National Archives of Australia and National Archives of Australia Advisory Council ANNUAL ...

148 Pages·2006·2.17 MB·English

National Archives
of Australia
and National Archives of
Australia Advisory Council
ANNUAL REPORTs 2005–06
Published by the National Archives of Australia Cover images: A selection of images from ‘Find of the
Month’, a display of quirky, amusing or nostalgic gems from
©Commonwealth of Australia 2006
the Archives’ collection. They include (clockwise):
ISSN 1440-8961
1. Eighty–four year old cyclist Ernie Old at the end of a
ISBN 1920807 46 2
2000-mile marathon ride in 1954. NAA: A1200, L38704, p. 10
This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and
2. ‘I allus has wan at eleven’ (‘I always have one at 11’)
reproduce the material in an unaltered form only (retaining
with goldminer Sam Knott, who became the face of
this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use
Carlton Ale in the late 1890s. NAA: A1861, A1861/1, p. 1
within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted
under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. 3. The Australian built ‘Anzac’ racing car driven by Norm
Requests for further authorisation should be directed to the ‘Wizard’ Smith when he broke the World Ten-Mile speed
Publications Manager, National Archives of Australia, record in 1930, attaining a speed of 114 miles per hour
PO Box 7425, Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610. on Ninety Mile Beach, NZ. NAA: A432, 1930/446
Every reasonable endeavour has been made to locate 4. Photograph of Mr Squiggle submitted to the Patent
and contact copyright holders. Where this has not proved Office in 1962 by creator Norman Hetherington to
possible, copyright holders are invited to contact the copyright the popular puppet. NAA: A1861, 8027
publisher. 5. W Paris Myers’ entry for a 1910 Department of Defence
Prepared by the Corporate Governance Section and the flying competition. NAA: A289, 1907/2/356, p. 10
Communications and Marketing Section. 6. May Gibbs’ drawing of a kookaburra and a gumnut
baby, found in a 1935 government research file that
Contact officer
included press cuttings on the influenza epidemic of
Requests and inquiries concerning the content of these
1919. NAA: CP567, Box 4. ©The Spastic Centre of New
reports should be directed to:
South Wales and The Northcott Society 2006.
Annual Report Coordinator
More information about these collection items appears on
National Archives of Australia
the divider pages of this report.
PO Box 7425
Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
These annual reports are published online at the National
Archives of Australia website (naa.gov.au).
[ ii ] ANNUAL REPORT 2005–06
SECTION TITLE ON RIGHTHAND PAGE [ iii ]
[ iv ] ANNUAL REPORT 2005–06
Contents
National Archives of Australia Annual Report 1
Director-General’s review of 2005–06 3
Organisational overview 7
Role and functions 7
Organisational structure 7
National Archives of Australia Advisory Council 9
Responsible Minister 10
Outcome and output structure 10
Financial overview 12
Report on performance 15
Output 1.1 15
Output 1.2 22
Management and accountability 35
Corporate governance 35
External scrutiny 40
Management of human resources 40
Assets management 43
Purchasing 44
Information management 44
Financial statements and supporting notes 47
for the year ended 30 June 2006
Appendixes 85
Appendix A National Archives addresses and contact numbers 88
Appendix B Volunteers and the Work for the Dole scheme 90
Appendix C Selected records transferred and described in 2005–06 91
Appendix D Exhibitions program in 2005–06 95
Appendix E Publications produced in 2005–06 98
Appendix F Performance against the Archives Service Charter standards 101
Appendix G Occupational health and safety 102
CONTENTS [ v ]
Appendix H Freedom of Information section 8 statement 103
Appendix I International and professional engagement 106
Appendix J Consultancies and advertising and market research 113
Appendix K Discretionary grants 115
Appendix L Ecologically sustainable development and environmental
performance 117
National Archives of Australia Advisory Council
Annual Report 2005–06 119
Glossary of terms and acronyms 129
Compliance index 131
Figures and tables index 133
Alphabetical index 134
[ vi ] ANNUAL REPORT 2005–06
National Archives of Australia
ANNUAL REPORT 2005–06
A man and his Malvern Star
A year before the Melbourne Olympics, well-known long distance cyclist Ernie Old
wrote to Prime Minister Menzies with a plan to publicise the Games. The
81-year-old would ride around Australia on his trusty Malvern Star and personally
deliver invitations to the State premiers (‘we want to make our Games an
outstanding triumph instead of a dull failure,’ Mr Old writes).
