Keeping the archives above water: preserving regional heritage in times of accelerated climate change

The critical question of how sustainability and resilience can inform archival practice in regional communities is motivated by the experience of flooding in Lismore, Australia, which exposed the vulnerability of local archives to the effects of climate change and the limitations of local infrastructure. Regional historical societies and community organisations serve as a repository for the history of particular communities, preserving records, artefacts and other materials that document the unique stories and experiences of that place. Collections are independently curated and generally run by volunteers but poorly resourced with insufficient space. They are more likely to be subject to extreme weather events that disproportionately impact regional Australia compared to its cities. Regional collections fall outside national strategies for sustainability, digitisation or investment. Without urgent attention to the fate of regional archives, local heritage is under threat, and with it, an understanding of how that history contributes to the national past and the connection to place and community. This paper explores regional archives from the perspective of the local historical records of Lismore, Northern New South Wales, where flooding is a familiar experience that has reached a new intensity in recent years.


Introduction
The importance of local history to community identity, belonging and cohesion has long been recognised, and community archives preserve records and objects that document the unique histories and experiences of places to bring to light stories that matter to those communities.Regional collections, however, are often independently curated and resourced from within and to serve their communities and lie outside national strategies for sustainability, digitisation or investment.The impact of climate change both challenges the sustainability of historical records for future generations and adds weight to their value for the insights they hold on to our changing relationship with the environment and the impact of climate events.Without urgent attention to the fate of regional archives, local heritage is under threat, and with it, an understanding of how that history contributes to the national past and the connection to place and community.Preserving these records and making them accessible and visible will require public investment and a reappraisal of the significance of regional archives.This paper explores regional archives from the perspective of the local historical records of Lismore, Northern New South Wales (NSW), where flooding is a familiar experience that has reached a new intensity in recent years (Fig. 1).
Floods have been a constant feature of Northern New South Wales, and the residents of Lismore, which is built on a floodplain, have much experience managing flooding.There have been twenty-six major floods in the last century.It is easier to imagine this threat when you see the rivers and creeks that converge in the flood basin of Lismore, which was built there in the first place, as the records reveal, precisely for the waterways (Fig. 2).The flooding that transpired in 2022 was beyond people's expectations.On the 28th of February, the Wilsons River peaked at a record-high level of 14.4 m, overtopping the levee (10.6 m) and exceeding the previous record flood level (12.27 m in 1954) by over 2 m.One month later, the levee was topped again, reaching the height of the one-in-a-hundred-year flood experienced only five years before.These events exposed the vulnerability of local archives to the effects of climate change and the limitations of local infrastructure.This research was prompted by the critical question of how sustainability and resilience can inform archival practice (Tansey 2015) with a focus on regional holdings.The paper is also an effort to open a conversation between the disciplines of the two authors-humanities and information studies-and to abandon the conventions that hold us apart, thus allowing us to focus on the region and its heritage.
The experience of the 2022 floods brought the climate crisis into stark relief.Southern Cross University, where we both work, was initially an evacuation centre and now, 18 months later, hosts three schools and the local TAFE (Technical and Further Education College).As residents of the Northern Rivers and active members of the community, we have a commitment to the region, the community defined by our locality, as well as the organisations that share our interest in records and history-the local library and historical society-whose buildings were flooded and remain unoccupied.Community archives also exist outside heritage organisations, defined by common interest or culture.The Lismore branch of the Country Women's Association, facing its centenary in 2024, lost all its records in the floods.Tropical Fruits, which hosts the largest LQBTQI + event in the country outside of Sydney's Mardi Gras, had established an archive but lost everything when their clubhouse flooded.Other records are dispersed throughout the region; both the North-East Forest Alliance records and the Aquarius Archive are threatened by climatic factors that will accelerate under climate change, neither centrally located nor well represented in formal archives.Community is therefore used throughout the paper in its most expansive form-encompassing geography, culture and common interest (Flinn 2007).Local refers more specifically to a particular area, like Lismore, and regional to the parts of Australia outside the major metropolitan areas.In response to our local experience, in a commitment to the multiple communities we belong to, we hope to add our voices to the case for regional archives.The archives in question originated in the local area, and their collection, maintenance and use primarily involve the active participation of community members.

