National Archives of Australia, New South Wales State Office, Sydney

Identity area

Identifier

daa/28

Authorized form of name

Parallel form(s) of name

Other form(s) of name

Type

National

Contact area

Manager Reference and Access Services New South Wales

Type

Address

Street address

120 Miller Road, Chester Hill
Postal address: Locked Bag 4, Chester Hill NSW 2162

Locality

Sydney

Region

New South Wales

Country name

Postal code

2162

Telephone

02 9782 4900

Fax

Email

National Reference Service: 'Ask us a question about records in the collection' forms at: https://www.naa.gov.au/help-your-research/ask-us-about-collection

URL

http://www.naa.gov.au

Note

Description area

History

See National Archives of Australia, National Office

Geographical and cultural context

Mandates/Sources of authority

Archives Act 1983 (Cth)

Administrative structure

Officer-in-charge: Regional Manager Central, New South Wales State Office, Sydney

Records management and collecting policies

See National Archives of Australia, National Office

Buildings

Holdings

The oldest document in the National Archives’ collection held in Sydney is a Deed of Title signed on 1 May 1804 by Governor Philip Gidley King. The deed allows the allotment of land in Pitts Row (now Pitt Street) to be transferred to Matthew Kearns for 14 years. This site later became the ‘Pitt Street Extension’ of the Sydney General Post Office.

Other highlights of the collection include:

NSW post office records dating from 1830s; and
NSW plans and drawings of post offices, customs houses, army and navy establishments, and Government House Sydney dating from 1860s including original coloured drawings by the Colonial Architect James Barnet.

Also included are:

NSW colonial trademark records from the 1860s and copyright records from the 1870s;
NSW meteorological journals of the Government Observatory, Parramatta, from 1822 to 1836;
records of the Cockatoo Island dockyard from the 1860s;
records of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from the 1930s; and
sound and moving image collections including Damien Parer’s Kokoda Front Line, Prime Minister Ben Chifley’s declaration of peace on 15 August 1945, decimal currency television and radio commercials, and the ABC’s Seven Little Australians.

The Sydney Office holds over 25 shelf kilometres of audiovisual material including material from the Australian Broadcasting Commission/ Corporation, Screen Australia, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, the Department of Defence and significant Commonwealth Persons including Prime Ministers.

Finding aids, guides and publications

The National Archives’ collection database, RecordSearch, gives online access to the National Archives’ holdings Australia-wide.
For access to RecordSearch, see the link from www.naa.gov.au.
For a list of research guides to the National Archives’ collection, see: https://www.naa.gov.au/help-your-research/research-guides

Access area

Opening times

The research centre is open Wednesday to Friday 10am–4pm.
Closed on public holidays.
Note: For up-to-date information on opening times, see https://www.naa.gov.au/visit-us/new-south-wales#nsw-visitor

Access conditions and requirements

See National Archives of Australia, National Office

Accessibility

Maps and information about parking, public transport and onsite wheelchair access to the research centre are available at: https://www.naa.gov.au/visit-us/new-south-wales#nsw-visitor

Services area

Research services

See National Archives of Australia, National Office

Reproduction services

Information about ordering copies of records and associated fees is available at https://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/our-services/supplying-digital-copies-records