Exhibitions

View exhibitions and displays currently showing at the National Archives in Canberra and venues around Australia. Find out more about our past exhibitions.

Federation Gallery

Special viewing dates

Our Federation Gallery contains some of Australia's most significant documents – those that record the founding of the Commonwealth of Australia. We like to refer to these as the 'birth certificates' of our nation.

The seven items in the gallery include the original Constitution Act passed by the British Parliament and the Royal Commission of Assent signed by Queen Victoria on 9 July 1900. They also include documents that record later changes to our Constitution.

The National Archives is committed to ensuring the future survival of this material as well as encouraging and facilitating Australians' access to the documents.

We are therefore introducing new arrangements for access to the Federation Gallery. The change has been inspired by new preservation research techniques, which can measure the impact of light on documents.

We need to consider how best to balance the documents' future conservation needs with the public's right to access. We will therefore now open the gallery for special public viewing days throughout the year, and for group and school bookings.

Special viewing during key events this year will include:

  • Reconciliation Week (Saturday 26 May, 9am to 5pm, then only by request until Sunday 3 June)
  • Constitution Day (Saturday 7 July, Monday 9 July, 9am to 5pm)

Our staff will be on hand to point out the most interesting aspects of the documents.

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Copyright National Archives of Australia 2012