Overview: archives in Australia
Archives can be viewed quite differently through the lens of our disciplines (Cook 2011).For our purposes, we are casting the net widely to suit our place.By archives, we mean a collection of records, material and digital, even as that might be out of reach for now.We also use the term to refer to the places where they are preserved and the organisations that look after them.In the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, that includes local historical societies and museums, local libraries and the regional university, Southern Cross.
The National and State Archives play a critical role in preserving Australia's national heritage and history.Digitisation has expanded online access for people living in regional, rural and remote areas.New South Wales has a network of Regional Archives Centres established from 1963 that provide access to State archives of regional significance.The centres receive no ongoing funding, although some support is provided by Museums of History NSW, which manages the State Archives Collection.Don Boadle (1995) has contrasted the regional repositories in New South Wales with archival networks in the United States, which grew considerably from the same period.The Centres cover six of the state's ten regions.The closest centre to Lismore is the University of New England (UNE) Archives and Heritage Centre, about four hours away by car.It is currently closed to the public for a workplace health and safety review, which has identified several works needed to complete before the building can be reopened (University of New England 2023).While the UNE Archives and Heritage Centre includes some records from the Northern Rivers required to be kept by NSW State legislation, this does not extend to the rich cultural heritage and voices of everyday people that may represent more closely the diversity of the community and reflect their own interests and needs.It also does not

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Archival Science (2023) 23:609-627 currently hold environmental documents about the catchment, flooding, flood mitigation measures or resident's records of these.
The State Records Authority in Sydney holds historical sets of records transferred from metropolitan and regional Local Government authorities throughout the State.The establishment of the Museums of History NSW (2023) brings together the historic houses, museums and collections that were part of Sydney Living Museums with the archives and records of the NSW State Archives Collection.This has the potential to expand the commitment to buildings, sites and objects outside Sydney and increase public access and community engagement, although concerns have been raised about the integrity of public records transferred from the State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales to Museums of History NSW (Morris 2022).The arrangements do not come into effect until 1 January 2024.While the public sector has a firm statutory framework, Australian archives can be described as decentralised and local heritage is not the driving force of state collections and management.Moreover, "The financial gulf between large and small organisations means that the provision of services is uneven.While state libraries have access to private sponsorship and public funding, local historical societies often rely on a handful of devoted volunteers to find, catalogue and make archives available.This limits their capacity to maintain an effective local memory: many collections have omissions or redundancies.And they are unlikely to be held in the airconditioned humidity-controlled buildings that protect archives" (Australian Society of Archivists 2007, p 19).
Community archives, often created in response to the absence of records in public institutions, are managing records not required to be kept through legislation or focussed on public office.This includes over 3000 community museums and 1000 historical societies across Australia (Gibbons 2020), with varying levels of involvement with professional archivists and funding bodies.
The National Archives of Australia faces its own challenges.The Functional and Efficiency Review of the National Archives in Australia (Tune 2020) was partly motivated by recognition of the urgent need to save collections at risk of loss and included recommendations to invest more resources in digital capability and solutions.Following years of neglect, the Federal government accepted the recommendation to inject 67.7 million dollars in funding to save almost 300 000 pieces of Australian history to accelerate a program to digitise at-risk documents and respond to the backlog of applications to access Commonwealth records (Tune 2020).
The archival study's tradition placed emphasis on government records, and the role of public access plays in accountability.This has expanded to include community memories, personal manuscripts and records that document cultural and social change.However, the resources to manage such collections (training, staffing, adequate storage) are not allocated evenly, nor are they rising in proportion to growth or costs.Even as the interest in social history has grown, the "archive traces 'of the ordinary citizen'", as Flinn puts it (2007, p 160), are relatively scarce in formal archives.The voices of people's own communities, speaking to them, are less likely to be heard if you live outside a metropolitan area.

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University archives sit in a unique space within the context of the Australian archives landscape, with many serving a dual purpose.Archives are collected and maintained as the historical memory of an institution.Others also act as archives for their local community, collecting items relevant to a particular geographic area, such as the Hunter Living Histories archive at the University of Newcastle, or a distinct population, such as the Dardalis Archives of the Hellenic Diaspora at La Trobe University.More than half of Australia's 41 universities appear to have a dedicated archive, based on a review of university websites.However, there has not been a substantial survey of Australian university archives since Allen (1988) and Boadle (1999), who both reported a lack of consistency in Australian universities' approaches to managing archives, with differing functions and strategic alignment, diverse organisational arrangements and inconsistent funding across institutions.This situation does not appear to have changed in the subsequent decades.
