KEEPING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
alrc review of the australian archives
them have survived. The Romans
also contributed the word 'record',
which comes from the Latin
Human beings have always sought 'recordare' meaning literally 'to
to preserve information about them­ give back to the heart'. After the
selves and their activities, not only
collapse of the ancient civilisations,
to explain and protect the structures written record keeping in Europe
of the societies in which they live
largely ceased as literacy declined
but also to give meaning to their
and society fragmented. It was not
own lives. Much of this information until the later Middle Ages that
was, and still is, transmitted orally, increasing literacy, prosperity and
with a variety of packaging techni­ political stability revived the
ques (for example song, rhyme and keeping of substantial written
ritual) to overcome the frailty and
records, initially mainly by
subjectivity of the human memory. governments and the church for
financial and legal purposes.
However even the earliest societies
found a need for some more
The invention of printing in the
permanent and reliable recording
fifteenth century further stimulated
medium, progressing from cave
record keeping and this led in turn
paintings to clay tablets, papyrus
to the establishment of repositories
sheets and materials derived from
where records could be held on a
animal skins. The Chinese
long term basis rather than be
perfected paper in the second
subject to the whim of individual
century BC, although it was not
monarchs. Royal archives were
commonly used in Europe until the established in Spain in 1543, France
fourteenth century AD.
in 1560 and Denmark in 1665,
while the Vatican established an
Equally important to the develop­
archives in 1612.
ment of recording materials was the
development of symbols and scripts The French Revolution introduced
to convey the meaning of what was the modem concept of archives
to be recorded. The Sumerians in
being managed for the benefit of all
southern Mesopotamia were using
citizens and not just for the
cuneiform markings on clay tablets purposes of government. The
by the fourth millennium BC and
French Archives Nationales were
written records were also used in
established in 1794 with jurisdiction
the Egyptian and Persian empires.
over the records of the national
The records documented a wide
government, provinces, communes,
range of financial, administrative,
churches, hospitals and universities.
property, genealogical and
The archives w^ere legally open to
religious matters and both the
all citizens. Napoleon sought to
Egyptian and Persian empires
transfer the records of territories he
maintained repositories of records.
captured to Paris, but his vision of a
continental archives fell with him.
The Greeks and Romans used
However national archives were
written records extensively in their established in many countries
administration, although few of
during the nineteenth century.
Origins of archives
On 15 August 1996 the
Australian Law Reform
Commission was asked to
review the Archives Act
1983 (Cth). The
Commission has been
asked to identify the
basic purposes and
principles of national
archival legislation and
whether these are
achieved under the
present Act. In this
article Dr Jim Stokes
outlines the history of the
Archives Act and
explains why a review is
taking place.
Dr Jim Stokes is a senior
officer of the Australian
Archives who has been
seconded to the ALRC for
18 months as Team Leader for
the Archives reference.
Page 46
Reform No 70
Keeping the records straight [
In England the Public Record Act
of 1838 required the Master of the
Rolls to bring together in a single
location legal records to which the
public had a right of access. The
Public Record Office in Chancery
Lane was opened in 1855 and
gradually also became a repository
for the administrative records of
government, although there was
no right of public access to them.
In the United States the need for an
archives of federal government
records was virtually ignored for a
century and a half after the
Declaration of Independence.
Construction of a national archives
building in Washington was
authorised in 1926. It was
completed in 1934 and in the same
year a National Archives Act
established the position of National
Archivist with responsibility for
and powers over legislative, execut­
ive and judicial records. The huge
growth of records during the
Second World War led to the
passage of a Federal Records Act in
1950 wTiich authorised the National
Archives to survey government
records, investigate their
management and disposal practices
and establish federal records
centres for the intermediate storage
of government records.
The role given to the US National
Archives in the disposal and
secondary storage of relatively
recent records also influenced the
development of the Archives
Division of the National Library of
Australia, the predecessor of the
Australian Archives.
Development of
Australia's archives
Since European settlement in 1788,
Australia has always depended
heavily on written records. This
reflects the fact that the
development of the Australian
colonies was essentially a
bureaucratic project and that most
Reform No 70
directives in the early years came
from ministers and officials on the
other side of the world.
The convict system and the gradual
subdivision of the country into
freehold and leasehold properties
also generated large volumes of
records. Some valuable records
were lost over the years, but many
survived and eventually passed to
the care of the public library
systems and then to separate
archival institutions operated by the
State and Northern Territory
governments.
In 1901, the Commonwealth
government inherited some
substantial functions and associated
records (for example those relating
to the defence, postal and customs
services) from the colonial
governments, but in its early years
the Commonwealth did not
generate records on a very large
scale. This situation changed as the
Common wealth took on more
functions, particularly during and
after the Second World War. As the
volume of records grew so did the
need for appropriate storage space
and also for clear directions on
which records should be retained
and which could be destroyed.
In 1942 the National Library and
the Australian War Memorial
became the joint Commonwealth
archival authorities. The Archives
Division of the National Library
became the sole archival authority
in 1952, although the War
Memorial continued to hold
operational records of the fighting
services. The Archives Division
separated from the National Library
to become the Commonwealth
Archives Office in 1961 and the
Australian Archives in 1974.
In June 1996 the
Australian Archives
held 217 shelf
kilometres of
records of perman­
ent value, 163 shelf
kilometres of
records of tempor­
ary value, 63 shelf
kilometres of
records awaiting
sentencing or the
completion of
disposal authorities
and 2 shelf
kilometres of
records of unknown
value.
