The National Archives will celebrate Australia’s (constitutional) birthday tomorrow with the launch of a new look website celebrating Australian democracy.

The Documenting a Democracy website, originally launched five years ago to present the charters of our democracy online, has proved so popular that it has now been redesigned and upgraded to improve public access.

Four new inclusions are previously ‘lost’ documents, found by the Archives in a search in the National Archives, UK in London. They are the 1859 and 1862 Letters Patent founding the Colony of Queensland, launched by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie earlier this year, and Western Australia’s 1828 Instructions to the Admiralty and the handwritten 1831 Commission of Governor Stirling.

The most recent chapter in Australia’s democratic story – the establishment and history of the Australian Capital Territory – will be released and launched later this year, to complete the site.

Documenting a Democracy is ideal for students and teachers because it presents the complete history of democracy in Australia, along with all the documents associated with Federation.

Tomorrow’s date is significant in that Queen Victoria signed her Royal Commission of Assent to Australia’s Constitution on the 9th of July 1900, effective from 1 January 1901.

The new look website will no doubt please the Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery, who recently remarked that too few Australians really understand how we are governed.

‘We know what the structures are – our parliaments, courts and the public service institutions. But we should know more about our Australian Constitution – our legacy from federation,’ he said.

He said that while most Australians take their Constitution for granted, it was the foundation stone of our democracy.

‘It explains the structure and roles of the key institutions in our system of government … and the relationships between them,’ he said.

Normally, visitors to the National Archives in Canberra can see the original Constitution, Queen Victoria’s Royal Commission of Assent and other key founding documents in its Treasures Gallery. The documents have been temporarily removed during gallery renovations but should be on show again by September. In the meantime, see them on the website at www.foundingdocs.gov.au.