The PM’s offi ce loved the idea (‘This chap has something’) but alas, on this
occasion the squeaky wheel did not get the extra grease (‘if he dropped dead
while delivering notes from you to the Premiers … you would be put down as a
heartless creature’).
Contrast this with the reception Pat Farmer received (he collapsed into the arms
of a jubilant Prime Minister) as he crossed the fi nish line in Canberra after his epic
Centenary of Federation run around Australia in 1999. What price publicity?
You can see more information about this Find of the Month on our website
at www.naa.gov.au.
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Director-General’s review
of 2005–06
The year 2005–06 held significant achieve- our eight reading rooms across the country.
ments for the Archives. A number of major Some 52,000 records were made available
projects were concluded and the foundations in the reading rooms, whereas more than
were laid for others that will take us forward 830,000 records were accessed in digital
over the next planning period until 2009. form via our websites. The Archives has
been endeavouring to meet this fundamental
Resolution of the most pressing challenge
structural change in demand by increasing
facing the Archives was secured during
the number of digitised pages available
the year with Government approval for the
to researchers. In 2005–06, the Archives
new National Archives Preservation Centre
completed the largest digitisation project we
(NAPC). The NAPC will house and ensure
have ever undertaken. More than 376,000
the long-term preservation of the nation’s
World War I service records were digitised,
archives. The planned NAPC was achieved
resulting in more than 12 million digital
with the support of our portfolio department
images which will be available for online
and partner cultural agencies. It will provide
access. By the end of the year, more than
us with a new state-of-the-art facility and, as
14.8 million images were accessible from the
well, deliver business efficiencies and lower
Archives’ corporate website.
operating costs. The NAPC is a particularly
pleasing outcome as it had been identified as In this way the Archives continued to expand
a priority in the Archives Corporate Plan since its role of contributing to the development of
2003. Australian culture and identity. To continue
to develop this role we will need to respond
Our experience during 2005–06 confirmed
to this shift in demand and direct further
that researchers now prefer to access our
resources in coming years to increasing the
collection online rather than by visiting one of
DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S REVIEW [  ]
Delegates from the National Archives of Bhutan Director-General Ross Gibbs (centre) with Department of Foreign
presenting a gift to Director-General Ross Gibbs in Affairs and Trade representatives Rowan Ainsworth (left) and Chris
Canberra, December 2005. Moraitis, in June 2006 at the opening of Antarctica: Treaty Territory,
a DFAT exhibition on display at the Archives Hobart Office.
proportion of our collection that is digitised Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. The
and made available on our websites. Department is progressively implementing
the review’s recommendations. Equally
This huge volume of digitised images
importantly, the Archives commenced
combined with the growing volume of
development of a new recordkeeping self-
records that are created on computer
assessment tool to help agencies ensure that
(‘born digital’) need to be preserved and
their recordkeeping practices support their
their long-term accessibility ensured. The
business needs and legislative obligations.
Archives has designed a working prototype
of a digital archive, including the software For the past 20 years, the Archives has
Xena, which converts digital records so they benefited from the profile given us by the
are accessible regardless of technological annual release of Cabinet records from
change. We need now to secure the the collection. In 2005–06, to complement
resources necessary to develop a whole-of- the annual release of Cabinet records, the
government digital archive. Archives introduced a new lecture series, the
RG Neale Lecture, focusing on international
The year 2005–06 also witnessed a number
events documented in records in the
of significant developments in relation to
collection. The Department of Foreign Affairs
recordkeeping in the Australian Public
and Trade is a partner in this endeavour. The
Service. The Archives, the Australian Public
series commemorates Robert George Neale
Service Commission, and the Australian
AO, the first Director-General of the Australian
National Audit Office continued our individual
Archives.
and combined efforts to raise Australian
Government agencies’ awareness of the During the year, the Archives increased its
importance of good recordkeeping. international role, particularly in Asia and
A particular focus arose from the Archives’ the Pacific. This expansion was mainly on
strategic review of the recordkeeping a cost-recovery basis and with the support
systems and practices of the Department of of AusAID. I spoke at, and participated in,
[  ] ANNUAL REPORT 2005–06