Beatles' passenger cards, Harold Holt's briefcase among National Archives' treasures on move
Updated
A massive logistical effort to move the historic collections of the National Archive of Australia (NAA) to a new state-of-the-art facility in Canberra is almost complete — and the archives have saved the most precious objects until last.
Since November the NAA has been moving more than 15 million items from its old repositories in Mitchell, Greenway and Sydney, to a brand new $64 million facility.
The last items to be moved are those stored within the archives' vault — including the most heavily classified documents and the most interesting and valuable items.
'Funny little things' with enormous value
Assistant director of preservation Cheryl Jackson said the NAA was trusted to hold some of the country's most significant pieces of history under lock and key.
"Things like Harold Holt's briefcase, that he had with him on the day that he went missing at Portsea," she said.
"We also have ceremonial swords, from Lord Stanley Bruce, his tea set."
Interestingly, Ms Jackson said some fairly routine paperwork has become some of the NAA most valuable records.
"Funny little things like the passenger cards from when the Beatles came into the country," she said.
"Their materials are not valuable as such, but they're highly collectible — so we keep them under lock and key to make sure they're safe forever."
If you look closely at John Lennon's passenger card, it seems there was some confusion about his marital status that day.
The items will be stored in one of a series of vaults built to military standard in the new repository.
Relocation project manager James Doig said the vault held heavily classified records and needed to be rated appropriately.
"It's a large, classified room that's been built and accredited according to ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) and ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) standards," he said.
"There's about 20 kilometres of space in the vault, so that should give us enough room for future transfers of classified documents."
Massive move almost complete
The move has been years in the planning and will not be fully complete until July 1.
About 90 per cent of the objects have been shifted and staff moved into the new building last week.
Mr Doig said the sheer size of the standard collection was the primary challenge.
"We've got 114 shelf kilometres or records, comprising probably over 15 million items, and that consists of about 600,000 boxes that have got to be moved," he said.
He said it has also been a big job for the specialist removalists.
"There's been about 720 truck movements, comprising about 12,000 trolleys or cages," he said.
"At the end of it, it'll probably be about one thousand truck moves altogether."
The move has also reduced the capacity of the Archives to handle requests from the public for documents relating to things like family history and military service.
It will return to normal operations in July.
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