National Archives of Australia and National Archives of Australia Advisory Council Annual Report ...

171 Pages·2011·2.89 MB·English

10
National Archives
of Australia
11
and National Archives of Australia
Advisory Council
Annual Reports
10
National Archives
of Australia
11
and National Archives of Australia
Advisory Council
Annual Reports
Published by the National Archives of Australia
naa.gov.au
© Commonwealth of Australia 2011
This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce the material in an
unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within
your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights
are reserved.
ISSN 1400-8961
ISBN 978-1-920807-88-7
Prepared by the Governance, Risk and Compliance section and the Communications and
Programs section of the National Archives of Australia.
Photographs by the Digital and Online Access section of the National Archives of Australia
(except where otherwise noted).
Contact Officer
Requests for authorisation and/or enquiries regarding these reports should be directed to:
Annual Report Coordinator
National Archives of Australia
PO Box 7425
Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
An online version of this publication can be found at: naa.gov.au/about-us/organisation/
accountability/annual-reports.aspx
Cover image: Photographers from the Archives’ Imaging Services team at work in the
Photographic Studio. Each year, Imaging Services produces digital and photographic images of
the Archives’ records to assist people access its holdings. Photographer: Jen Everart.
Our reference: 2011/747
The Hon Brendan O’Connor MP
Minister for Privacy and Freedom of Information
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Dear Minister
We have pleasure in forwarding to you the annual reports on the operations of the National Archives of
Australia and the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council for the year ended 30 June 2011.
The reports are submitted in accordance with subsections 68(1) and 68(2) of the Archives Act 1983,
which require the Archives and the Advisory Council to furnish you with reports of their operations and
proceedings during the preceding 12 months as soon as practicable after 30 June each year.
The Archives’ annual report is also made under section 70 of the Public Service Act 1999. Subsection
70(1) of the Act requires the report to be given to you for presentation to Parliament. The report has been
prepared in accordance with the guidelines approved on behalf of Parliament by the Joint Committee of
Public Accounts and Audit as required by subsection 70(2) of the Public Service Act.
Yours sincerely
Dr Stephen Ellis The Hon Dr John Bannon AO
Director-General (A/g) Chairman, Advisory Council
9 September 2011 9 September 2011

Contents
Letter of transmittal iii
National Archives of Australia Annual Report 2010–11 1
Director-General’s review of 2010–11 3
Agency overview 7
Establishment and functions 7
Outcome and program structure 7
Governance and organisational structure 8
Report on performance 13
Outcome 1 Authentic, reliable and useable Commonwealth records through
the provision of information management products and services
to Australian Government agencies 13
Program 1.1 Delivering information management products and services 13
Outcome 2 Greater understanding of our heritage and democracy through preserving,
describing and providing access to the national archival collection 19
Program 2.1 Securing, describing and preserving records of national
archival value 19
Program 2.2 Providing an accessible, visible and interpreted national
archival collection 24
Management and accountability 37
State office co-location project 37
Corporate governance 37
External scrutiny 40
Information technology management 41
Human resource management 42
Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance 45
Asset management 46
Procurement 48
Financial management 48
Financial statements and supporting notes for the year ended 30 June 2011 51
Contents v
Appendixes 109
Appendix A Resources allocated to the Archives 110
Appendix B Records authorities issued 112
Appendix C National and international strategic relations 113
Appendix D Selected records transferred and described 116
Appendix E Exhibitions program 122
Appendix F Publications program 124
Appendix G Service Charter standards 125
Appendix H Freedom of information 126
Appendix I Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance 129
Appendix J Consultancies, advertising and market research 132
Appendix K Volunteers 135
Appendix L Representation on professional organisations 136
Appendix M Occupational health and safety 138
Correction of material errors in previous annual report 138
National Archives of Australia Advisory Council
Annual Report 2010–11 139
Glossary and indexes 147
Glossary 147
Shortened forms 149
List of requirements 150
List of figures and tables 153
Index 155
National Archives of Australia addresses and contact details 164
vi Annual Reports 2010–11
National Archives
of Australia
Annual Report 2010–11
‘The 2011 UNESCO/Jikji
Memory of the World Prize
recognises the Archives’
The Mayor of Cheongju
ability to be innovative, our
City, Beum-deuk Han,
presents Dr Stephen Ellis the willingness to share the
UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the
World Prize at the Cheongju results of our research and
Arts Centre, Cheongju City,
our professional leadership.’
Republic of South Korea.
Dr Stephen elliS
Director-General (Acting)
National Archives of Australia
g
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Director-General’s 
review of 2010–11
The year 2010–11 presented a few challenges and some significant
achievements for the National Archives of Australia. The Archives
continued to review and implement innovative solutions to provide
the Australian Government and the public with archival services
comparable with the best international standards and practice.
Innovation
During 2010–11, the Archives found new ways of providing
access to its records, such as the Constitution for a Nation
er
op interactive feature, which explores the history of the creation of
o
C
m the Constitution through rich visual and auditory media. In addition,
a
S a new display using touch-screen technologies to provide more
Dr Stephen Ellis interaction for visitors was installed in our Memory of a Nation
Director-General (Acting) exhibition in the National Office in Canberra. The Archives
National Archives of Australia repurposed its hardcopy magazine to a more accessible e-magazine,
Your Memento, and its online research system, RecordSearch,
was revised to improve useability.
Amendments to the Archives Act 1983, approved by Parliament
in May 2010, reduced the closed period for most Commonwealth
records from 30 to 20 years, and for Cabinet notebooks from
50 to 30 years. The examination of records was prioritised to
support the accelerated release of Cabinet records required by
these amendments.
During the year we released Check-up 2.0, a secure web-based
tool developed to assist Australian Government agencies assess
the state of their information management. Check-up 2.0, based
on the original Check-up released in 2007, helps agencies to build
their information management capability and to plan improvements.
In May 2011, the ACT Branch of the Records and Information
Management Professionals Association Australasia announced
that Check-up 2.0 had won the inaugural Rob Barnett Award for
Innovation and Excellence.
The Archives also upgraded its own recordkeeping technologies.
This upgrade ensures that the Archives’ electronic recordkeeping
system continues to support our business needs and accountability
requirements. It also helps us adhere to the guidelines we provide to
other agencies.
Director-General’s review of 2010–11 3