14 November 2009

Senator J Ludwig

Parliament House

CANBERRA   ACT   2600

Dear Senator Ludwig

We wish to register our strongest objection to the proposed closure of the National Archives offices in Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart, planned to take place between 30 September 2010 and 30 April 2012.

These repositories contain local records of great significance to the communities of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, records which the local citizens should not have to travel to Sydney or Melbourne to access, as is proposed.  We are fully aware that the National Archives digitises records when researchers request such a service but the charges are quite substantive, ie $16.50 for a file of up to 100 pages, $38.50 for a file of over 100 pages.  Both of us have been historians, professionally, for many years.  Baiba has also been an archivist since 1973; her last institutional position was as Principal Archivist of the Northern Territory Archives Service where she had extensive and frequent contact with the Darwin Regional Office of Australian Archives, as it was then known.  Peter’s last academic position was as Director of social and economic research in Darwin for the Australian National University from 1981 to 1990.  Most of Peter’s staff at the North Australia Research Unit used Australian Archives in the course of their work, including much work commissioned by the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments. 

Since leaving Darwin in 1990 we have together researched three books about aspects of Territory history, work which has involved use of the National Archives records in Darwin, Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney.  We both know that much research work can involve looking at hundreds of files.  If we had been forced to rely on digitisation of the relevant files we would still probably be waiting to receive the files as digitisation requires careful and thorough preparation and execution; we would also probably be broke; and we would land up with digitised versions of lots of files which, on examination, turned out not to contain information relevant to our research topics.  In fact I doubt that we would ever have been able to complete any of this work if we had had to rely on digitised files.

The National Archives in its statement on this matter says that meeting the needs of users is a key concern.  They also state that some records may be relocated locally ‘under a memorandum of understanding arrangement with other sympathetic local cultural heritage institutions’.  I am sure that this will be news to the local archives, library and museum organisations, all of which are already striving to continue providing services in a climate where they too are experiencing budgetary cuts of considerable magnitude.  The National Archives, a Commonwealth agency, cannot expect State and Territory agencies to take up responsibilities which are its legal, administrative and financial responsibility.

The proposed closure of the Darwin office is especially heartbreaking because it holds records of particular significance to the Indigenous people of the Northern Territory because of the Commonwealth’s administration of the Territory from 1911 to 1979.  Many of these people were part of the Stolen Generation and often the only information about their parentage, their siblings and about their entitlements is in the records held in the Darwin NAA repository. Also held there are records which are critical to people seeking records relating to Land Claims and all kinds of compensation matters.  The staff in the Darwin office have worked extremely hard to facilitate access to these records and to ensure that Indigenous people who come to the office are treated with respect and understanding.  Many of these people have no previous experience of visiting or dealing with archives, many come from remote communities and many have little or no experience of dealing with computers. 

One of the people who worked in the Darwin office in the 1980s has written: ‘I was privileged to work with Indigenous people who were seeking information about their families, some members of which they weren’t even aware of.  This was the vanguard of the ‘Stolen Generations’ juggernaut, and was only made possible by the location of the records being in the area in which the people lived.  It was traumatic enough but had the people been required to do this research in Canberra or some other southern centre it would have been impossible’.  He also points out that while the alleged broadband coverage in Australia is 98%, the Darwin office has had  to deal a lot with the 2% where it doesn’t exist (and they are both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians).  The proposed closure of the Darwin office is totally contrary to the government’s objective of Closing the Gap; rather the proposed closure will cause an irreparable breach of trust in this government’s concern for Indigenous people.

In 2001 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, then the Opposition MHR for Griffith, protested loudly and strongly about the proposed sale of the Cannon Hill repository of the National Archives, which happened to be located in his electorate.  He pointed out that the proposed sale would almost inevitably lead to the culling and destruction of records prior to their relocation to the Brisbane CBD repository.  The sale did go ahead but Mr Rudd maintained his interest in the matter, stating to the Queensland Association of Local and Family Historical Societies that: ‘My key concern now is to prevent the Government, through its campaign of cost-cutting, from destroying part of our heritage – particularly in this year of the Centenary of our Federation’.  The current NAA proposal will almost certainly result in more culling and disposal of records.  As well, the people working in those repositories will lose their jobs with little prospect of gaining similar employment in the cities where they have chosen to live because of the limited number of jobs in the cultural heritage area, especially at a time when all governments are enforcing ‘significant budget savings’ on all institutions, a state of affairs which particularly affects small institutions and agencies. 

Australians value their heritage highly and it is beyond comprehension that the Federal government and National Archives could treat this matter with so little regard.  The two of us personally, one as a third generation Australian and the other, as a Displaced Person after World War 2, both greatly value our heritage and, in our various ways, we have done much to document and to record it.

The collections in the Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart NAA offices contain records which are an integral part of our nation’s heritage but which are particularly significant to their local communities.  The Darwin repository contains records which are of great significance to both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, the Adelaide repository, among other things, contains records relating to the history of the Trans Australia Airlines and the Commonwealth Railways links to the Northern Territory and Western Australia, while the Tasmanian office contains records relating to Antarctica and the CSIRO.  We have only mentioned some of the wonderful resources that are held in these offices and the staff of which are so skilled at providing access to all researchers (within the access rules limits).  These records are valued greatly by the local people; they are also valued greatly by interstate and overseas researchers.  The latter are far more likely to be able to travel to these repositories in the course of their research projects than it will be possible for local residents to deal with having to go to Melbourne or Sydney to research their family, community or special interest history.   

We urge you most strongly to force the National Archives to reconsider this matter and to face up squarely to its responsibility for safeguarding and facilitating access to Commonwealth records for all citizens of Australia, irrespective of where they live and whether or not they have access to computers and have the relevant skills to carry out electronic research.

Yours sincerely

 Original Signed By

Baiba Berzins (Mitchell Librarian, 1980-87; Principal Archivist, Northern Territory Archives Service, 1987-90; Fellow of the Australian Society of Archivists; currently freelance historian, archivist and valuer)

Peter Loveday, AM, Ph.D, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

Our contact details:

3 Keegan Ave, GLEBE   NSW   2037

02-9692-9695   /   baibapl@netspace.net.au