The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was established on 16 March 1949 to protect the Commonwealth from espionage and sabotage, and from the actions of persons or organisations (from both inside and outside Australia) judged to be subversive to the security of the Commonwealth. In pursuit of these objectives, ASIO gathered information on a number of prominent Australian literary groups and writers from 1949 onwards. ASIO also inherited earlier records from the Commonwealth Investigation Service and other security and police agencies.
The Archives in Canberra holds ASIO files on several Australian literary groups and a large number of Australian writers. Files on individuals are particularly useful in showing their social and political involvement and the causes to which they lent their time and talents.
Please note that the Archives does not hold all ASIO files on literary groups and individual writers, but only those files which have been made available following applications for access under the Archives Act 1983. Files on other groups or individuals may exist in ASIO's custody and you may apply to us for access to material that is more than 30 years old on any as yet unreleased ASIO files. See Fact Sheet 33 – Security intelligence records held in Canberra for details on how to apply for access to ASIO records. Reference staff will assist you in making your application.
All ASIO records are photocopied before they are released for public access. The copies are made available once information identified in them as exempt under the Archives Act has been deleted. Further information about the types of information in ASIO records that is withheld is available in Fact Sheet 52 – Exempt information in ASIO records.
New material from ASIO is continually becoming available to public researchers, so you should regularly search the RecordSearch database to ensure that you are aware of the most recent material.
| Literary group | Date | Series & item no. |
|---|---|---|
ASIO subject files | 1949–ongoing | |
Australian Book Society | 1952–1958 | 1192, 1193, 1234 to 1245, 1266 |
Communist Party of Australia – Writers' Conference | 1953 | 1078 |
Fellowship of Australian Writers | 1935–1963 | 189 to 191, 1493 to 1495 |
Left Book Club | 1938–1941 | 125 |
Left Book Shop | 1938–1962 | 1347 |
Meanjin (magazine) | 1954–1961 | 1152, 1153 |
New Theatre League | 1936–1965 | 411 to 419, 1640 to 1646, 1651 to 1700 |
Realist Writers' Group | 1945–1964 | 1213 to 1216 |
ASIO film | 1949–ongoing | |
New Theatre League (1955 conference)
| 1955 | 32/1/1 volume 2 |
| Name of writer | Date | Series & item no. |
|---|---|---|
ASIO personal files | 1949–ongoing | |
Christesen, Clem | 1949–1960 | 94, 275 to 277, 477, 478 |
Christesen, Nina | 1949–1960 | 94, 475, 476 |
Cusack, Dymphna | 1948–1957 | 315, 1555 |
Dark, Eleanor | 1945–1964 | 481 |
Eldershaw, Flora | 1945–1956 | 297 |
Gilmore, Mary | 1949–1960 | 281, 473, 474 |
Gray, Oriel | 1946–1959 | 660 |
Hardy, Frank | 1950–1963 | 286 to 289, 469, 1048, 1049 |
Hart-Smith, William | 1961–1962 | 944 |
Herbert, Xavier | 1957–1958 | 274 |
Ingamels, Rex | 1949–1952 | 291 |
Kaufmann, Walter | 1949–1963 | 515, 516 |
McKinney, Judith (Judith Wright) | 1954–1961 | 630 |
Marshall, Allan | 1949–1960 | 511 |
Moore, Tom Inglis | 1958–1963 | 521 |
Mudie, Ian | 1949–1961 | 659 |
Murdoch, Walter | 1940–1960 | 754 |
Murray-Smith, Stephen | 1947–1960 | 68, 69, 279, 280, 468 |
Palmer, Nettie | 1948–1954 | 112, 470 |
Palmer, Vance | 1948–1954 | 112 |
Pearl, Cyril | 1937–1954 | 103, 448, 1583 |
Prichard, Katherine Susannah | 1919–1958 | 42, 44, 207, 208, 366, 377 |
Robinson, Roland | 1952–1962 | 663, 1183 |
Simpson, Colin | 1945–1959 | 457 |
Slessor, Kenneth | 1959 | 1289 |
Stivens, Dal | 1951–1961 | 985 |
Tennant, Kylie | 1935–1959 | 283, 447 |
Wannon, Bill | 1948–1962 | 1197 |
Waten, Judah | 1928–1962 | 101, 264, 357, 446, 814 to 819 |
You can obtain more information about the record series listed above (and the items within the series) fromRecordSearch, the Archives database. Follow the links in the series lists to go directly to information on that series. You can also use RecordSearch to find out about the agencies that created the records and to locate more records on your subject. You might also explore PhotoSearch to find out if there are photos pertaining to your subject.
RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online or in all Archives reading rooms. Reference staff are available in the reading rooms to help you, or email ref@naa.gov.au.
Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au
updated January 2004