National Archives of Australia - temporary relocation

From the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au):

Information about the National Office temporary relocation to Old Parliament House

The Archives' National Office in East Block, Parkes, will be relocated to Old Parliament House (OPH) from 16 October 2017 to late 2018.

This will allow remedial works to be carried out on East Block.

Staff will be temporarily relocated to OPH, where a reading room for access to original records will be available to researchers, and a display of facsimiles of the Constitution and other founding documents will also be housed.

All Archives visitors wishing to see facsimiles of the Constitution and other founding documents will be required to pay the Museum of Australian Democracy entry fee of $2 for adults and $1 for children. This supports the conservation work of the Museum to maintain the heritage-listed OPH building, in which we will be a tenant.

Exhibitions will be placed in secure storage for the duration of the relocation. Our audiences are encouraged to visit our national touring exhibitions with venues and tour dates available at naa.gov.au or experience our online exhibitions via the Google Cultural Institute.

During the relocation, Archives staff will be developing exciting new programs and enhanced experiences for visitors on our return to East Block from late 2018.

From close of business on Sunday 17 September 2017 all galleries, store and visitor entry will be closed to the public. The Kings Avenue business entrance will remain open until close of business on Friday 6 October.

From close of business on Friday 6 October 2017 the reading room will be closed, and will reopen at OPH on Monday 16 October. Access to original records will not be available while the reading room is closed. Contact Reference Services staff for more information.

This relocation will not affect staff and records located at the National Archives Preservation Facility in Mitchell, or any of our state/territory offices.

Following the potential sale of East Block, the Archives has agreed to a new eight-year lease, with a two-year option, to commence on the Archives' return to East Block.

The new owner of East Block will be responsible for all remedial works and for ensuring they are undertaken in accordance with relevant regulations, including with regard to the heritage status of the building.

(Original story at http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/organisation/locations/oph-relocation.aspx)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Latest National Archives of Australia news

The latest news bulletin from the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) is now available online at http://email.synergymail.com.au/t/ViewEmail/r/99F954168C522A8B2540EF23F30FEDED/A1D5F02068EAF9FB3EDEEDC46EB9B960.

The newsletter includes:

Details of the archive's latest exhibitions, Facing Two Fronts: the fight for respect and Indigenous Australians at War from the Boer War to the Present,

Information on three travelling exhibitions - A Place to Call Home? Migrant hostel memories, the Qantas Founders Museum, Longreach; A Ticket to Paradise?, the Newcastle Museum; and Without Consent: Australia's past adoption practices, Museum of the Riverina, Wagga Wagga

News of two forthcoming talks in Adelaide - South Australian lighthouses, and Inventions that changed the world – or didn't.

(With thanks to the NAA)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course commences May 15th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Memory of a Nation exhibition in Canberra

The National Archives of Australia  has announced news of an update to its Memory of a Nation exhibition in Canberra:

Sex education, Chinese Anzacs, Advance Australia Fair and CWA activism are some of the new topics on show in our refreshed Memory of a Nation exhibition.

Every year we update this permanent exhibition, replacing selected exhibits to ensure their ongoing preservation.

The exhibition now includes posters warning of the dangers of venereal disease at a time when the government feared the infections coming back with World War II soldiers would cause infertility in the community and limit population growth. However a letter from the Department of Health shows it was still reluctant to introduce sex education in schools in 1943.

And we look at Chinese Anzacs. During World War I, five sons enlisted from the Sam family. With a white Australian mother and a Chinese father, the sons were seen as ‘sufficiently European’ to serve overseas with the AIF. At the same time, their young brother Percy and father William needed to travel to China and came up against the White Australia policy.

Other new exhibits show the 11-year journey for Advance Australia Fair to replace God Save the Queen as the country’s national anthem and a fresh look at the Country Women’s Association and its political activism.

For more on the archive, please visit www.naa.gov.au

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Feb 21st 2017 - details at http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Australian National Archives preservation facility relocation

From the National Archives in Australia (www.naa.gov.au), news of some forthcoming disruption with regard to its preservation facility in Canberra:

40 million items on the move

The relocation of records to the new National Archives Preservation Facility in Canberra is an exciting evolution for the Archives. The architecturally designed, environmentally sustainable building has storage for approximately 25 per cent of our extensive collection.

It will house 104 kilometres of paper records, more than nine kilometres of audio-visual records and a digital archive, ensuring the preservation and conservation of our irreplaceable collection continues into the future.

There will be disruption to access to the Canberra-based collection from 30 October 2016 to 1 July 2017, as we relocate 15 million records from multiple repositories and rehouse them in the National Archives Preservation Facility.

While we are unable to retrieve all affected records, we have identified high-use records that will continue to be available in the Canberra Reading Room. You can also view digitised records online. Please note that access to records in our state and territory offic
es will not be affected.

For further details visit www.naa.gov.au/collection/managing-collection/securing-national-archives-holdings/napf/index.aspx

(With thanks to the NAA newsletter at http://email.synergymail.com.au/t/ViewEmail/r/3A46784C4B82B2422540EF23F30FEDED/A1D5F02068EAF9FB3EDEEDC46EB9B960)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

National Archives of Australia podcasts

You mean that you didn't know that the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au) had its own podcasts series? Fair enough, neither did I!

Amongst the areas covered are family history, war
and social history, with lectures as diverse as the Dutch in Australia 1606-2006, Australian civil internees of the Japanese, family and local history sources in postal records, woman transported: myth and reality, the Australian Light Horse, shining the light on persoanl war experiences, anbd much, much more.

You can access the archive's library of podcasts at http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/publications/papers-and-podcasts/index.aspx - enjoy!

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Discovering Anzacs website formally launched in Canberra

The Canberra Times has an article on the National Archives of Australia's Discovering Anzacs website, which was formally launched earlier today down under. The site will crowd-source photographs, anecdotes and personal histories to flesh out Australia's collective narrative of the First World War.

For the full story, visit www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/national-archives-crowdsources-data-to-flesh-out-the-nations-world-war-i-story-20141028-11cv6w.html#ixzz3HSdIH7Gt - to access the site itself, visit www.discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au.

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And please consider purchasing the great new version of Caledonia by The Libations at 79p via www.caledonia2014.com - all profits go to help fund Scottish foodbanks