Canberra isn't just a place to come to see sights, parks and high culture. As the capital, it's also home to an incredible collection of national records, historical documents and archives. Many of them are held at the Canberra National Archives of Australia. So it's the place to come to, if you want to search, query or just hold those records that matter most to you. Immigration tallies, emigration departure forms, military service papers – all these and more are kept here, alongside a huge array of government papers, maps, photos and patents. Among the visual records are 30,000 photos of immigrants as they arrived in the country. So if you want to add 'colour' to the tracking of your family tree, the National Archives will give you the brushes and the pigment, to really bring it to life.
The Canberra National Archives also act as the 'Memory of a Nation', hosting some of the most important papers relating to the rise of Australia as a country. There are the Founding Documents, the Royal Commission of Assent, and the Constitution Act – recording the day in 1901 when the Commonwealth of Australia was created from six colonies. And it also looks after many once-confidential public papers – the illuminating paper trail of government – like the notebooks and meeting notes of senior public servants, High Court judges, cabinet ministers, governors-general and even prime ministers.
These are all 'closed access' documents, though. You can't browse them, but have to search for them online, or in the Archive's Reading Rooms. Once you request them, copies (or sometimes originals) are brought for your perusal. It's an amazing way to get up close to the hidden history of Australia. The Canberra National Archives don't simply leave all their documents in dust-covered files, either. Some of the most interesting are bought out, for use in the exhibitions that run here continuously.
Recent exhibits include 'Banned', covering the books and music the governments-past thought too dangerous for the pubic to see 'Mildenhall's Canberra', displaying some of the thousands of photos taken by the city's official photographer, as it took shape in the 1920s and 'Design 29', which showcases the plans entered for the competition to design Australia's future capital city in 1911. Canberra may be one of the world's youngest cities, but it has made sure every dot and cross of its short history is preserved for all to see.
