Emeritus Professor David Carment, AM

11 Fairfax Road

MOSMAN NSW 2088

Australia

Email dcarment@bigpond.net.au

Telephone 02-99699103 or 0418857182

13 November 2009

Senator Hon Joe Ludwig

Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister of State

Parliament House

CANBERRA ACT 2600

Dear Minister,

I write regarding the National Archives of Australia’s decision to close its Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart offices.

I have undertaken research at the National Archives and its predecessor institutions since 1972, worked as an historian in the Northern Territory between 1981 and 2006 and have supervised numerous honours and postgraduate theses that made use of materials held in the Archives’ Darwin office. As President of the Australian Historical Association between 2002 and 2004, I quite frequently communicated with senior National Archives staff. My recent experiences with the National Archives have been very positive. It is a fine organisation with an excellent record of service to researchers and the wider community.

In view of all this, the decision to close the three offices is puzzling and cause for considerable concern. While I do not have full information on the closures, they are certain to have an adverse impact. Digitisation of records currently in the offices will be hugely expensive and take a long time to complete. In some instances, researchers still need to see original materials in order to understand them and their contexts. The Darwin office has extensive holdings that are most significant to Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, who will lose their local access when the office closes and records are moved to another part of Australia. Many researchers in the Darwin office are Aborigines obtaining information on their families. Most Northern Territory Aborigines do not use the internet.

The decision also appears to have been made without consultation with stakeholders. I understand that the possibility of closure was not discussed with the National Archives’ consultative groups.  Nor was it raised at the meeting between senior National Archives staff and Australian Historical Association representatives that I attended earlier in the year.

I appreciate that Commonwealth government agencies need to reduce costs but the closure of the National Archives offices is a retrogressive step. I urge you to reverse it.

Yours sincerely,