Archivi Aborigeni in Italia Aboriginal Records in Italy. The translation of knowledge within the cultural interface

British colonialism has enduring consequences for First Nations peoples, marked by massacres, land appropriations and cultural suppression. In Australia, European travellers, scientists and missionaries documented the histories, languages, and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples. The recorded information (including diaries, journals, official documents, drawings and photographs) was sent, bought and exchanged among private and public collectors and organisations. This thesis explores the documentation regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Italian collecting institutions. Although several studies have examined the importance of the colonial archives conserved in Australia and Britain, less attention has been paid to records displaced in nations that were not formally involved in the Australian colonial project. Archives in these other nations are understudied because this patrimony is entangled in multiple layers of power and interests. Therefore, no agreed framework exists to manage its access and return to communities. The central argument of this enquiry is that Australian research on Aboriginal histories, which holds potential benefits for communities, is exceedingly concentrated on colonial resources within Australia and Britain. This example is a launching pad for investigating other instances of displaced First Nations archives worldwide and employing critical strategies to analyse them. Framed within an Indigenous paradigm, this research investigates what insights the Aboriginal records in Italy provide for archival displacement discourse and practice. The concept that pulls these ideas together is the importance of knowledge translation in archival studies to create the settings for structural change. Examining data gathered from archival research, building the first digital archive for Italian collections and yarning sessions with Aboriginal and Italian researchers and practitioners, this study makes two critical contributions to archival science and practice. The first contribution is the new categorisation of eclipsed archives. These archives distinguish themselves from Aboriginal records in Australia and Great Britain for their political and social function: their visibility or invisibility depended on their usefulness within Italian political agendas. The second contribution entails a novel methodology for modelling practices in Italian archives and analogous situations firmly rooted in Aboriginal worldviews. Through innovative knowledge translation approaches at the cultural interface, this study has effectively challenged how the contributing institutions administer and share Aboriginal records. Indeed, this doctoral study has effectively opened a space for future dialogue between Italy and Australia.