Welcome to Gather
We are guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, collaboration and self-determination to create this online space for Aboriginal peoples and communities.
Our hope is that here, and within the collections held at the State Library of NSW, you will find meaningful connections to culture and Country, and together we can share and celebrate the richness and vibrancy of Australia’s First Nations people.
Gather aims to:
- - digitally return copies of historical documents, manuscripts and photographs to the people and communities they belong to
- - collaborate to identify people, places and stories in historical photographs and other materials shared here
- - add local knowledge and perspectives to the State Library of NSW’s Aboriginal historical collections.
We are committed to growing and shaping Gather to reflect community involvement, needs and aspirations.
For those visiting Gather who come from outside community, please note that not all content will be visible. Access rights and viewing restrictions are applied to some content by communities in accordance with cultural protocols.
The technology
Gather is built using the technical foundations developed by Mukurtu (MOOK-oo-too), a free, mobile, open-source platform built with First Nations communities across the world to manage and share digital cultural heritage. This grassroots project aims to empower communities to manage, share and exchange their digital heritage in culturally relevant and ethically-minded ways. Mukurtu is committed to maintaining an open, community-driven approach to its continued development.
Some key features in Mukurtu include:
- Cultural protocols — protocols allow you to determine fine-grained levels of access to your digital heritage materials based on your community needs and values.
- Community records — community records provide space for multiple cultural narratives, traditional knowledge and diverse sets of protocols, ensuring that you can tell your stories and your history, your way.
- Traditional knowledge labels — TK labels allow communities to label third party owned or public domain materials with added information about access, use, circulation and attribution.
- Roundtrip — Mukurtu’s CMS Roundtrip feature allows for media and data collections to be brought into Mukurtu and exported again without risk of losing meaning or protocols.
Mukurtu is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which means anyone is free to download it and share it with others. This open development model means that people are constantly working to make sure Mukurtu is a cutting-edge platform that supports the unique needs of Indigenous and First Nations libraries, archives and museums as they seek to preserve and share their digital heritage. Mukurtu encourages collaboration and innovation as we seek to offer respectful and responsible models for content management.
More information on the story, development and functionalities of Mukurtu CMS is available on Mukurtu.org
Working in partnership with communities
Gather is informed by the following protocols and guidelines:
- - United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
- - The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services (ATSILIRN Protocols);
- - Guidelines for collaborative practice between libraries and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from the National and State Libraries Australasia;
- - Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Protocols.
Project team
(alphabetical order)
Jenna Bain (Digital Projects Leader)
Linda Brainwood (Project Officer, Indigenous Engagement)
Geoffrey Roberts (Web Technical Lead)
Damien Webb (Manager, Indigenous Engagement)