This article highlights the timeline of the establishment of the State Records Authority of New South Wales.
1821 Establishment of the position of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records who is responsible for government administration in New South Wales.
1879 Letter 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.
1887 First 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.)
1888 Proposal by George Burnett Barton (1836-1901) brother of Edmund Barton to establish a repository for public records in NSW
1903 Comment 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.’
1910 Opening of the Mitchell Library. Trustees of the Public Library consider ‘that no time should be lost towards the establishment of an Archives Office’
1915 Letter from Sir William Dixson (later benefactor of the Mitchell Library) to the Chief Secretary requesting the establishment of an archives department
1953 Appointment 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
1955 Establishment of Government Records Repository (responsible to the NSW Public Service Board) and work commences on the preparation of archives legislation
1960 Archives Act proclaimed to commence on 1 June 1961
1961 29 June first meeting of the Archives Authority of New South Wales
Original Board members: Principal Archivist G.D. Richardson Chairman 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
1963 Appointment of Mr R F Doust, BA as Senior Archivist
1964 Site of about 50 acres (200,000 m2) acquired for a permanent repository at Kingswood
1967 Allan Horton appointed as member of the Archives Authority of NSW
1973 Retirement of Gordon Richardson, Principal Archivist and appointment of Russell Doust, Acting Principal Archivist
1975 November. Government Records Repository at Kingswood opens
1976 Ian Maclean appointed Principal Archivist
1976 Establishment of the Records Management Office and Archives Office becomes administratively separate from the Public Library of NSW
1978 Archives 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
1980 John Cross appointed Principal Archivist
1982 Abolition of the Department of Services (previously the Chief Secretary’s Department)
1985/6 25th anniversary. Archives Act 1960 and 1 June 1986 establishment of Archives Authority of NSW
1987 Allan Horton resigns from the Archives Authority on 31 May making him the longest serving Board member. Reading Room opened at Western Sydney Records Centre
1998 Appointment of David Roberts as Director 2 June - State Records Act assented to, effective from 1 January 1999
2003 Review of State Records Act
2005 State Records Act (amendment 15 July 2005) and opening of the Stage 6 Building at the Western Sydney Records Centre, Kingswood.
2005/06 Review of State Records by Council on the Cost and Quality of Government
2006 November State Records moves from Arts NSW to the Department of Commerce
2007 The Convict Records of Australia held by NSW State Records and Archives of Tasmania are inscribed onto the International UNESCO Memory of the World Register
2008 Alan Ventress appointed Director
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“In the far South the sun of autumn is passing
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