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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | March 1961 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Jurisdiction | Government of Australia |
| Headquarters | Kings Avenue,Parkes,ACT 35°18′18″S149°07′50″E / 35.304877°S 149.130574°E /-35.304877; 149.130574 |
| Employees | 404 (2017–18)[1] |
| Annual budget | A$82.733 million (2018–19)[2] |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executive |
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| Key document |
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| Website | naa.gov.au |
TheNational Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as theCommonwealth Archives Office andAustralian Archives, is anAustralian Government agency that is theofficial repository for all federal government documents. It collects, preserves and provides public access to these documents, as well as other archival material related to Australia that the Archives judge ought to be preserved.[3]
Established under and governed by theArchives Act 1983, the body also has a role in promoting goodinformation management by government agencies. The NAA also develops exhibitions, publishes books and guides to the collection, and delivers educational programs.
AfterWorld War I the Commonwealth National Library (laterNational Library of Australia) was responsible for collecting Australian Government records. The library appointed its first archives officer in 1944.[4]
In March 1961, the Commonwealth Archives Office formally separated from the National Library of Australia and was renamed as the Australian Archives in 1975.[4]
In 1966, Peter Scott of the Commonwealth Archives Office developed theAustralian Series System (aka Commonwealth Records Series System).[5][6] This system represented a change in traditionalarchival theories ofprovenance, and it caters for changes of name and provides a flexible framework to arrange records across the different agencies which share the same organisational content.[7]
TheArchives Act 1983 gave legislative protection to Commonwealth government records for the first time, with the Australian Archives responsible for their preservation.[4]
The agency was renamed the National Archives of Australia in February 1998.[4]
In January 2020, the "Report of the Functional and Efficiency Review of the National Archives of Australia" (the "Tune review") was submitted to the government. It was published by theAttorney-General's Department in March 2021. The review, headed by former senior public servantDavid Tune, had looked at the workings of the NAA, which had been criticised for taking a long time to deliver information. The NAA's lengthy delivery times had been due largely due to its having to wait for advice from other agencies, in particular in respect of sensitive records and those related to national security, before it was able to decide whether todeclassify records and release them. Another issue was the deterioration of many records in storage, leading to potential breaches of Part 5 Section 24 of thePublic Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.[8] Among other recommendations, the report suggested spending A$67.7 million on digitising material most at risk, over a seven-year period.[9][10]
The government responded to the review on 20 August 2021, agreeing to fund the digitisation of at-risk records, and to amendments to theArchives Act 1983 (in consultation with the NAA and relevant departments and agencies), but saying that it would not, at that point in time, implement the proposed Government Information Management Model, in which all governmentrecords management would be centralised into the NAA.[11][12]
Under the Act, the National Archives has two main roles:[13]
The Archives' National Office is inCanberra.
In 1998 the Canberra reading room, galleries and public areas of National Archives moved into aheritage-listed building known as "East Block" in theParliamentary Triangle. The building, one of the national capital's original offices, was built in 1926 beside theProvisional Parliament House. Over the years East Block housed various government departments and served as Canberra's first post office andtelephone exchange.
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On Friday, 9 June 2017 (International Archives Day), the National Archives of Australia officially opened the new, purpose-built National Archives Preservation Facility in Canberra, separate from the National Office which houses the reading room and galleries. The building is 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft), and added storage for more than 100 km (62 mi) of paper andaudio-visual records.[14] On 21 September 2018, the National Archives Preservation Facility was officially renamed the Peter Durack Building after theHon Peter Durack QC, who introduced the bill creating Australia's National Archives in 1983.[15]
In addition to the National Office of Canberra in theAustralian Capital Territory (ACT), the National Archives has offices and reading rooms in the capital city of eachstate and theNorthern Territory:[16]
The National Archives of Australia's collection of 45 million items covers records pertaining to the government of Australia, includingFederation,Governors-General,Prime Ministers,Cabinet andMinisters since 1901.[17]
Although part of the collection is not open to the public for consultation, theArchives Act 1983 establishes a right of public access to the ‘open records’ of the Commonwealth administration, i.e. records that are 20 years old or more. The Act also allows certain categories of researchers special access to Commonwealth records that are not available to the public.[18]
Cabinet notebooks have a longer closed period, gradually decreasing from 50 to 30 years by 2021. Access to items of cultural sensitivity toIndigenous Australians may also be restricted.
There are several notable collections held by the National Archives of Australia, including:
In 2014, the National Archives of Australia, in partnership withArchives New Zealand, created the digital repositoryDiscovering Anzacs to commemorate the centenary ofWorld War I and each nation's role in the war effort at home and abroad. The repository features the complete and fullydigitised service records of theAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Service records are also displayed geographically on a map of the world to indicate each individual's place of birth, enlistment, death and burial. Users are encouraged to transcribe the official records to improve access and add personal comments, photos and stories to give greater context to each record.[21]
In 2014, the National Archives of Australia announced itsReconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to foster better relations with itsIndigenous population, theAboriginal andTorres Strait Islander peoples. The RAP is a multifaceted approach to drawing attention to the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, engaging and illustrating their culture respectfully, and providing improved access to their historical records. A main feature of this initiative is theBringing Them Home name index, which leverages the National Archives' collection of records to facilitategenealogical research for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The National Archives also seeks to have 3 percent of their workforce as Indigenous.[22][23]
On 27 October 2015, the National Archives of Australia announced its Digital Continuity 2020 program to modernise the information management practices of the government for the digital age. The policies of Digital Continuity 2020 issued by the authority of the National Archives apply to the whole of the Australian Government and seek to improve efficiency and access of all services.[24]
"Deadline 2025" is a collaboration between the National Archives of Australia and theNational Film and Sound Archive to prioritise digitisation of valuable audio-visual media stored onmagnetic tape which may deteriorate to the point of being unusable by 2025.[25]
In March 2021, a review of the National Archives commissioned by the government found that only six per cent of the collection would be able to be digitised by 2025 with the current resource levels, and recommended that the government spendA$67.7 million on a program to digitise the content most at risk of deterioration within the following seven years. The footage includes recordings from theRoyal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,ASIO surveillance, film taken on early AustralianAntarctic research expeditions,[26] recordings ofJohn Curtin's war-time speeches, and tapes of theStolen Generation inquiry. The NAA started afundraising campaign after the government initially failed to commit to funding the project, but in June 2021 announced that the full amount would be provided, in order to digitise the at-risk collection by hiring additional archivists and enhancing itscybersecurity. The pledge of the full amount allows for a faster schedule to digitise the at-risk material, with a completion date of four years away rather than seven.[27]
As ruled in theArchives Act 1983, the National Archives reports to its Minister, theAttorney-General. Like allgovernment agencies, it is accountable to theAustralian Parliament. The National Archives of Australia Advisory Council provides advice to the Minister responsible for the Archives and the Director-General.
