Overview
Under the Australian Archives Act 1983 most Commonwealth records are opened to public scrutiny after twenty years (this was reduced from thirty years in 2010). But the Act also defines ‘exempt’ records that can be withheld from the public for a variety of reasons, including the defence of national security, and the protection of individual privacy. Access under the Act is not an inevitable destination, but a process that may result in records with the access status of ‘closed’.
Here you can explore these closed files. Why can't we look at them? How old are they? What are we really being protected against?
14370
closed files
on 1 January 2016
28
reasons
why these files have been closed
58
years
is the average age of these files
based on their date of their earliest content
1128
series
contain closed files
BE WARNED! This is a work in progress. It's part of an ongoing research project by Tim Sherratt (@wragge). As a result, this interface is likely to change. That said, pretty much everything should work, so feel free to poke around and see what you can find. Have fun!
Here's some examples…
Series |
Control Symbol |
Title |
Contents dates |
A4531 |
201/2/1NVN PART 2 |
Saigon - North Vietnam - political general |
13 Dec 1968 - 30 Aug 1969 |
PP889/1 |
MKM33610 |
PYKE, Donald - Service Number - WX32092, A5549 |
1941 - 1984 |
A6122 |
973 |
Communist Party of Australia. Western Australia, Bunbury |
1949 - 1958 |
PP946/1 |
HSR39698 |
CORNELL, Francis William Charles - Service Number - W244363, 5871 |
1980 - 1980 |
A3269 |
Q7/E |
Industrial Demolitions Handbook Volume 2, April 1944 |
1944 - 1944 |
F1 |
1967/1663 |
Juveniles committed to gaols - Northern Territory |
1963 - 1968 |
A437 |
1947/6/8 |
Peper, Hermann Gustav Christoph - Alien control |
1946 - 1947 |
SP11/7 |
BUNDLE 3 |
Suspects List |
04 Dec 1946 - 30 Jan 1948 |
A432 |
1962/3115 |
Papua and New Guinea - Fixing of Border with West New Guinea |
01 Jan 1800 - 01 Jan 1800 |
D3185 |
160 |
Torrens Island Quarantine Station photograph 160 - [portion of title exempt] onset 6 March 1926 - unrecognised till inspection at anchorage 10 April 1926 |
1926 - 1926 |
A7322 |
21 |
General administrative files - Defence Sub-Committee - Unnumbered submissions - Defence infrastructure |
Aug 1978 - Aug 1978 |
A8742 |
1978/493 |
Information supplied to the Minister on entitlement submissions to determining authorities |
1976 - 1976 |
K60 |
HKM33670 |
THOMPSON, Allan Drysdale - Service Number - 5/40015 |
1954 - 1987 |
A518 |
852/1/213 |
New Guinea - Selwood, L G - Draftsman [0.5cm] |
1926 - 1939 |
A1928 |
1181/22/1 SECTION 2 |
War Radioactive Isolopes and Elements of use in Medical Treatment and in Physiology Section 2 |
01 Jan 1800 - 01 Jan 1800 |
A13147 |
NSR 323 |
National Security Act Regulations & Ordinances - National Security (Man Power) Regulations. Order under Regulation 5 |
06 Feb 1942 - 28 May 1942 |
PP878/1 |
MKM33413 |
WATKINS, William Evan - Service Number - 5/278, W54178, WX41846 |
1943 - 1972 |
SP236/3 |
264/3/1 |
Specialised Classes Correspondence Training General |
1944 - 1947 |
A6122 |
1987 |
Spoiling Operations Australia - Media O [2pp] |
1967 - 1967 |
A1838 |
3107/40/51/2 PART 1 |
China - Relations with Hong Kong |
1973 - 1978 |