National Archives of Australia

11/09/2026

🔎 Searching for Floyd’s family at Floriade?

Floriade kicks off tomorrow! Make National Archives part of your spring plans with family-friendly activities, stories, a little gnome-hunting and a day of classic Holdens.

🩷 Find Floyd’s Family
Floyd’s family of 39 gnomes has gone missing, and one is hiding at National Archives! Follow the clues and see if you can find Floyd before the hunt ends on 27 September: https://bit.ly/4d3bvlA

🚗 Show and shine day
Tomorrow, Saturday 12 September, join us for a free family day celebrating Rear vision: the Holden collection, with classic Holden cars, live music, food, crafts and activities for all ages: https://bit.ly/4gIwtIY

📚 Stories in bloom: Murrulangalang Storytime
Enjoy interactive storytelling, music, craft and sensory activities for young children: https://bit.ly/4cu0Yjd

🌷 A city in bloom: Floriade school holiday program
Discover Canberra’s history through records about Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin, then create your own vibrant flower sculpture: https://bit.ly/3UJE01q

10/09/2026

When Australia went to war, Holden changed gears. ⚙️🛩️

As the Second World War disrupted Australia's overseas supply lines, Holden transformed its factories for the war effort, with 80 to 90 per cent of its manufacturing shifting to military production.

It produced 200 types of military vehicles, as well as aircraft engines, wings, anti-tank guns, artillery shells and bombs.

Holden also became part of the nationwide production network for the Bristol Beaufort bomber. At its Woodville plant in South Australia, Holden produced around 9.59 million pressed parts and 910 fuel tanks during the war.

With the threat of a single bomb destroying a major factory, production was spread across factories and subcontractors around Australia.

The wartime effort transformed Holden’s factories, workforce and manufacturing capabilities, helping pave the way for Australia’s first fully Australian-made car.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/46dalA4

This story features in ‘Rear vision: the Holden collection’, now on display at National Archives in Canberra, an exhibition developed by the State Library of South Australia in partnership with Adelaide University.
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Image descriptions:

Image one: A wartime production display showing anti-tank gun production figures, with the message ‘Anti-tank guns. Fill up the blanks – stop Hitler's tanks’ and weekly production figures.

Image two: A Bristol Beaufort bomber aircraft parked on an open airfield.

Image three: Workers in an industrial factory constructing Beaufort bomber fuel tanks. The production floor contains workbenches, machinery and workers assembling components.

Image four: A typed list of munitions being produced by General Motors-Holden Ltd, including different types of military equipment and their production quantities.

08/09/2026

📍 A look inside our WA office in the Perth’s suburb of Northbridge, located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

The exhibition space is open Monday – Thursday, 9:30am to 4:30 pm, featuring a rotating program of local and travelling exhibitions, so there's often something new to discover.

Our Research Centre is open Tuesday–Thursday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, with visits booked in advance.

🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cMu7WP

03/09/2026

How do you go to school when your teacher is hundreds of kilometres away? 📻

In 1951, School of the Air brought a new approach to distance education to remote Australia.

From student magazines and drawings to lesson summaries and photographs, the national archival collection captures what life was like for students and teachers learning across the outback.

You can see this display at National Archives in Canberra, or read more about the history of School of the Air: https://bit.ly/4ukwB5m

02/09/2026

How do you choose a national flag? 🇦🇺

In 1901, Australia put the question to the public.

More than 32,000 designs were submitted to a competition to create a flag for the new Commonwealth. Five virtually similar designs were selected as joint winners.

The design was approved by King Edward VII in 1902 and, in 1904, Federal Parliament resolved that it be flown on Commonwealth forts, vessels, saluting places and public buildings.

It wasn’t until 1953 that the Flags Act formally declared it to be the Australian National Flag and prescribed its form and use.

125 years after it was first flown, explore records from the original competition and discover more about the flag’s story: https://bit.ly/4i7dhWn

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Image descriptions:

Image one: Hand-drawn flag design on a blue field, with the Union Jack in the upper-left corner and six stars underneath. The Southern Cross constellation appears on the right, with a cross-shaped mark in the centre. Handwritten notes appear around the design

Image two: Two hand-drawn flag designs. The upper design has a blue field, a diagonal white band with black stars and the Union Jack in the upper-right corner on a red background. The lower design has a white field, red stars arranged in the shape of the Southern Cross and the Union Jack in the upper-right corner.

