National Archives of Australia - Our History - Development of a National Archives

Development of the National Archives

The Hon. E G Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Paul Hasluck and Senator D R Willesse, who commissioned the Lamb Report on the National Archives.

The Hon. EG Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Paul Hasluck and Senator DR Willesee, Special Minister of State, who commissioned the Lamb Report on the National Archives.
NAA: M151, 76.

In 1973 Dr W Kaye Lamb, former Dominion Archivist of Canada, began a review of the Australian Archives. Lamb’s brief report argued that the function of a modern archives system was to watch over government records at every stage of their life cycle. He argued for more resources and for a cultural change within the organisation, so that it might be more outward looking, engaging in theoretical and practical research and discussing results with a society of professional archivists and other interested groups such as historians.

WK Lamb, Development of the National Archives, report by Dr W Kaye Lamb, September 1973.

Contents	Acrobat 6.0
1. A National Archives Act 2. Functions of the Archives 3. Archives participation in records management 4. Buildings
5. Professional staff 6. Private papers 7. Access to public records over 30 years old 8. Access to recent records
9. An access appeal tribunal 10. 'A national system of archives' 11. The position of Director-General 12. General comment
Download entire report	Go to – PDF 4.8mb

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