The National Archives keeps valuable records of the Australian Government and makes them available to the public, now and in the future.

Our collection

The records in our collection trace the events and decisions that shaped the nation.

• What is it about? Our records include papers of governors-general, prime ministers and ministers. We have Cabinet documents, royal commission files and departmental records on defence, immigration, security and intelligence, naturalisation, and many other issues.
• When were the records made? The focus of our collection is records created since the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. We also have some 19th-century records relating to functions that were transferred by the colonies to the Australian government, including shipping and post offices.
• What format are the records in? Most records in the collection are text documents. We also hold many photographs, posters, maps, architectural drawings, films, playscripts, musical scores and sound recordings.
• How big is the collection? Currently we hold about 50 million records. On bookshelves side by side, these records would extend 350 kilometres.

As well as caring for our collection, the National Archives makes the records accessible to all Australians. For more detail, see the collection.

A library or museum?

How is an archive different to a library or a museum? Museum collections are primary sources, but they are mostly objects. Library collections are text-based, but usually secondary sources such as books and magazines.

Archives hold mainly text-based primary source records. Most importantly, archives keep records for people to use.