Subsequent series unregistered

March 1996: Cabinet Notebooks, single number series with 'JH' [John Howard] prefix

Controlling series unregistered

March 1996: Electronic database, from October 1998, 'CABNET' (custom built recordkeeping system for the Cabinet Office)

Summary heading

Series descriptive note

Function and purpose

This series consists of notebooks created by the Cabinet Secretariat, containing handwritten notes of discussions and decisions made at Cabinet meetings, meetings of Cabinet Committees, and occasionally other Cabinet-level meetings such as budget discussions, in the period from August 1950 to June 1996.

This series of Cabinet records is therefore an exception to the general rule that all current record series of the Cabinet office are discontinued when a change of government occurs and new series (with identifiably new controls) are introduced for recording the business of the incoming government.  There was one ongoing series of Cabinet notebooks for forty-six years, from the inception of the practice in 1950 until the beginning of the Howard government in 1996 when a new system, with electronic control, was introduced.

There was, however, a significant variation to the record keeping practice in 1978.  In February of that year (in the middle of the Fraser government period), a new numeric control system was introduced and applied to new books issued from that time.

This system was subsequently applied retrospectively to all the accumulated notebooks up to that time which had been controlled by a name-based system, first to the earlier Fraser notebooks and then to all the rest.  In applying this numeric control - presumably as a nod to the customary policy of segregating the records when there was a change of governing party - the period of the Whitlam Labor government was isolated as a discrete sequence within the series – that is, when the numbering of the books reached the first notebook issued in the Whitlam government period, the numbering was re-commenced from Notebook no 1.  The same policy was applied when the Hawke government took office in 1983.  Consequently, the series now contains a total of five numeric sequences and, for archives purposes, these sequences are controlled as internal ‘sets’ within the one series.

The practice of having a person who was not a member of Cabinet attend meetings to take notes of deliberations and the decision reached was first adopted by the War Cabinet in 1939 when the most senior officer of the War Cabinet Secretariat (Frederick G Shedden, Secretary of the Department of Defence), was admitted to the War Cabinet meetings for the purpose. This procedure, adopted as an expedient in 1939, was formalised in 1941 and continued thereafter until the War Cabinet was abolished in 1946.

While the full Cabinet continued to meet as normal throughout the war, it appears on the evidence of extant records that a similar practice was not adopted by (full) Cabinet until 1950. By August 1950, the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister (Mr A S Brown) was attending Cabinet meetings to take notes.

The purpose of the notes was to accurately record the outcomes of the discussion – which were the decisions of Cabinet.  The notes were intended essentially as an aide-memoire to assist in the preparation of the Minutes.  The Minutes are the formal record created in the Cabinet Secretariat immediately after the conclusion of the meeting.  These Minutes are a record of the decision made in relation to the matters discussed (which were not necessarily limited to the agenda items).  Cabinet decisions are the executive fiat authorising action by the administrative machinery in the Department of State concerned, in pursuit of government policy (constrained of course by legislation – that is what is actually lawful).  The minutes are immediately rushed to the various departmental secretaries for action as required.

To support the principle of Cabinet solidarity (and hence of the absolute confidentiality of the actual discussion at the Cabinet meeting), the Cabinet Secretariat expressly aims for a minimal record output.  Its literature maintains that, ‘Cabinet meetings are essentially meetings without record.’  It should be understood, then, that these notes neither sought to be nor needed to be a verbatim account.  To meet the purpose for which they were created, the note-taker needed only to make notes sufficient to enable him, with the assistance of the agenda and his memory, to draft an accurate summary very shortly after the event.  These notes should not be seen, therefore, as a complete or definitive record of discussions.  Nevertheless, however limited and circumscribed in intent, the notes do identify speakers and sentiments expressed, and, therefore the notebooks have been accorded a high degree of sensitivity. [Note: A Cabinet office official in February 1983 commented ‘These books would generally contain matters more sensitive than any Cabinet Decision because of their function and therefore a very close scrutiny must … be maintained over them.’ (A7753: 1982/37]  Whereas the Minutes themselves are released to the public after 20 years, the Notebooks, uniquely among Commonwealth records, are not made accessible to the public until 30 years after creation (See Archives Act 1983 Section 22A).  Note that the release dates vary from 30 to 50 years, depending on the year the notebooks were created.

