Absolutely! We encourage contributions from the community. If you have relevant materials or suggestions, please click the ‘Feedback’ icon (‘blue hand’) on the website pages, or contact us. Check out our “Get Involved” section to learn how you can contribute to the growth of the collection.

We value your input! If you have comments, suggestions, or ideas for improvement, please reach out to us using the ‘Feedback’ icon (‘blue hand’) on the website pages, or contact us. Your feedback is crucial in making Deaf History Collections a dynamic and enriching resource.

Deaf History Collections is a growing platform, and we aim to regularly update the content. The frequency of updates depends on the contributions we receive from the community. Check back periodically to explore new additions to the collection or sign up for our newsletters at the bottom of the page. We will be sending out updates bi-monthly.

Every effort has been made to ensure accurate attribution and content, but if we have made a mistake then we want to know about it.

You can make a request for us to update or even take down materials from the website if you have a reason to believe they are incorrect, in breach of copyright, in breach of privacy, if you have previously given consent and wish to withdraw it, or if you have concerns relating to anyone’s safety because of the materials being on our website.

You can make a request by contacting us through this website or emailing hello@deafhistorycollections.com.au.

When we receive your request we will make every effort to investigate, make a decision and inform you of the decision within 10 business days.

Please note that even if we remove or change materials on the website we are not able to control any downloads that people may have made before the materials were removed or changed.

We aim to include material on the website from as early as possible in Australian history, up until 1990-1995.

The artefacts we include are almost all Australian. We also include some items from other countries, if they are relevant to Australian stories.

When we reproduce historical records, we follow their original usage of deaf/Deaf.

In our own text, we follow more contemporary Deaf Studies conventions of using lower-case ‘d’ for all references to deaf individuals. We use the upper-case ‘D’ only for entities such as ‘Deaf community’, ‘Deaf culture’ and similar terms.

Many terms/words have been used to describe deaf and hard of hearing people throughout history. Some terms which were acceptable in particular time periods are now considered out-dated and (sometimes) offensive.

When we reproduce historical records, we include their original terminology, so you will see outdated terms such as ‘deaf and dumb’, ‘deaf-mute’, ‘hearing impaired’, and others – these reflect common usage of those times.

In our own text, we use the terms ‘deaf’ and ‘hard of hearing’.

No, we don’t collect or store physical materials (actual papers, photos or films). Everything on Deaf History Collections must be digital.

If you have old materials to share with us, contact us to tell us what you have, and we will discuss the next steps with you.

Yes! We have “stories” – these are collections of related items, with Auslan videos to explain the background. Here are some examples: 

• Collectors
• Samuel Showell
• The Deaf Writers’ Group
• Deaf Jurors
• Deaf Performance
• John Carmichael
• 1909 Deaf Leaders Series
• Daisy Muir

You can see these and more on the stories page here.