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 |
A7326 |
BJ802/1/4 Part 2 |
China - Defence - Policy and General Matters - nuclear tests and weapons |
03 Jun 1980 - 30 Oct 1985 |
A6122 |
906 |
Communist Party of Australia (Western Australia) aggregate meetings |
1949 - 1956 |
P130 |
R8318 |
Pauly Walter Henry |
1919 - 1931 |
B354 |
25 |
Lake Tyers - Hospital record |
1958 - 1962 |
A432 |
1971/2616 |
Bombing of Yugoslav Consulate, Melbourne - 21 October 1970 |
1970 - 1970 |
A1838 |
201/10/1 PART 48 |
South Africa - Relations with Australia |
1978 - 1978 |
A12747 |
3 |
Minutes of proceedings - Sub-committee on human rights - Main Committee |
25 Aug 1977 - 24 May 1979 |
A13014 |
F.1.2 |
Follow-up on Committee Reports - Australian Overseas Representation |
11 Sep 1978 - 22 Nov 1982 |
A1838 |
73/1/1 PART 4 |
Yugoslavia - Foreign Policy - General |
1967 - 1968 |
A13147 |
NSR 457 |
National Security Act Regulations & Ordinances - National Security (General) Regulations. Reg 54 (CY.1-119) |
16 Dec 1941 - 11 Apr 1942 |
A4243 |
36 |
Clements and Marshall Pty Ltd |
1974 - 1976 |
A12812 |
32 |
Inquiry into rehabilitation centre, Camperdown, NSW - Statement of evidence, originating papers, correspondence, unnumbered submissions, briefing papers, final report, tabling details, approval of work |
31 Aug 1972 - 06 Nov 1972 |
A1838 |
739/3 PART 4 |
Australia - Economic - Shipping |
1967 - 1970 |
A1533 |
1959/1623 |
MAHONEY, Colin |
1953 - 1960 |
A12747 |
9 |
Unnumbered exhibits - handed to Committee by L Plyushch, R Aloney and Rabbi Sultanik |
14 Apr 1978 - 28 Feb 1979 |
A2487 |
1919/4334 |
[Application for assistance - C Christiansen] |
1919 - 1919 |
A1838 |
3125/10/1 PART 12 |
North Korea - Relations with Australia |
1981 - 1981 |
A1838 |
3107/40/3 PART 4 |
China - Relations with other countries - Soviet Block countries |
1957 - 1962 |
A518 |
BY800/1/1 PART 2 |
General information re Dutch New Guinea [2cms] |
1937 - 1955 |
B26 |
WHOLE SERIES |
Veterans' personal case files, World War 2 |
1939 - 1996 |