Politics also shape cultural heritage practice in Australia.As Pagliarino and Meredith (2020, p 4) remind us, "the advancement of arts and culture through government policy-making has been slow, fragmentary and subject to factional influence".Creative Nation, Australia's first cultural policy, was released in 1994.It promised an additional $250 million in funding for cultural institutions and included a conservation and preservation policy.Preserving Australia's heritage was one of the roles identified for the Commonwealth in Australian cultural development.It was another twenty years before a new national cultural policy was released, Creative Australia, delivered by the Labour government in 2013, then shelved four years later by the succeeding Coalition government who relegated the Arts to a new portfolio: the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.In 2023, the Labour government released its new national cultural policy-Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place (Office for the Arts 2023) and the NSW government is currently engaged in a consultation process in alignment to introduce the state's first Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy.Importantly, the Revive policy places the recognition and respect of the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia's arts and culture.More First Nations people live in regional and remote areas than in cities, which is the opposite for non-Indigenous Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022).The policy includes a commitment to infrastructure and public access.There appears to be greater emphasis on lending national collections to regional institutions rather than a focus on capital cities as storage and access destinations.However, there is acknowledgement that "investment in skills development and in digital and cultural infrastructure will increase participation in the arts and culture, support the growth of regional arts organisations, stimulate tourism and provide employment opportunities for the one-third of Australians living in our regions" (Office for the Arts 2023).This commitment is reflected in more funding promised for regional arts, but there is not sufficient attention to heritage.Climate change is ignored entirely.As Strong and Green (2023) have asked, "Climate change is transforming Australia's cultural life-so why isn't it mentioned in the new national cultural policy"?.

Archives and climate change
It is well understood that climate change significantly impacts natural heritage, together with inadequate resourcing for natural heritage protection and management.Tansey (2015) reminds us that climate change is one of the greatest contemporary threats to archival repositories and the records in their custody.Calling for "A Green New Deal for Archivists", Tansey (2023, p 24) identified three foundational priorities for the US that also resonate in Australia: 1. Increase permanent staffing for archives that steward vital public records.2. Create a nationwide plan for collection continuity and emergency response.3. Develop climate change documentation projects organized by watersheds.
The Commonwealth report Australia: state of the environment 2021 (Cresswell, Janke, Johnson 2021) includes a discussion of cultural and historical heritage, identifying inadequate government resourcing for conservation and management and extreme weather events as key pressures.
"Most types of Australian historical heritage are at risk from natural processes, including climatic factors, that contribute directly to the gradual decay of heritage sites and places.For example, rain, combined with warm temperatures or a generally damp environment, can promote rot, corrosion and other disintegration, and prolonged exposure to wind can cause abrasion.Natural processes can also act to break, erode or bury heritage" (McConnell et al. 2021).
Climate change is expected to accelerate the impacts of these natural processes, and extreme events such as cyclones, floods and fires will have new impacts.The ICOMOS Climate Change and Cultural Heritage Working Group (2019) explain that climate change-increasing temperatures, precipitation, humidity and air pollution-will cause the degradation of collections and archives.Increased water vapour content in the air leading to changes in humidity and temperature will increase the risk of mould and damage to archival, paper, book and photograph collections.Intense rainfall events and flooding can potentially destroy collections and damage the buildings that house them (Fig. 3).

The need for local archives
Floods were so common in Lismore, Graham Irvine explains (2004), that local school children described them as "going to Venice".
Local historical research collections serve as a repository for the history of the community, preserving records and artefacts that document that place's unique stories and experiences.This allows current and future generations to learn about and understand their local history, fostering a sense of connection to place and community.Regional collections also contain rich resources for understanding the breadth and diversity of the country's cultural heritage and changes to the natural environment and our responses to this.
The educational resources provided by local historical societies promote historical knowledge and understanding more broadly.This can foster the development of critical thinking and historical literacy among community members.Although community heritage organisations play a crucial role in strengthening rural and regional communities, they are largely discounted and marginalised in heritage and museum studies (Baker and Cantillon 2020).The Richmond River Historical Society, as with many others, also operate a museum.It plays a role in promoting heritage tourism, attracting visitors to Lismore and generating economic benefits that can contribute to community development.As the History Councils of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia put it in their statement on the value of history, "The study of the past and telling its stories are critical to our sense of belonging, to our communities and to our shared future.History shapes our identities, engages us as citizens, creates inclusive communities, is part of our economic well-being, teaches us to think critically and creatively, inspires leaders and is the foundation of our future generations" (History Council of NSW 2021).
