Quoting from PS News Edition, Number 534. Updated Tuesday, 13 December 2016. http://www.psnews.com.au/aps/534/news/archives-revisits-aps-of-the-1950s?utm_source=aps534&utm_medium=email&utm_content=news1&utm_campaign=newsletter_aps
Archives revisits APS of the 1950s
The ACT Records office, ArchivesACT, is putting on show many of the records it holds relating to the 1956 Commonwealth Public Service Entrance Examinations.
The office has released the records at its Find of the Month for December.
Director of Territory Records, Dani Wickman said that, as 2016 was coming to an end, ArchivesACT thought it would be fun to take a look at the entrance exams for the Commonwealth Public Service.
Ms Wickman said the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1902 established that basic entry into the Commonwealth Public Service should be based on an examination designed to test “the efficiency and aptitude of candidates for employment”.
Entrance exam records resurrected
She said the Public Service Commissioner was required to advertise the examinations publicly and widely, and to provide sufficient time and localities to allow as many people as possible the opportunity to compete for employment.
“The examination papers that we have uncovered this month cover a range of entry positions and were administered in Canberra in June 1956,” Ms Wickman said.
“Applicants generally undertook two exams in spelling and arithmetic, and the exams ran to a strict time frame. Entry was quite competitive.”
She said examinations continued to provide entry-level employment into the Public Service until the mid-1990s, when traineeships became the preferred recruitment tool.
“The 1956 Commonwealth Public Service Entry Examinations provide us with a unique snapshot into early Public Service requirements,” Ms Wickman said.
The ArchivesACT Find of the Month for December can be accessed at this PS News link. http://www.archives.act.gov.au/find_of_the_month
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