20 years of Koori Mail goes online and global

Twenty years – more than 35,000 pages – of Koori Mail, an Australian publishing icon, is now available online thanks to a unique project undertaken by the nation’s premier Indigenous research organisation.

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra has partnered with the Koori Mail to digitise the newspaper’s back archive. The massive online collection was officially launched in a special ceremony in Canberra, which also marked the publication of the newspaper’s 500th edition. The collection features 20 years of stories, photos and cartoons published in the Koori Mail, dating back to the very first edition in May 1991.

AIATSIS Chairman, Professor Mick Dodson AM, said the Koori Mail online collection would be a stunning resource for all Australians, but especially Indigenous people who will be able to look back and reflect on their history, their events and their lifestyle over the past two decades.

‘What it reflects is a treasure trove of the social and political history of Aboriginal affairs in this country‘, Prof Dodson said.