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
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