Local museums and archives play an important role in fostering a sense of place and belonging that supports well-being and a care ethic, and a role in recovery in their contribution to understanding the local environment.Regional holdings, like that of the Richmond River Historical Society, are both threatened by the escalation of climate events and help us to understand them.The UNESCO (2015) Recommendation concerning the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections, their Diversity and their Role in Society, asserted the great potential of museums to "raise public awareness of the value of cultural and natural heritage and of the responsibility of all citizens to contribute to their care and transmission".The Recommendation highlighted the importance of protecting and promoting museums and collections as "partners in sustainable development".A new working group on sustainability was established by the International Council of Museums in 2018 to support its members and member museums in upholding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and towards climate change adaptations and mitigations.
" [Museums] are uniquely placed to facilitate collective action by building networks, raising public awareness, and supporting research and knowledge creation.They can enhance sustainability and climate change education by working with and empowering communities to bring about change to ensure a habitable planet, social justice and equitable economic exchanges for the long term" (International Council of Museums 2018).
Nevertheless, there are very few studies available on archives and climate change, and none on the specific subject of regional Australian archives, despite the contribution they make to the SDGs and the need in terms of risk, for climate change adaptations.Tansey (2015) argues that archival repositories in geographically vulnerable areas must adapt and implement intermediate and long-term practices that build sustainability and resilience.Financial, human, physical, skills and expertise challenges threaten the sustainability of repositories in regional areas, despite their importance (Baker and Cantillon 2020, p 74).

Lismore in flood
Everyone knew it would flood, but no one knew the scale of the disaster in February 2022 and how different it would be from earlier experiences.Organisations and individuals followed their flood plan to move items to higher storage if available.The flood waters in February 2022 did not reach the first floor of the old Council Chambers that houses the Richmond River Historical Society archives and museum collection, stopping about 30 cm below the top floor.Not far from the Museum, the Richmond Tweed Library removed 29,000 sodden, trashed books from its collection, but thankfully not their local archives housed on the second floor.After the 2017 flood, the library had wheels fixed to all their shelving units on the ground floor to move these shelves to the next floors in the event of another flood emergency, but the water went higher than the shelves on the first floor and everything there was lost (Gleeson 2023).
The ground floor of the Lismore Museum also flooded.This floor was not open for public access but mainly used as the only storage available.When the waters receded and it was safe to return to the building, many items could be cleaned.Some books and documents were interleaved with paper towel to absorb the moisture, and all of these were moved upstairs.The rain continued throughout the following month, and another flood breached the levee wall.Mould spores began to thrive.Floating in the moist and warm air, the spores landed on damp surfaces; wood and glass objects, pianos, paintings, books and some of the precious holdings in the Bundjalung Room Elders had entrusted to the Society.Throughout this clean-up process, the building had no power for dehumidifiers or other tools.
By May, the plan was still to move back in, rethinking the arrangement of materials and open back up.Then, according to volunteer Maxine Darnell (2022) everything changed: "Engineers and hygienists came through and locked the building down and us out of the building as a strip out and decontamination was required.As to what was going to happen to the museum, and how and when it would happen became a bit of a moving feast.It eventually settled down to where everything had to be removed from the museum, individually cleaned and then packed into containers for safe-keeping until the building had been remediated".
Lead paint had been exposed in the pressure cleaning, and mould had colonised the building and contents.Work Health and Safety training, protective clothing, respirator masks, hard hats and gumboots were required to continue.A smoking ceremony was held with Bundjalung Elders before the removal of Aboriginal materials to be stored safely off-site.A review of the Aboriginal collection has been initiated to identify items that could be returned to Country.Care Agreements for the collection are being developed.Brett Adlington, Chief Executive Officer at Museums and Galleries NSW secured a grant to hire a professional Museum Advisor who provided crucial support to save the rich heritage spared from the flood waters.
Training and staffing resources are essential to managing any archive, but the proximity of archival collections to climate risk and the physical condition of materials also raises the urgency and costs (Clark 2012).More research is needed on the adaptations of archival repositories to climate change, including digitisation programs, but options for relocation and training are crucial.The Richmond River Historical Society has no paid staff.Volunteers carry out the work in a historic building about 100 m from the levee.The Lismore City Library has opened a pop-up shop in the Central Business District, and work on the permanent site is ongoing.Moving out of the floodplain may be a longer-term and expensive option.However, capacity building and funding are also closely connected to public awareness, public participation and access to information.
