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
K60 MKM39583 VINCENT, Frank Robert - Service Number - 1/400189 1951 - 1986
F1 1966/1695 Affiliation proceedings under the child welfare ordinance 1966 - 1971
A12389 BB4 The [portion of title exempt] Case - January 1975 1966 - 1975
A705 7/1/2218 Yalgoo [Western Australia] - aerodrome 1952 - 1952
A432 1989/6272 Timor Gap - proposed treaty 1989 - 1989
A703 564/9/184 Exercise COOL BREEZE - Butterworth 1967 - 1969
K283 W15/2 Works - Northam - construction of MQ [5th Military District, Department of Defence, Army] 1969 - 1972
A3978 GIBBONS P J Officers (RAN) personal record - Patrick Joseph Gibbons 1979 - 1979
A703 554/3/52 Security handling accountable non-cryptographic publications 1969 - 1974
A3092 221/12/2/2 PART 3B Recognition of Communist China 02 Jun 1961 - 31 Jul 1961
A1838 3103/10/2 PART 29 Japan - Relations with Australia - Economic 1983 - 1984
A3968 EXHIBIT 243B Shell Australia Limited. Confidential information supplied to the Royal Commission on Petroleum .... 1975 - 1975
CP548/1 246 Meat Diverted for Civilian Consumption by the Controller General of Meat Supplies 1946 - 1948
PP870/1 MSR38040 REYNOLDS Thomas Ernest William - Service Number A52914 1952 - 1964
A1838 3107/38/12/2 PART 7 China - Relations with Australia - Visits by Australians to China - Notable - Officials & Delegations 1974 - 1975
A6122 964 Communist Party of Australia. Victoria, Port Melbourne Branch 1949 - 1958
A6119 276 CHRISTESEN, Clement Byrne - Part 2 1949 - 1954
A2487 1920/3287 [Maintenance of W J T Blackman] 1919 - 1920
A816 25/301/502 Vladimir ZOUHAR [ZOUCHER ZOUCHAR] 1951 - 1951
ST6129/6 WHOLE SERIES [Veteran's Affairs] Personal case files part 'C' (pension administration files) 1939-1945 War Maltese veterans 1981 - 1983