The following extract is from Nathan Sentance's article 'Racism in archival collections':

As a Wiradjuri person working in historical collections, there is often a tension I feel looking at the material in these collections – a tension between joy and anger. And there is a tension in myself between wanting some of this material to never see the light of day and knowing how important access to it can be.

Take for example the 1928 silent film The Birth of White Australia (directed by Phil K Walsh), from which this short excerpt is taken. This film’s title is potentially paying homage to the phenomenally successful but incredibly racist 1915 film The Birth of a Nation (DW Griffith, US), which provided a boost to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) through its positive portrayal of them. Similarly, The Birth of White Australia paints the white settlers involved in anti-Chinese riots that occurred at the Lambing Flat camps (around the present-day town of Young) in a good light as heroes.

The first two laws Australia put into action after it was federated in 1901 were both racially motivated – the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, also known as the 'White Australia Policy' (which was still in effect when this film was made), and the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. They show that racism was very much a part of Australian society. The film demonstrates that anti-Asian rhetoric spewed by contemporary politicians is part of a long history of racism and should be condemned, like many would condemn and dismiss this film.

When David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery, was asked why he collected racist objects he said he wanted visitors, particularly white visitors, to be confronted with the visual evidence of racism. He felt that many white Americans thought racism was in the distant past and not in living memory and he wanted to challenge that. He believed these objects that are examples of intolerance could be tools to teach tolerance.

Racist material is part of our history. Films like The Birth of White Australia serve as the visual evidence of racism. As such, they need to be preserved but this preservation, and subsequent access to them, needs to be considered.

Read more: Nathan Sentance on Racism in Archival Collections