The fullness or brevity of the notes varies, depending on the note-taker’s personal style, and the complexity of the subject under discussion.  The notes in the War Cabinet notebooks tend to be very cryptic and are difficult to comprehend without a good understanding of the background.  By contrast, Mr A S Brown, the first of the Cabinet note-takers, adopted a much more expansive, narrative style which is easily comprehensible.  In later years, some note takers used a type of shorthand to make notes, which, in some instances, may be decipherable only to the author. (Unlike the War Cabinet notes which were always written in pencil, the Cabinet notes are written in ink – which also greatly improves their legibility.)

Initially, there was only one note-taker, but this practice changed in later years.  By 1970, the role of the note-taker was described in Cabinet Office literature in the following terms:

Role of the Notetaker: The Secretary to Cabinet, or his or her deputy, attended all Cabinet and Committee meetings, usually accompanied by two other Cabinet officers.  The notetakers’ primary function is to take sufficient notes to enable the writing of Minutes at the end of the meeting.

Number One Notetaker: The Secretary to Cabinet, as the senior notetaker, oversees the process, advised the Prime Minister as required, and signs the Cabinet Minutes.

Number Two Notetaker: Was responsible for the smooth running of the meeting ensuring that co-opted Ministers were available when required, that notetakers changed as necessary and documents were copied and circulated if necessary.  The responsibility also extended to ensuring that full records and attendance lists were kept, including noting arrivals and/or departures of Ministers and any adjournments.

Number Three Notetaker: Made the fullest possible record (but not verbatim) and did not leave the room unless replaced.  Immediately after the meeting, this notetaker briefed the Prime Minister’s Office on outcomes (if necessary); returned to the Cabinet Office staff area to initiate any early action required; and wrote the first draft of the Minute.

Notetaker Three: Would have been the senior official within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and with detailed knowledge of the issues being discussed.

In order to cover unplanned absences, a ‘pool’ of several (very senior) officers of the Department may be authorised at any one time to take Cabinet notes if required.  A notebook is issued for use by one note-taker exclusively - no matter how infrequently he may actually be called on to take notes.  Consequently, there may be large gaps in the dates of meetings for which notes appear in any one book.  When a new book is issued for the first time, the note-taker’s name is entered against the number of the book in the Register; his name is also entered on the front cover of the notebook itself.  As a general principle, the notebooks, while not actually in use for a specific Cabinet meeting, remain in the custody of the Cabinet Office official responsible for their security.  As soon as the write-up the Cabinet Decisions for a meeting is completed, the notebook must be returned immediately by the note-taker to the responsible Cabinet officer.  It is not held by the between meetings.  Access by any other person is very closely controlled and monitored.

Related legislation

 

Using the series

 

Language of material

 

Physical characteristics

As the format of the notebooks was formalised in 1978, when specially designed notebooks with pre-printed control were introduced, the description of their physical attributes falls into two periods:

First period (1950 to 1978)  In this period the notebooks were commercially produced exercise books purchased off-the-shelf from a stationer.  The earliest notebooks are in a smaller notepad format that has been inserted in a larger size cover.  Later notebooks (from number 13 onward) are of a larger format.  All the notebooks so far transferred into custody of NAA were housed in clear plastic sleeves.  The notebooks are hardback books with plain, lined pages.  Each is labelled on the spine with its item number.  The dates of meetings recorded in the book also appear on the spine. (It should be noted however, that the range of dates shown here does not always accurately reflect the contents inside the notebooks.)  The notes are handwritten, in ink.

