Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

AIATSIS west wing, designed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall, a black copy of Le Corbusier 's famous Villa Savoye

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS; "Australian Research Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders ") is an independent state authority under the jurisdiction of the Australian Federal Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Department of Innovation, Industry , Science and Research, DIISR) . It is the premier Australian institution for information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and way of life. Its location is the Acton Peninsula in Canberra .

The institute began its activity in 1961 as the "Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies" (AIAS). In 1964 the AIAS was given a legal basis, and in 1989 it was expanded to become AIATSIS.

The back of the building was marked as a black copy of Le Corbusier 's Villa Savoye (Poissy, France) from the 1920s.

Publications

• The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. Canberra 1994. ISBN 0-85575-234-3

Web links

• AIATSIS website
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1964-1990)

Individual evidence

1. ^ 'The National Museum of Australia as Danse Macabre' in Healy, C & Witcomb, A (eds), South Pacific Museums: Experiments in Culture, Monash University ePress, Victoria, 2006, p198