Closed access

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
A1209 1971/9276 Australian/ Peoples Republic of China (Mainland) relations including recognition 22 Apr 1971 - 10 May 1973
A10500 S13 Protection Against Violence - incident - Hilton Bombing - Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting - 13 February 1978 1977 - 1978
A13141 FOC16A Senate Select Committee on Foreign Ownership and Control of Australian Resources - Final reports 1, 2 & 3 Jun 1972 - Mar 1975
A1838 1652/2/7 PART 4 Terrorism - Armenian Group 1983 - 1984
J1889 BL43895/15 [Report by Sir William Webb on Japanese Atrocities] Lists of Witnesses etc [and evidence taken by Mr Sexton] 1943 - 1943
MP341/1 1936/2402 Wireless Branch - Female Staff 1934 - 1936
A1838 3024/1/1 PART 3 Singapore - Internal - General (race, geography, etc) 1973 - 1974
A3963 S1/15/3 Total Australia Ltd 1975 - 1976
A11960 1915/328 Proposed automatic telephone exchange at Sydney Malvern and Collingwood 1915 - 1915
A432 1929/03334 PART 4 Powers of Attorney: Enquires by USA Consulate 1922 - 1926
A13147 NSR 531 National Security Act Regulations & Ordinances - National Security (Industrial Property) Regulations. Revocation Order No 2038-2397 20 Mar 1946 - 21 Jun 1946
PP681/1 MSR38582 VOLUME 1 CHOYCE, Ian Edwin - Service Number - F5425, 5/3351 1958 - 1983
E765 AW76 [title expunged] ward Toby - ex Georgina Downs 1963 - 1964
A5034 SR1973/2158 PART 7 Senate Select Committee on civil rights of migrants 1974 - 1974
A12987 S44 Senate Select Committee on Medical and Hospital Costs - Submissions No 1 of 3 Bundles Part B - Voluntary Health Insurance Council of Australia Jul 1968 - Sep 1969
PP946/1 HKM33876 VOLUME 2 PIERCE, Colin Graham - Service Number - 5 2208 1977 - 1982
A518 BI118/12 Nauru - Staff - McIntyre, E I 1933 - 1941
A1838 1516/457 PART 1 Protocol - SIDC PAV [Special Inter-Departmental Committee on Protection Against Violence] 1983 - 1983
PP878/1 M19209 JOHNSON, Albert Edward - Service Number - 1956 1915 - 1966
AWM239 161 RAN Medical Officers' Journal: NESTOR (3 February 1941 - 30 June 1942) 1941 - 1942