The loss of historical artefacts also impacts individuals and families that are important to the heritage and cultural identity of regional communities.As Jennifer Gall, a curator from the National Film and Sound Archives who grew up in Lismore, explained, "It's a well-documented fact that in the initial cleanout, people throw out everything without sorting-the enormity of the damage is too momentous to cope with.Then people wake up in a month's time and realise that they threw out their entire family history, or their valuable historic shop stock and regret this…This loss of identity and personal treasures is doubly devastating after losing a house and other important possessions" (Cited in Visontay 2022).
These records of ordinary people and their histories are important to understanding the region.Although they are precious to them, people may not 1 3 Archival Science (2023) 23:609-627 understand such records as worthy of being archived, an issue itself that demands further investigation.The lack of funding for regional archives may suggest this opinion is widespread and their value is not well recognised.Professional advice was shared about how to salvage flood-damaged items, and resources are available online on dealing with floods for individuals and collections, such as the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material (2022), which also provides small grants for conservators working with small public collections.
Like much of what happened on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the floods, local people provided volunteer support where possible, particularly in the absence of conservators available in private practice-although it is questionable whether people and organisations dealing with flood recovery could have afforded to pay for professional help if it had been available..

Opportunities for the future
The floods in Lismore demonstrated the vulnerability of our local archives and the urgent need for records and information.No central repository exists for records, reports, surveys and historical material related to the river and its catchment.Some significant work may have already disappeared (for example, earlier flood inquiries, the complete documents for the Lismore Levee Environmental Impact Statement, and a range of important other "grey" literature) or is available only on-site in Sydney 800 km away.The catchment covers five different local government areas.Relevant policies, agencies, roles and responsibilities are divided between Commonwealth, Local and State governments and the majority of the central and southern areas of the catchment are in private ownership, while the northern part of the catchment has a large area of Crown land and national parks.Typically, these organisations do not collaborate or share their resources.This leads to data and research gaps, different conclusions and diverging recommendations.
In partnership with Richmond Riverkeeper, which emerged from the need to address the poor state of the catchment and give the River a voice, Southern Cross University provided seed funding for the creation of an online open-access repository for materials related to the River in the aftermath of the flood as part of a small internal grants scheme focussed on recovery.We employed an archivist consultant from Sydney to work with us on the first stages of establishing the repository, which also highlights the need for more regional expertise.We also used the opportunity to extend training about digitisation and collection management to local community groups, including the Richmond River Historical Society, the local library and the Rous County Council.Resources on technical standards, metadata, digitisation guidelines, donation processes, enquiry management and recovering flood damaged records were shared.Importantly, we also used the workshops to understand the organizations' own needs and their flood experience, as well as identifying how we might provide access to records they already hold.When the online repository is opened it needs to be accessible to researchers, government agencies, historians, local organisations and individuals seeking to understand how to manage the catchment and restore its health.It also needs to provide research data that has been collected to inform previous reports and studies.The diverse and complex, historical and scientific records of the catchment are assets that should be protected.They are an important resource to strengthen climate adaptation.In a survey of UK archivists, Robinson (2021) found that information professionals can aid climate action through their duty to provide access to records and that climate action can be supported by ensuring records about climate change are accessible.
Floodplain management similarly requires research and access to informationresearch to determine the nature and extent of the problem, understand flood behaviour and consider social, cultural and ecological factors.Since the devastating floods of 1954, the river system has been the subject of numerous investigations and floodplain management strategies.Oral histories and historical documents provide earlier records.Government reports primarily focus on flood and drainage mitigation structures and forecasting future floods and management strategies.The connection between these and river health and riparian zones, river use and its value to people and flood recovery could be strengthened by bringing all this into one central repository.The Richmond River Open Access Repository now has policies, procedures and a webpage ready to launch in 2023.Initiating and deepening our relationships with the stewards of local collections has been accompanied by a growing appreciation of the work of archivists.