Second period (since 1978)

The notebooks of this period are distinguished by their blue covers.  The front of the book has provision for recording name (of note-taker), date book issued and date completed.  On the top right-hand corner is a pre-printed control number (simple numeric sequence).  Inside, on the first page, are columns providing for recording of movements of the notebook (each time it is issued to the note-taker and returned to storage in the Cabinet office.).  There are also printed ‘Instructions to Cabinet Secretaries’ (ie note-takers).  The pages are also numbered in the printing.

System of arrangement and control

Though the accumulation of records that constitute this series began in 1950, the current, final system of arrangement and control was not formalised until February 1978.  It was then applied retrospectively and in stages to the accumulation of used books.

It is not clear how the accumulated notebooks were controlled before 1978.  They were identified primarily by the name of the note-taker, and each note-taker may have identified his own books in an informal, numeric sequence but the completed books were likely to have been accumulated in a chronological arrangement (by the date they were completed).  A book called a ‘re-issue register’ was used to track the movement of books.

In October 1976, discussions began in the Cabinet Office to ‘to tighten up and clarify procedures relating to Cabinet notebooks’, perhaps prompted by Departmental Secretary Yeend, who took a personal interest, proposed that ‘numbering of books and numbering of pages is important for record purposes’ (memo of 4 Feb 1977).  After prolonged discussion of a format for a specially printed notebook, an order was eventually placed with AGPS in January 1978, and the new books (distinguished by their blue covers) were introduced from 28 February 1978.

The most significant aspect of this development was that the new notebooks were pre-printed with control numbers, and the first book issued on 28 February was numbered book No 1.  Thereafter, the books would be identified and controlled by one ongoing numerical sequence as they were issued, regardless of the name of the note-taker.

In the next few months, the already completed notebooks of the Fraser government period were also controlled in this way, that is, by being numbered from Notebook number 1 onwards, up to February 1978.  On 23 June, a Cabinet officer reported ‘the superseded Notebooks (Fraser government) have been sorted into name order and within each name - date order.  The books were then numbered sequentially ….’.  Though it is not clear here, a later reference indicates this meant in one numerical sequence throughout from November 1975 to February 1978.  The result was that there were two sequences of numbers for the period of the Fraser government.

In about September 1978, a card index was instituted.  The index comprised of a card with the note-taker’s name as the lead card and behind that a card for each book issued to that note-taker, on which was recorded details of the movement of the book 

By December 1978, the matter of achieving this level of control over the accumulation of books before the Fraser government was addressed by George Nicholls.  He identified the Whitlam period notebooks as constituting one discrete collection: ‘once the total holdings are established, a decision should be made as to the division of the notebooks between the various periods.  The Whitlam government obviously forms one complete unit’.  He decided that all the pre-Whitlam period should be treated as one sequence.  This action then resulted in the identification of four discrete sequences:

     Pre-Whitlam

     Whitlam

     Fraser to Feb 1978

     Fraser post Feb 1978 

The notebooks in the first two sequences were controlled primarily by the note-taker’s name and within that a numerical sequence (though physically they were probably arranged chronologically); those in the third and fourth sequences were controlled in a number sequence which was ongoing regardless of the note-taker.  A survey by Cabinet officer L. Bock dated 4 February 1980 summaries control of the old notebooks as follows:

Pre November 1972 Liberal government notebooks:

‘These books are stored in alphabetical order and each note writer has his set of books numbered consecutively 1 to whatever in date sequence.  A card index system is provided to enable any movement of the books to be recorded.

Whitlam Government Notebooks

‘These books are also stored alphabetically and each note-taker has his books numbered 1 to whatever in date sequence.  A card index system is also provided for these books.

Fraser government Notebooks

‘The first part of the Fraser government notebooks are the same type previously used for other governments.  These are stored in a type of rank order for example, Carmody – Yeend through to Dyster.  These books are numbered 1 – 207 and can be readily retrieved by using the card index system provided.

