Timeline of archives in New South Wales

This article highlights the timeline of the establishment of State Records New South Wales.

1821Establishment of the position of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records who is responsible for government administration in New South Wales.

1879Letter from J.H. Heaton recommending appointment of Dr G.H. Stanley as Keeper of Archives in the Colonial Secretary’s Office. This proposal was not acted on.

1887First serious proposals for the establishment of an Archives Office made just before the 100th anniversary of white settlement in Australia in 1888. This led to the publication of the History of New South Wales from the Records and the Historical Records of New South Wales under the direction of James Bonwick (1817-1906) who can be regarded as the first official government archivist in NSW (appointed 13 March 1888.)

1888Proposal by George Burnett Barton (1836-1901) brother of Edmund Barton to establish a repository for public records in NSW

1903Comment by F.M.Bladen, Principal Librarian of the Public Library of NSW ‘It is a disgrace to Australia as an enlightened nation that there is no place where the original papers bearing on the discovery of the continent; the exploration and settlement of the states; the constitutional history and records of their courts of law and judicial and political institutions can be consulted by the student of history.’

1910Opening of the Mitchell Library. Trustees of the Public Library consider ‘that no time should be lost towards the establishment of an Archives Office’

1915Letter from Sir William Dixson (later benefactor of the Mitchell Library) to the Chief Secretary requesting the establishment of an archives department

1953Appointment of Allan Horton to the position of Archives Officer at the Public Library of NSW and establishment of Archives Department within the Public Library of NSW

1955Establishment of Government Records Repository (responsible to the NSW Public Service Board) and work commences on the preparation of archives legislation

1960Archives Act proclaimed to commence on 1 June 1961

196129 June first meeting of the Archives Authority of New South Wales

Original Board members:Principal Archivist G.D. RichardsonChairman Dr H S Wyndham CBE, MA, Ed D, Dip Ed Deputy Chair Mr G.M.Gray CBE, BA,Other members The Hon Mr Justice W H Collins LLB,Mr Senior Inspector J.R.Clancy,Dr George Mackaness OBE, MA, DLitt, Hon D Sc,Mr John Metcalfe BA, FLA,Mr F H Rogers MA, FLA, FNZLA,Major General J R Stephenson CBE, DSO, ED,Professor J M Ward MA, LLB

1963Appointment of Mr R F Doust, BA as Senior Archivist

1964Site of about 50 acres acquired for a permanent repository at Kingswood

1967Allan Horton appointed as member of the Archives Authority of NSW

1973Retirement of Gordon Richardson, Principal Archivist and appointment of Russell Doust, Acting Principal Archivist

1975November. Government Records Repository at Kingswood opens

1976Ian Maclean appointed Principal Archivist

1976Establishment of the Records Management Office and Archives Office becomes administratively separate from the Public Library of NSW

1978Archives and Records Management Offices move from the State Library to a new purpose built archives building in Sydney’s historic Rocks area

1979 City Reading Room opens – for the first time the Archives Office has its own separate reading room and exhibition area

1980John Cross appointed Principal Archivist

1982Abolition of the Department of Services (previously the Chief Secretary’s Department)

1985/625th anniversary. Archives Act 1960 and 1 June 1986 establishment of Archives Authority of NSW

1987Allan Horton resigns from the Archives Authority on 31 May making him the longest serving Board member. Reading Room opened at Western Sydney Records Centre

1998Appointment of David Roberts as Director 2 June - State Records Act assented to, effective from 1 January 1999

2003Review of State Records Act

2005State Records Act (amendment 15 July 2005) and opening of the Stage 6 Building at the Western Sydney Records Centre, Kingswood.

2005/06Review of State Records by Council on the Cost and Quality of Government

2006November State Records moves from Arts NSW to the Department of Commerce

2007The Convict Records of Australia held by NSW State Records and Archives of Tasmania are inscribed onto the International UNESCO Memory of the World Register

2008Alan Ventress appointed Director