The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP, will officially open the new premises of the National Archives of Australia at Cannon Hill in Brisbane on Friday, 20 February 2004 at 5.30 pm.
The following day, the Archives will open its doors from 10 am to 4.30 pm for the public to inspect the new facilities and take a ‘behind the scenes' tour.
On display will be some of the most valuable records in the Brisbane collection. These include John Bradford's journal detailing his experiences when surveying the telegraph route from Cooktown to Cape York; original lighthouse plans; a four-metre long petition to extend a telegraph line to Burketown; trademark registers including an 1894 Castlemaine XXXX trademark; and historic Queensland photographs from the ‘Loder' collection.
Also on show will be a variety of Certificates of Exemption from the Dictation Test, dating between 1888 and 1905. Relating mostly to Chinese Australians, these certificates were required by residents who travelled abroad to allow them to re-enter Australia.
The Archives has been in Cannon Hill since 1962 but recently relinquished the oldest of the several buildings it occupied to consolidate its operations in the newest, built in 1979. That building has now undergone major renovation and refurbishment including new reading room, office, records handling areas, conference room and public and staff amenities.
The Director-General of the National Archives, Ross Gibbs, said that the decision to remain at Cannon Hill had been greatly assisted by its consultation process with stakeholders.
‘Overwhelmingly the feedback was that we should stay at Cannon Hill, so once that was settled we decided to upgrade our facilities which I'm sure will please our researchers and visitors,' Mr Gibbs said.
Upgrades to the plant and machinery means that the Archives now has 27,000 metres of shelf space in a state of the art repository where temperature and humidity is maintained at 20 degrees and 50 per cent. The upgrade also includes improved access for researchers and visitors including a new entrance on Corporate Drive and additional visitor parking.