Welcome back

Welcome to our first news@archives for 2012. We have an exciting year ahead and will keep you informed of upcoming events and activities. This month we introduce our new Director-General and you'll also find Cabinet records online, Antarctic inspirations, how to recover family records from a disaster – and dates for your diary.

The National Archives has welcomed David Fricker, who took up his role as the new Director-General in January.

He comes to the Archives from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) where he was Deputy Director-General, Corporate and Strategy.

David began his career at the Australian Customs Service in 1979 after completing a BA in Computing Studies. He later moved to the private sector, joining Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in 1987, as a Senior Consultant and Account Manager.

In 1993 David founded Business Synetics, a consultancy company providing services to a broad range of federal government agencies. He left the company in 2002 to join ASIO as it was embarking on an extraordinary period of growth and change.

Recent media articles on Cabinet decisions during 1982 and 1983 may have whet your appetite to know more.

On 1 January this year the National Archives released Cabinet records from 1982 and 1983 for public viewing. At an earlier embargoed media briefing, we invited former Prime Minister Bob Hawke to speak to journalists and answer questions (through a live video link).

The Cabinet documents are now on our website so all Australians have easy access to them. You’ll also find a copy of our historian Dr Jim Stokes’ overview of the period which he presented to the media.

And don't forget – you can have your say on the Cabinet records you'd like us to digitise next year.

Internationally-acclaimed harpist, Alice Giles, will share her personal journey through music, sound and  imagery at the National Archives in Canberra on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 March.

The event, with drinks and canapés, is part of ACT Tourism’s Enlighten festival and tickets, at $50 each, are available through Ticketek . Our exhibition spaces will be open until 10pm and all visitors can experience the Antarctic soundscape of Philip Samartzis combined with archival film footage.

Down South – Australian tradies in Antarctica is a photographic exhibition which tells the stories of the skilled tradespeople who ventured to the Antarctic between 1947 and the 1980s. It will be on display at the National Archives for four days only from Friday 9 to Monday 12 March.

This month is your last opportunity to catch the exhibtion Smalltown in Canberra, on tour from the Historic Houses Trust. 

Visitors have lavished praise on the innovative portrayal of outback Australia by photographer Martin Mischkulnig, with insightful commentary on small towns by author Tim Winton.

Comments in the visitors' book  include: ‘I found beauty in the supposed ugliness’, ‘Such vivid raw photographs’ and  ‘Great images and thought-provoking commentary’.

For reasons beyond our control, the exhibition will now close earlier than planned on 12 February.

A recurring tragedy of our nation is that so many Australians suffer from floods, fires and other disasters.

One of the most distressing things about losing your home in this way is the destruction of family heritage including letters, photographs and legal documents.

Our National Archives conservators have put together some tips to help people recover precious documents after a disaster.

Their advice includes rescuing paper documents, photographs, CDs, videos, tapes, books and magazines. Tips also include methods for removing the dirt and debris that often accompanies flood water.

More than 75 per cent of inquiries to the National Archives seek help to track down family history information.

Each year we hold our Shake Your Family Tree day to help family historians discover their forebears in the Archives, learn how to preserve family treasures and hear stories about how the famous and not-so-famous discovered their own family secrets.

The event will be held in most capital cities on Saturday 31 March this year. Adelaide’s event will be on Tuesday 27 March.