Government organisations must be capable of moving towards a culture of openness where information is made readily available, Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister for State Senator John Faulkner said at the National Archives this week.

Launching Information Awareness Month, Senator Faulkner said the National Archives and other key agencies need to work towards whole-of-government consistency on information collection and storage, to allow smoother information sharing and better access. This would promote accountability and transparency.

The challenges in managing information stemmed from the volume of information to be dealt with, particularly in digital forms, the range of formats in which it was created and accessed, and the diversity of the ICT systems used to manage it.

Back to top

Mapping our Anzacs, a National Archives initiative, has been awarded the 'Best Archives Website' in the 2009 Best Archives on the Web Awards. These awards recognise innovation by archives in Web 2.0 technologies.

The awards were presented by ArchivesNext, a much respected archival community blog and one of the main sources of information on developments in archives and Web 2.0. This year, Mapping our Anzacs shared the 'Best Archives Website' award with the 'Archiefbank' of the Amsterdam City Archives and 'Seeking Michigan' produced by the Library of Michigan and the State Archives of Michigan.

Back to top

Women Transported: Life in Australia’s Convict Female Factories, brings alive stories of female feistiness and determination in an often ignored chapter of Australia’s early colonial life. 

An estimated 10,000 of almost 25,000 convict women transported to Australia worked in factories until they were employed by free settlers, were reassigned, gave birth to their children or were punished for other crimes.

Featuring original works of art, archaeological items, interactive elements and some of the earliest colonial artefacts in the country, the exhibition includes personal accounts of these women and documents their lives in the factories.

The exhibition will be opened in Canberra by author, journalist and speaker on women’s issues Dr Anne Summers on Thursday 14 May.

Back to top

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. The National Archives holds many records relating to this subject. The Commonwealth Solar Observatory on Mount Stromlo in Canberra, was established in 1924. Founded mainly to study the sun and support research into geophysics, the complex included residences, plant and maintenance buildings as well as scientific observation and recording equipment.

A fact sheet provides information on the National Archives’ holdings relating to the construction and maintenance of the Mount Stromlo complex. Records include correspondence files, photographs, and architectural plans and drawings.

'Looking at the sun', an article published in a 2008 edition of the National Archives' Memento magazine describes how observatories played an important role in meteorological forecasts in the early 20th century.

Back to top

Are you here? The National Archives is again inviting people across the nation to help identify Faces of Australia, a collection of 227 images captured by government photographers in the 1950s and 1960s.

In the cities, on the beaches and in the bush, the images feature Australians at work and play. Help us identify the people, places and dates or share a memory.

The images are taken from our online image database PhotoSearch, which allows you to search more than 200,000 photographs that have been digitised from the National Archives collection.

Back to top

National Archives staff in Brisbane have discovered a 1950s Customs file on the smuggling of  banned food products into Australia including one prepared from an edible bird's nest. Contained within was a calico bag with a small amount of golden translucent crystalline bird’s nest flakes, of considerable value at the time.

The flakes are the build up of saliva on the walls of limestone caves by varieties of swifts found in Borneo, Thailand and Indonesia.The material is high in calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium and valued for its healing, immunity and aphrodisiac qualities.

Find out more about smuggling and Customs records in a free seminar at our Brisbane office.

Back to top

Parliament House was officially opened in Canberra on 9 May 1927, by the Duke (later King George VI) and Duchess of York . The National Archives holds records and images of this momentous event.

The key with which the Duke opened the front door, an invitation to the event and a program of the day are among the many records in our collection.

Pilot Flying Officer Ewen crashed his single-seat Scout Experimenter prefix A2 nearby during the opening proceedings. He is buried in St John's churchyard, in the Canberra suburb of Reid.

Back to top

Colourful board games, played by Australians in the early 1900s, provide a glimpse of social customs of the time. Examples of the games, found in the National Archives collection,  reflect what was happening historically and socially.

Some of the favourite sports – yachting, horse racing, cricket and tennis – were cleverly packaged for parlour play. Even courtship and marriage could be managed with a lucky toss of the dice.

Back to top

Early photos, especially those taken between 1850 and 1900, can be particularly susceptible to strong light and pollutants. These early photos relied heavily on light rather than chemicals, in the developing process. The image-forming silver grains are much smaller than in the later chemically-developed images. For this reason these early images are extremely vulnerable to light damage.

Early photographs which have a warm brown tone (rather than neutral black and white), or where the paper's fibres are clearly visible through the image, can become damaged by light over long periods of time. They should be stored in a photo safe album to keep them protected from light. If you would like to display an image, it is recommended that you have it scanned and printed instead of displaying the original.

Back to top

Congratulations to last month's winners Bill Edwards, ACT, Susan Pederson, NT, and Peter Weitzel, with the answer ‘Queen Elizabeth II'. They have  received a copy of the National Archives' publication Max Dupain on Assignment.

The third and sixth correct entries received for this month's quirky quiz will each win a copy of Developing Images: Mildenhall's Photographs of Early Canberra. This book feautures more than 90 rare historical images.

A children's author am I, who felt my name was slurred. But the sale of 600 million of my books would prove critics wrong. Who am I?

Search here for a hint. Email us with your answer in the subject line. View terms and conditions.

Back to top