The AIATSIS collections contain not only priceless records of Australia’s Indigenous cultural heritage, but provide a significant national and international research infrastructure for research by, for and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ( Wikipedia). This has led to a diverse research history from languages and archaeological research, land rights and political engagement to contemporary topics in health and commerce. Today AIATSIS is governed under an Act of parliament which sets the organisation the task of conducting, facilitating and promoting research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and training Indigenous researchers. An Interim Council consisting of 16 members, chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, Professor AD Trendall, and under the guidance of experts such as anthropologist W E H Stanner, was formed and the first version of the institute now known as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, AIATSIS, was created by 1963.

In 1960, the Liberal government of Sir Robert Menzies instituted a plan to provide for a more comprehensive approach by the Australian Government to the recording of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures.

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