Words worthy
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| All the world’s a stage ... Associate Professor Tompkins coordinates a unique theatre database |
Two databases with significant UQ connections are growing rapidly as resources for researchers studying Australian Literature and Theatre.
AustLit, a database of Australian literature, and its performing arts counterpart, AusStage, provide information about Australian theatre productions and written works across a range of genres. One of the most important developments for AustLit, which contains more than half-a-million records relating to Australian writers and their writing, was the establishment in 2007 of Black Words, a sub-set focusing on Indigenous literature.
Black Words already contains information on more than 1000 storytellers and will ultimately include Indigenous titles, plays, poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction, oral histories, memoirs, and anthologies. UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC, who is the General Editor of The Bibliography of Australian Literature, another major outcome for AustLit, said Black Words had quickly grown to become the most authoritative source of information on Indigenous Australian writing available.
“Through its scope and quality of scholarship, AustLit supports the research of Australia’s diverse literary cultures like no other resource,” Professor Hay said. “By employing Indigenous Australian researchers and authors to coordinate and work on the project, Black Words provides an unprecedented opportunity for people around the world to learn about and enjoy Indigenous Australian literature.”
AustLit Executive Manager, Kerry Kilner, said the site tapped into a growing public consciousness about Indigenous literature, which in turn would support greater study in the area. Likewise, AusStage expanded its database considerably this year through linking conventional research such as articles, reviews and books to theatre events already listed in the database.
Associate Professor Joanne Tompkins, who coordinates UQ’s AusStage input, said this year’s additions allowed theatre practitioners to see how their work had been received critically as well as being useful to researchers. Dr Tompkins said the performance database was vital because it preserved information that would otherwise be lost.
“Performance is an ephemeral art form – once the production closes, it’s gone,” she said. “Australia has been leading the way in collecting performance material like this: AusStage has been a model for other nations attempting to keep records of performance history.” AustLit and AusStage have both been established in collaboration with universities around Australia, with input from organisations such as the National Library of Australia, the Australia Council and theatre companies.
AUSSTAGE
- FUNDING: Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (ARC LIEF) grants
- RESEARCHER: Associate Professor Joanne Tompkins
- EMAIL: j.tompkins@uq.edu.au
- WEB: www.ausstage.edu.au
AUSTLIT
- FUNDING: Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (ARC LIEF) grants; internal grant schemes from The University of Queensland, UNSW@ADFA and James Cook University; and other monetary and in-kind support from the 11 AustLit consortium members
- RESEARCHER: Executive Manager Kerry Kilner
- EMAIL: k.kilner@uq.edu.au
- WEB: www.austlit.edu.au
Stories safeguarded ... (from left) Black Words team
members Yvette Holt, Associate Professor Tracy Bunda,
Sam Watson and Yaritji Green
