‘In living colour’: The history and future of <em>Identity Magazine</em> — Australian Historical Association annual conference hosted by The Australian National University

‘In living colour’: The history and future of Identity Magazine (533)

Blake Singley

The history of the Aboriginal Publications Foundation is one that charts the expansion of Indigenous controlled media in the 1970s and 80s. Its flagship publication, Identity, described itself as a ‘National Aboriginal Journal of Opinion’ and reached a broad audience throughout Australia. The magazine became a platform for a wide range of Indigenous voices, issues and concerns ranging from politics to sports and the arts. This paper explores the origins of the Identity Magazine, its evolution over a decade of publication and the value of Identity magazine as historical source material that reaches beyond the academy. Furthermore, this paper also discusses the work undertaken by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies to develop a curated digital platform that will grant virtual access to this valuable historical resource to a new generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers across Australia.

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