Image three: Hand-drawn flag design with the Union Jack in the upper-left corner, blue and white horizontal stripes and a red section on the right containing white stars in the shape of the Southern Cross.

Image four: Cover of the 'Flags Act 1953’. The page has the Australian Coat of Arms above the title and text referring to the Queen, Senate and House of Representatives.

Image five: Document showing two Australian flags. The Australian National Flag has a blue field with the Union Jack, a seven-pointed Commonwealth Star and Southern Cross. The Australian Red Ensign has the same design on a red field.

02/09/2026

How can archives better connect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Communities with their archival materials?

Join Dr Narissa Timbery for the Australian Society of Archivists 2026 Loris Williams Memorial Lecture.

Drawing on her journey from Aboriginal archival studies student to academic and researcher, Dr Timbery will share the experiences, challenges and insights that have shaped her career.

📅 Tuesday 8 September
🕒 2 to 3:30 pm AEST
💻 Online
🎟️ Free

Register now: https://bit.ly/4gONYG9

Please join us online for the 2026 Loris Williams Memorial Lecture, presented by Dr Narissa Timbery.

NAIDOC week 2026 '50 Years Deadly' celebrated looking back at what came before, where we are now, and what is to come. A time to reflect on and celebrate our Elders, Leaders and Communities. In honouring the Archival Community, 2026 marks 20 years from the inaugural Loris Williams Memorial Lecture delivered by Professor Kirsten Thorpe and Ann Wright.

The presentation in part, assessed the current position of Indigenous people employed in archives & undertaking studies in archives and records in Australia. As an Aboriginal archival student at the time Narissa was counted in that small group. 2026 also marks 30 years on from the first ASA Policy on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Records.

Throughout this lecture Narissa will share some highs and lows that have framed her career, kept her grounded and were why she loved the work she did.

FREE, but registration is essential.

📅 Tuesday 8 September 2026 | 2:00–3:30 PM (AEST) | 📍 Online

🔗 https://buff.ly/bZ8iJpj

31/08/2026

What if the archives held a photo of your family you'd never seen before? 👀

Archival Officer Tash discovered exactly that when she found a record about her grandfather.

What could you discover about your family? Start your search at the link in our bio 🔎

27/08/2026

18,000 people ordered a car they hadn’t even seen. 👀🚗

When Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched the 48-215 in 1948, he had just three words for Australia’s own car:

‘She’s a beauty!’ 🇦🇺

Better known as the FX, it was an instant hit. Before it even hit the roads, 18,000 people had put down a deposit without seeing it.

At £733, it cost the average worker the equivalent of 94 weeks’ wages. But demand was so strong, Holden couldn’t make them fast enough.

Between 1948 and 1953, Holden produced around 120,402 FXs, helping establish it as an Australian automotive icon.

Discover the people, innovations and decisions behind General Motors-Holden in Rear vision: the Holden collection, now on display at National Archives in Canberra.

‘Rear vision: the Holden collection’ is an exhibition developed by the State Library of South Australia in partnership with Adelaide University.

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Image descriptions:

Image one: Promotional pamphlet for the Holden 48-215, titled ‘Australia's Own Car’, showing a Holden car against a blue background with promotional text.

Image two: Black-and-white photograph of Prime Minister Ben Chifley at the launch of the first Holden car in 1948. Chifley stands beside the Holden 48-215 with other people gathered around the car.

Image three: Black-and-white photograph showing the bonnet of a Holden car, with the Holden emblem and bonnet ornament visible.

24/08/2026

📍 A look inside our NT office in the heart of Darwin City, located on the traditional lands of the Larrakia people.

Close to the Territory Library and Archives, you can spend the day discovering records that tell the story of the Northern Territory, its government and its people.

The Research Centre is open Wednesday–Friday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, with visits booked in advance.

🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cIwfwJ