State Records Office of Western Australia

The State Records Office of Western Australia (SRO) is the Western Australian government authority with responsibility for identifying, managing, preserving and providing access to the State's archives. The SRO also delivers best practice records management services to State and Local Government agencies.

The State Records Office operates under its own legislation, the State Records Act 2000, which was formally proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 30 November 2001. The SRO is an independent Government agency within the Department of Culture and the Arts.

History

The nucleus of the State archives collections is the Colonial Secretary's Office records acquired in 1903 by the first Librarian of the Public Library, Dr James Sykes Battye. Concern about the destruction of valuable records prompted the formation of the Public Records Committee (chaired by Dr Battye) in 1923, which was later revived as the State Archives Board in 1929, functioning until 1943.[1] In March 1945, Mollie Lukis [2] was appointed as the first Archivist overseeing the development of the State's archival collections and in 1956 the State archives collection became part of the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History.

Separation

In 1988 the State Archives became a separate Directorate within the Library and Information Service of Western Australia (LISWA) and in 1990 a Records Management Branch, (now called Recordkeeping Services), was established to enable more active engagement in records management matters at both State and Local Government level. In 1995 the State Archives was renamed the Public Records Office and the responsibility for private archives was transferred to the Battye Library in 1996. In April 1999 the SRO moved to its current home on the ground floor of the Alexander Library Building and was officially christened with its current name.

In November 2000 the State Records Act was passed and the State Records Commission was established and the State Records Office became independent of LISWA.

Legislation

The State Records Act 2000 replaced the archives and recordkeeping aspects of the Library Board of Western Australia Act 1951-1983.[3] Providing for an independent State Records Commission (SRC) [4] with standards-setting, auditing and reporting responsibilities, the SRC is accountable directly to Parliament. Membership of the Commission is at a level commensurate with the high degree of accountability and transparency that are hallmarks of the legislation. The four members of the Commission are the Auditor General, the Information Commissioner, the Ombudsman, and an appointee with recordkeeping experience from outside Government.

The SRO has legislative responsibility for ensuring government records are appropriately created and maintained.[5]

The SRO also manages the State archives collection,[6] defined as those government records recognised as having continuing and enduring value for the State and the community and which have been transferred to the SRO's custody.

The current legislation has its genesis in the recommendations of the 1996 Commission on Government – Specified Matter 9. The Commission on Government was itself the result of the Royal Commission into the commercial activities of Government and other matters, better known as WA Inc.

The State archives collection

The State Records Office maintains approximately 15 linear kilometres of archival records,[7] comprising approximately 2 million items and created by over 1,300 individual State and Local Government agencies, many of which are now defunct or have had significant changes in name or function. The State archives collection is the largest collection of documentary heritage in Western Australia and archives date from the foundation of the Swan River Colony in 1829.

The State archives collection includes:

It is estimated that approximately 50 shelf kilometres of archives are awaiting transfer to the SRO.[8]

Accessing the State's archives

The State Records Office of Western Australia is located on the Ground Floor of the Alexander Library Building, in the Perth Cultural Centre. State archives can be viewed onsite in the SRO's Search Room in the Alexander Library Building in the Perth Cultural Centre, 9.30am – 4.30pm, Monday – Friday. Information about the records in the collection can be found using the SRO database.[9]

Notes

The SRO is a separate entity, although it is sometimes confused with the Battye Library, a collection area of the State Library, due to its housing in the same building – the Alexander Library Building (named after Professor Fred Alexander).

In other Australian States and locations the equivalent office may be known as the 'Public Records Office' or the 'State Archives'.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "STATE ARCHIVES BOARD.". The West Australian (Perth: National Library of Australia). 22 May 1931. p. 16. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Mollie Lukis (1911-2009)", Australian Library Journal 58 (4), 2009-11: 347–348, ISSN 0004-9670 Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ↑ http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/main_mrtitle_924_homepage.html
  4. ↑ http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/src/src.asp
  5. ↑ http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/about/recordkeeping.asp
  6. ↑ http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/about/archival.asp
  7. ↑ http://www.caara.org.au/index.php/archival-statistics/
  8. ↑ State Records Commission (2014). Annual Report 2013/2014 (PDF) (Report). p. 21.
  9. ↑ https://archive.sro.wa.gov.au

References

This article provides a concise account of the developments that led to the appointment of Mollie Lukis in 1945 as the State's first Archivist.

Transcript of an address given by Sir Paul Hasluck in March 1982 to the Friends of Battye Library. The original recording also available from the State Library's Oral History Collection (OH1091)

External links

Coordinates: 31°56′57″S 115°51′38″E / 31.949031°S 115.860513°E / -31.949031; 115.860513

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