LibGuides: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Databases

What are databases?

A library database is an online collection of scholarly resources.

Databases don't hold the resources, but provide the information needed to find it including the author, title, source, publication date, and often an abstract. Many databases have links to the full-text.

Databases can be interdisciplinary (covering several topics), or subject specific (focusing on one particular discipline).

The ANU Library subscribes to over 720 scholarly databases, containing many millions of searchable items including scholarly journal articles; newspaper articles; images; streaming videos; music; and other academic publications.

Searching databases can be a great way to find reliable, peer-reviewed scholarly sources for your research and assessments.

You can see the full range of databases on the Library's e-resources and databases page.

Databases

The databases assembled here are drawn from both the Library's subscription collection, and those freely available in the public domain. They cover a broad range of subject matter and issues relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures, knowledge, and scholarship, and contain a wealth of both academic and popular content.

AHB: Australia's Heritage Bibliography This link opens in a new window
A bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles from published and unpublished material on Australia's natural and cultural environment. Source documents include journals, unpublished reports, books, videos and conference proceedings. Subject coverage includes ceremonial grounds and sacred sites, historic towns and buildings, national parks, and world heritage sites.
AUSTLANG | Australian Indigenous Language Databases This link opens in a new window
Austlang provides information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, assembled from a number of referenced sources. AUSTLANG links to MURA the AIATSIS catalogue, and other resources.
Australia in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1808-1967 This link opens in a new window
This collection includes letters, journals and supplementary materials created by the UK-based Anglican missionary orgainsation, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG), and its Australian branches during the period 1808-1967. These documents contain reports on the progress of the mission, relations with the indigenous people, the passage to Australia, and insights into how monetary grants were spent.
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet This link opens in a new window
The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet‘s mission is to contribute to improving the health of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and assist in ‘closing the gap’ by facilitating the sharing and exchange of relevant, high-quality knowledge.
Australian Literary and Historic Texts | via SETIS This link opens in a new window
A collection of over 220 Australian primary-source texts available in full text, including historical records from settlement to the early twentieth century and key works from leading Australian literary figures from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Source documents include fiction, poetry, plays, reports and journals.
Australian National Dictionary | 1st Edition, 1988 This link opens in a new window
The Australian National Dictionary is a comprehensive, historically-based record of Australian English. It is a dictionary of Australianisms - those words and meanings which have originated in Australia, which have greater currency here than elsewhere, or which have a special significance in Australian history. It records the historical development of Australian words and phrases from their earliest use to the present day.
BlackWords | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers and Storytellers This link opens in a new window
BlackWords records information about the lives, careers, and works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers and the literary cultures and traditions that formed and influenced them. It is a vitally important part of the work the AustLit team does in delivering information and carefully curated content about storytelling in Australia.
Ethnographic Video Online
A comprehensive audio-visual encyclopaedia of human behaviour and culture which includes material from every continent. Thematic areas include language and culture, body language, cooking, family structures, music and the arts, gender, and more. It contains classic and contemporary documentaries, previously unpublished footage, and selected feature films.
Indigenous Australia This link opens in a new window
Indigenous Australia is hosted by the National Centre of Biography (NCB) at the Australian National University. As well as containing entries in its own right, Indigenous Australia brings together all entries on Indigenous Australians found in the NCB's biographical websites – Australian Dictionary of Biography, Obituaries Australia, Labour Australia, and Women Australia. The site also supports special projects such as the Australian Indigenous Autobiography Archive.
Informit Indigenous Collection (IIC) This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive collection covers both contemporary and historical issues within the field of Indigenous studies. Its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary framework encompasses anthropology, community development, cultural studies, economics, education, health, history, human geography, law, land rights, literature, politics, policy making, (post)-colonial studies, psychology, race studies, sociology and visual & performing arts.
Noongar-Wudjari Plant and Animal Online Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
Perth's Noongar Boodjar Language Centre have partnered with the Atlas of Living Australia to produce this valuable online resource, containing a wealth of ancestral ecological knowledge, shared by the traditional knowlege custodians of the Wudjari Nation, located on the southern coast of Western Australia.