and/or with Senator Joe Ludwig, the Minister responsible for National Archives, who may be contacted here Jennifer Mills Jennifer Mills was Overland fiction editor between 2012 and 2018. Her latest novel, The Airways, is out through Picador. More by Jennifer Mills › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 28 March 202428 March 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. First published in Overland Issue 228 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.