For many years Commonwealth
archival policy was based on
administrative decisions, the most
significant of which (for example
the introduction of the 30 year
public access rule in 1970) were
Page 47
Keeping the records straight
made by Cabinet. Drafting of
Commonwealth archival legis­
lation commenced in 1974 as
part of the administrative law
package, but it was not until
1984 that the Archives Act
became operational.
The Archives Act establishes the
Australian Archives as an institu­
tion within the departmental
structure rather than an indepen­
dent statutory authority. It gives
the Archives a central role in the
storage, disposal and accessibil­
ity of Commonwealth records,
although the creation and
management of current records
has remained a matter for indivi­
dual departments.
The public access and appeal
provisions are generally similar
to those contained in the
Freedom of Information Act, but
in recognition of the fact that
they apply only to records more
than 30 years old they have
fewer exemption categories, no
unreasonable workload test and
no schedules of exempt agencies.
All access applications under the
Archives Act are directed to the
Archives, regardless of whether
the records sought are held by
the Archives or by the agency
which created them.
The Archives Act has never
undergone a general review. In
contrast, the Freedom of
Information Act has been
reviewed twice. However the
public access provisions of the
Archives Act as they applied to
the records of the Australian
Security Intelligence Organi­
zation were reviewed by the
Parliamentary Joint Committee
on ASIO in 1990-91. Reviews of
some other legislation and organ­
isations have also suggested
changes to the Archives Act.
Page 48
| Technological
developments
The ALRC Review will examine
all aspects of the Act's operation
over the past 12 years and
consider in particular the effect
on archival records of funda­
mental changes in technology
and administrative structures.
The present legislation was
drafted when paper was still the
predominant medium for
recording the operations of
government. Since then,
electronic record keeping
technologies have developed
rapidly and much of the record
keeping associated with routine
administrative functions and
case management is now
electronic. Records from the
areas which generate most
material of enduring archival
value, for example policy files
and the more important case
files, have tended to remain in
paper format, although in some
cases their completeness has
been compromised by the use of
electronic mail systems not
linked to effective record
keeping systems. In time these
files are likely to move to
electronic systems as well.
Electronic records raise two
fundamental issues for archives.
Firstly, it is no longer practicable
for policies and standards for
archival records to be devised
and implemented separately
from those for current records.
Unless electronic record keeping
systems take account of archival
objectives at the design stage
important records may not be
created, or they may later
become inaccessible. This means
that a coordinated approach
must be taken at all stages of
records management.
Secondly there is the issue of
how electronic records are to be
stored. Archives cannot become
museums of computer hardware
and software. If electronic
records of enduring value are to
be retained they must either be
transferred to a standard format
accessible by archival
institutions or they must be
maintained by the organisation
which created them. The former
solution raises issues as to
whether the records would lose
some degree of functionality in
the transfer process, while die
latter raises the issue of whether
the originating organisation can
be relied upon to maintain the
records and facilitate public
access to them once they had
ceased to be required for the
organisation's own needs.
| Administrative
changes
In addition to changes in techno­
logy there have also been
changes in the administrative
environment in which the Act
operates. When the Act was
drafted the Australian Archives
was seen as a central service
agency which not only set stand­
ards for the storage, disposal and
accessibility of older records but
was also directly responsible for
much of the service delivery in
these areas.
More recently there has been a
growing trend for the Common­
wealth to outsource many of its
own administrative support
functions. In the archival field
most disposal sentencing and
also the storage of records of
short term value is now under­
taken by the private sector. The
Archives now concentrates on
the storage and servicing of
records of long term value as
Reform No 70
Keeping the records straight [
well as on standard setting and
monitoring for Commonwealth
records generally.
A second consequence of admini­
strative change has been a
complication of the division
between Commonwealth and
privately owned records. In 1995
the Archives Act was amended
to ensure that the records of
government business enterprises
remained subject to the legis­
lation as long as the company
concerned was controlled by the
Commonwealth. However
government business enterprises
are only one aspect of an increas­
ingly complex relationship
between the public and private
sectors. The contracting out and
buying in of government
services and activities on an
There are hidden
treasures in Australia’s
archives as lawyer and
historian Desmond
Manderson discovered
while researching a
history of drug laws.
From an interview in the
Law Institute Journal
(Victoria) November
1993
Reform No 70
increasing scale raises issues as
to an appropriate regulatory
regime for records which may
not be owned by the Common­
wealth but which document
activities for which the Common­
wealth is ultimately responsible.
| Access issues
The review will also pay
particular regard to the access
provisions of the Act. Issues
include whether the present
30 year rule will be retained or
modified, how the exemption
and appeal provisions might be
improved and whether the
existing grounds for exemption
require modification. The review
will also consider the relation­
ship between the Archives,
Freedom of Information and
Privacy Acts, particularly in the
light of the recommendation of
the combined ALRC/Admini­
strative Review Council review
of the Freedom of Information
Act in 1995 that the gap between
the public access coverage of the
Freedom of Information and
Archives Acts should be closed.
The ALRC will publish an Issues
Paper on the Archives Act in
December. The paper will seek
written submissions from
interested parties and will be
followed by country-wide
consultations with stakeholders,
specialists and the general public.
A final report is due by the end of
1997.
I was in a Government archive office, where I spent
many difficult and dreary weeks ploughing through
old files. One afternoon I came across some files from
the 1920s, relating to one of the first arrests for
cocaine-running in Australia. And in this file there
was a reference to the cocaine itself. I turned to the
page, and found they had attached a sort of wallet to
the file. Inside were these little sachets of paper
which I unrolled. And there was this white powder —
cocaine! It was a surreal experience. Suddenly this
was concrete history, it wasn't just paper any more.
Page 49