Adaptation is a critical response to climate change.We need changes in processes, practices and structures to moderate the potential damage of climate events and build resilience to respond to future flooding.Rising risks from climate change events have focussed attention on the need for the digitisation of archives as a means of preserving historical records.Digital preservation and building controls reflect the recognition of environmental impacts on archives. 1The Richmond River Historical Society is located in an iconic historic building with National Trust Classification, which presents issues in meeting contemporary sustainability standards.However, beyond the contribution of museums and libraries to reducing carbon emissions, rethinking archival practice through a framework of sustainability is more complex.A study of Canadian Archives found that all will be impacted by projected changes in annual mean temperatures and precipitation to the year 2080: "Themes that emerged surrounding climate adaptation strategies include the investment in the design and efficiency of spaces housing records and the importance of resilient buildings, the need for increased training on climate change, engaging senior leadership and administrators on climate change and developing regional strategies.Preparing for and mitigating the impact of climate change on the facilities and holdings needs to become a priority" (Oliver 2021).
A review has yet to be undertaken in Australia, but the themes, particularly for regional archives, are similar.The Climate Council of Australia puts Lismore and surrounding areas at high risk from flooding, bushfires and extreme winds by 1 3 Archival Science (2023) 23:609-627 2100 (Climate Council of Australia 2022).The Council's "Climate trauma: the growing toll of climate change on the mental health of Australians" report found that people in rural and regional areas were significantly more likely to have been affected by flooding at least once since 2019 (61% vs. 38% in cities), and bushfires (49% vs. 36%) (Gergis et al 2023).The resources required to salvage and protect historical materials and care for them into the future, however, are sadly lacking.As the Federal Government is beginning to put resources into building resilience to disasters through the Disaster Ready Fund, more ambitious climate change adaptation strategies are also needed in the heritage sector.
Digitisation provides global access to archives, but their utility is connected to their community, and the work is expensive and entails training.As Sheffield (2018) warns, the digital space is also precarious, and sustainability requires consideration of the platforms on which the work is done.While climate change threatens the records of cultural heritage organisations, it also raises our consciousness of the need for environmentally sustainable digital preservation, which is enabled by ICT components that have a negative environmental impact throughout their lifecycles (Pendergrass et al. 2019).Integrating environmental sustainability in decision-making would require a paradigm shift in appraisal, permanence and availability of digital content.The contemporary literature on sustainability, however, primarily focusses on financial and staffing resources (Pendergrass et al. 2019).
Unlike libraries and art galleries, regional museums and historical societies are generally volunteer-managed and staffed and not located within local government in recognition of the integral part they play in the cultural and economic life of the community.As in the United States, they are also not included in the national digital strategies of government institutions (Caswell et al. 2017).Increasing the sustainability of regional collections will require professional development and recognition, which will harness the potential they have to contribute to the sustainability of the community and its environment.Wishart (2019) has persuasively argued that community-based collecting institutions could use regional libraries as sites for professional development and collegiate support and make use of existing communications technologies without relying on a competitive grant program for all training.It will only be through working together and engaging the community that regional collections will survive.
At the same time, the strength of community-based archives is also their connection to the community, so respect for their authority and autonomy is vital for them to serve the communities they document (Caswell et al. 2017).Some of the principles Caswell (2018) has identified that distinguish community-based archives from mainstream institutions also apply to local historical societies, defined as community through geography, although their purposes are diverse.Caswell's caution that community archives need to reflect the interests and needs of the community applies equally to local historical societies (2014).Maintaining participation and shared stewardship is crucial.As Flinn et al. have argued (2009, p 72), one of the defining characteristics of community archives is the "active participation of a community in documenting and making accessible the history of their particular group and/or locality on their terms".The impact of these activities on archival practice, public history and historical scholarship in Australia demands further analysis (Gibbons 2020).
Regional universities provide sites for professional development and support for other community-based organisations.Southern Cross University, like many regional institutions, has a mission closely tied to our location and the needs and aspirations of the local community.History students need access to primary sources to meet the standards of the discipline, and our history major provides opportunities to undertake local histories and community-based research partnerships.Our research and teaching activities are closely connected with our unique place-based mission, so we have a strong interest in supporting regional archives, extending to active support for regional historical societies through the Far North Coast chapter of the Museums and Galleries Association, memberships and participation on committees.However, humanities, arts and social science education (HASS) has been eroded over the last decade.Cuts to programmes and limitations of offerings in HASS programmes in the regions mean that the unique regional perspectives offered by regionally located university HASS teaching and research programmes are at significant risk.It is vital that we partner with regional cultural and heritage organisations to the benefit of our communities and students.Enabling the mutual sharing of skills, knowledge and expertise to empower regional organisations to address climate change would also be valuable.
