We collect Australian Government records, manage them, preserve them and make them public.



We do this so everyone can access evidence of government decisions and actions, making them transparent and accountable.



We also:

• help Australian Government employees working in information management
• research and innovate so we can be a world-leading archive in the digital age.

We collect records

We collect important Australian Government records.

These include:

• papers and reports
• letters, notes and memos
• photographs
• films
• audio recordings
• digital files.

Most records are now created digitally. However, we still have more than 40 million physical items in our collection.

We manage records

We manage the Australian Government records that come into our collection.

This includes organising and describing them.

Learn more about managing the collection.

We preserve records

We preserve items in our care so future Australians can access and learn from them.

We:

• keep physical and digital items in high-quality storage
• target and care for at-risk records.

We also educate the community about how to preserve archival records that relate to Australia.

Learn more about preserving the collection.

We provide access to records

We give Australians access to the records in our collection.

You can access these records:

• online, using RecordSearch
• in person, at one of our research centres.

Learn more about accessing the collection.

We help information managers

We help information managers in government agencies follow best practices for managing and preserving government information, data and records.

Learn more about information management.

We research and innovate

Through research, we explore emerging practices and technologies to enable us to be a world-leading archive in the digital age.

Learn more about our innovation and research.