LAUSR

ABSTRACT For more than a decade, NTSCORP, the native title services provider for Aboriginal communities in NSW and ACT, has returned genealogical information to claimants in the form of ancestral family trees. The exceptionally popular program has seen more than 4,000 requests logged and completed. This article reviews some of the strengths and weaknesses of the program and how it has changed over time. It also considers the return of research material as a whole within the context of ongoing discussions among historical and archival communities about the necessity of decolonising the archives and returning control of information about First Nations communities to the people themselves. Digital technologies have a role to play in resolving some of the challenges surrounding the return of research records, particularly with regard to cultural protocols and confidentiality.