Climate adaptation may also include addressing the restrictions and limitations of climate events with viable options for transporting community archives.The National Archives of Australia (2017) provides guidelines for packing and transporting non-digital archival records as part of the National Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Strategy.Standards of transport, storage, packaging, staffing and manual handling conditions, including loading docks, are beyond the reach of most community museums and local infrastructure.For example, The Museum of Vast Exchange is a transportable facility to provide access to contemporary art experiences for audiences not reached by major art institutions (Corridor Project).The concept of a facility that can be moved could also be extended to ensure the safety of collections, which may need to be accessed from the central business district of a town, but not maintained there when it is on a floodplain (albeit at significant cost).
Historical records can assist in the sustainable transition of Lismore in the climate crisis, so we need an adaptation plan to preserve these.The proximity of archival collections to climate risk is high due to floods, fire and increasing humidity.Climate change and sustainability are critical strategic topics around, which we could build programmes that raise awareness.Resourcing regional institutions adequately through staffing, local council involvement, regional universities and professional development will be critical.Rethinking infrastructure to maintain buildings in a more energy-efficient and sustainable manner will be necessary, which could include mobile archives.Funding to encourage risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation to ensure the safety of collections and premises could be coordinated on a regional scale.While an organisation like Museums and Galleries NSW provide crucial support for small to medium galleries, museums and Aboriginal Cultural Centres, a network focused on climate change, including the unique circumstances of regional collections, would enable mutual sharing of skills and knowledge and 1 3 Archival Science (2023) 23:609-627 expertise.Their purpose provides a summary of why it is so crucial for us to preserve regional archives: "The museums, galleries and Aboriginal cultural centres of NSW provide historical, contemporary and future context.They tell stories about their communities and reflect on what they might become.Their programs record history and grow ideas; they generate and support creative processes that contribute to economic, social and health related wellbeing.They help build resilient and sustainable communities" (Museums and Galleries NSW 2023).
The historical trajectory and regional context in which records are collected, preserved, accessed and exposed is diverse, but centralising these records by removing them from the places of their creation and collection, however safe, can also deprive those communities of their heritage and the information they need to adapt to future challenges.The danger of removing community records into an archive organised by institutional and professional practices has been described by Belinda Battley; it separates them from their living community contexts and constructs a barrier between the community and its records (2020).Battley advocates for restoring a place of belonging for accessing records that takes account of "personal relationships, cultural practices, stories, embodied knowledge, repeated events and special places" (2020, p 59). Regional archives must develop trust and engage with community members to receive donations.Their collections may themselves be a record of those relationships and the value they place on particular histories.How institutional and community-based archives might inform each other, diversify knowledge and share, without constraint, new archival practices may contribute to the sustainability of regional archives and keep them above water.

Conclusion
Archives in regions that are geographically vulnerable to the impacts of climate change need to develop long-term strategies to develop resiliency and sustainability.Working together, Southern Cross University staff and the Richmond River Historical Society volunteers aim to build a repository of digital, historical information accessible for research and disaster planning, during and following flooding events.As Gordon-Clark (2012) identified, the need for professionally created, managed and preserved records becomes even more essential to ensuring continuity of operations following a disaster.Through a collaborative venture, we hope to create accessible records about the Richmond River catchment available to the community most affected by the impact of water-related climate change.
The broader issue of climate adaptation is highlighted by this project.Archival documents can be used to understand climate change as well as our history.A significant threat is posed to the preservation of archival materials, which are highly sensitive to environmental conditions but may also be stored in areas subject to extreme weather events.The irreparable loss of cultural heritage, for both community organisations and members, results in a significant loss to our regional history and cultural identity, which also impacts our understanding of the nation's history and our changing environment.The practical challenges that impact national cultural heritage institutions are similar to those faced by regional archival organisations; however, the shortage of financial investment, technology and expertise is significant, and provision of appropriate space is a particular issue.Recognition of the wider societal benefit of regional and community archives may go some way to motivating support to keep them safe and accessible.

Fig. 1
Fig. 1 Richmond River Historical Society and Museum, Lismore NSW 2022.Image courtesy of Richmond River Historical Society.Photo, Brendan Beirne, Media-Mode

Fig. 3
Fig. 3 Floods 1921, Keen Street.Photograph courtesy of the Richmond River Historical Society