Discover how laws have been developed, discussed and implemented, directly affecting people and communities in Australia.

A letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It explains that the number of people enlisting is less than a third of the reinforcements needed.

National Archives is committed to ensuring people with disability can fully participate in all we have to offer.

Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce is not generally remembered for being a man of the people. Yet if there was one thing that he shared with ordinary Australians, it was a great love of sport.

A black-and-white photograph of Indigenous activist, leader and public servant Charles Perkins at his desk at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra.

Learn how Australia became a nation and how we make laws and elect people to represent us in Parliament.

This is a memorandum to the Secretary, Department of External Affairs, about the film 'Land short of people', in circulation in South East Asia.

Changes to the Defence Act which allow people 'not substantially of European origin or descent' to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force.

Over 400,000 people enlisted to do their part in ‘The Great War’. Even more tried to sign up. Unfortunately, enthusiasm wasn’t always a match for the Army’s exacting standards.

A 1968 photograph of Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose working out at a gymnasium, most-likely at the home of his trainer, Jack Rennie, in Essendon.

Ever since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Jewish people have been a small but significant group in Australian life.

Many migrants celebrated their cultural heritage by establishing and joining clubs. This helped people to overcome the isolation of being in a new country.

This is an agreement about the migration, to Australia, of thousands of people in Europe who had become displaced because of the Second World War.

During the Second World War, many people of Japanese ancestry who lived in Australia were imprisoned in internment camps.

National Archives announces new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols to guide its way forward on Indigenous community engagement and records management.

A black-and-white photograph of Aboriginal man Jimmy Clements (1847–1927), known as 'King Billy', standing outside (then) Parliament House in Canberra in 1927.

The Australian Constitution sets out the principles and guidelines for how the country is run. It can only be changed with the approval of the Australian people at a referendum.

The National Archives of Australia reports to and is accountable to the Australian people. We commit to government transparency and accountability, as well as Australia's democratic process.

This record is an action sheet produced by the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), an organisation that managed a nationwide ‘Yes’ campaign for the 1967 referendum.

This 1944 article from the Sydney Morning Herald promotes a population goal of 30 million people by 1977 to protect Australia from invasion.