Preamble
East Timor’s dramatic passage from Portuguese colony to independent country was of regional and international significance. In Australia, East Timor was a persistent, controversial and sometimes major public policy issue. Taken together, surviving Australian-held archival records provide rich primary-source research material on the issue in Australian public life, events in East Timor as well as what happened internationally. These records are of abiding interest to archivists, researchers and educators in Australia, East Timor, Indonesia and elsewhere.
CHART aims to
1. Locate, promote and assist in the long-term preservation of, and access to, archival materials on all aspects of the East Timor issue, with a primary focus on Australian-held private and non-government records, 1974-1999.
2. Encourage Australian institutional and other support for archival institutional development in East Timor – including providing copies of relevant Australian-held archival records.
CHART’s principal activities will be to
1. Identify Australian privately-held Timor archival collections and advise and assist owners on long-term preservation and access options.
2. Publish guides to the location and detailed content of public and private East Timor-related archival materials for researchers, educators, archival and educational institutions.
3. Promote and provide research access to physical archives in CHART custody.
4. Digitise extensive selections of privately-held Australian Timor archival materials for free online access.
5. Promote and assist with digitisation of Timor collections held in Australian public repositories for free online access.
6. Establish partnerships with, and seek funding and other support from, appropriate archival, cultural, educational and philanthropic institutions to achieve these purposes.
7. Develop relationships with archival, cultural and educational institutions in Timor-Leste interested to receive and provide public access to Australian-held digital and duplicate physical archival materials.
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Revised & adopted by the Annual General Meeting of members, Melbourne, 13 August 2012.
