Teachers are acutely aware of the importance of historical awareness for their students. The role that institutions such as the National Archives of Australia has in the protection of this consciousness is critical to its survival. As demonstrated by the artefacts shown in this exhibit, without access to places such as this, along with museums, websites, text books and films, awareness of history would be virtually non-existent. History supports our existence, if only we think to look, and students need to be able relate the past to the present (Seixas, 2006). Yet the construction of historical awareness seems to be placed mainly in the hands of institutions such as these.