‘With the new notebooks the numbering system changes in that the books are pre-numbered and issued on request.’

At this time, there was some discussion of a proposal to undo the ‘notewriter sets’ arrangement of the pre-Whitlam and Whitlam period and to re-arrange them into ‘commencement date order’ and then re-number the whole lot including the Fraser books, which ‘would have the advantage of standardising the numbering of all notebooks as the books currently in use are stored in commencement date order.’  This was not effected but at some point subsequent to this, the books in the first two sequences were also numbered in one ongoing sequence within each set.

The notebooks in the period of the Hawke and Keating Labor governments were also controlled as one sequence, with notebooks numbered 1 to 766 (this number range was corrected to 2-767 during the transfer of notebooks in August 2012 - see below for details).

The final state of the control of all the notebooks in this series is as follows:

[Set 1]  :  Pre-Whitlam sequence: (ie Fourth Menzies ministry to MacMahon Ministry) - Numbers 1 to 379 (Date range of contents – ie dates of meetings recorded therein) 25 August 1950 to 26 October 1972

[Set 2] :   Whitlam sequence: Numbers 1 to 159 (Date range 10 January 1973 to 5 November 1975)

[Set 3] :   First Fraser sequence: numbers 1 to 228 (date range 13 December 1975 to 28 March 1980

[Set 4] :   Second Fraser sequence: numbers 1 to 640 (Date range 11 March 1983 to 30 June 1996

[Set 5] :   Hawke/Keating sequence: numbers 1 to 766 (date range 11 March 1983 to 30 June 1996)

Following the transfer in to the Archives of 2,024 notebooks (nearly 40 metres of records) in August 2012, all notebooks in this series are now in the custody of the Archives.  The original transfer of notebooks included numbers 1-95 in Set 1.  The 2012 transfer commences from number 96 in Set 1 and concludes in number 767 in Set 5.

Note the difference in the numerical sequence numbers in Set 5.  This was originally described as 1-766 and has now been corrected to 2-767.

For the purposes of archival control, the control symbol for each notebook must be unique within the series.  For this reason, a two-number system has been imposed by NAA through the series, where the first component of the two-number symbol is the Set number and the second component is the sequential number in that Set.

Occasionally, it happened, usually when a Cabinet meeting was held at very short notice, that a notebook was not available to a note-taker and notes of certain meetings were typed or written on loose pages; these loose pages were subsequently stored inside the notebook that covered the period (where they would have been entered had there been time to have the notebook issued from its secure storage). Where this has occurred, NAA has controlled the loose pages as attachments to the notebooks. For example: item 1/15 ATTACHMENT refers to pages of loose notes that belonged with notebook 15 in Set 1.

Relationships with other records

 

Finding aids

All items of this series in the open access period are entered on RecordSearch.  The card index and registers which have been used to control the notebooks remain in the custody of the Cabinet Office.

There are occasional gaps in the series where notebooks are missing.  It is assumed the missing notebooks were issued to individuals and have not been returned as they have not been found in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).  Moreover, it is assumed by PM&C that any missing notebooks have been destroyed.

Access conditions

Under the terms of the Archives Act Section 22A (1), Cabinet notebooks are in the open access period if a period of 30 years has elapsed since the end of the year ending on 31 December in which the Cabinet notebook came into existence.  Following the advent of the Freedom of Information Amendment Reform Act of 2010, the open access period was reduced from 50 years to 30 years, with the exception of notebooks containing census information (see Archives Act Section 22B).

Series history

 

Provenance

 

Immediate source of acquisition

 

Custodial history

 

Quantity in agency custody

As at August 2012, Cabinet Notebooks from March 1996 onwards remain in the custody of the Cabinet Office.

Disposal history

The notebooks were confirmed as RNA (retain as National Archives) by the Archives in July 2012.

Publication note

 

Additional information

 

End notes

 

Sources

Sources

Cabinet Handbook.