Identity, records and archival evidence: exploring the needs of Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants

Archival records are of tremendous value to care leavers; however, this community faces many barriers when attempting to access records about their time in institutions as children. This article explores the particular needs of care leaver communities in Australia and discusses a digital resource (www.findandconnect.gov.au) designed to improve access to records and public knowledge about the history of child welfare. This web resource is one example of how archives and archivists can encourage ‘strangers’ into the archive and help communities to use records to support identity construction and historical justice. The authors contend that consultation and collaboration with stakeholders outside of the archive are crucial. The article also describes how usability testing and user feedback led to significant redesign of the web resource so that it best meets the particular needs of care leaver communities.