Summary heading

Function and purpose

 This series consists of four folders containing copies of written submissions received from private persons and organisations (thus not including ‘official’ submissions from government agencies) up to Submission No 50 only (received 3 March 1975). It is therefore not a complete set of all private submissions. The full set is contained in series CRS A12385.

Most of these submissions were received in response to advertisements in the press, the earliest appearing in November 1974, inviting interested persons to submit their views. They include written submissions from officers of security agencies, such as the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO), expressing their personal views. (Official submissions are mostly contained in Series A12389).

The original of the submission was placed on a file created for the purpose in the series A12385.

A photocopy of the submission was made and placed in this series. It appears likely that all these copies were created at the one time in March 1975. At that time a list of submissions received to date was typed up and placed in a new file (No K/26 of series A12384).  Thereafter this list was used as a register of new submissions and shows that submissions were received up to number 93. The copies in this series were intended presumably to be a discrete reference collection of private submissions received. However no further submissions were copied and added to this series after No 50A, received on 3 March 1975.

Some private submissions were received in the course of public hearings and may also registered as Exhibits in series CRS A12388.

In some cases a registered ‘submission’ consisted only of a statement of intent to lodge a submission at a later date.

Physical characteristics

  At the time of transfer to the custody of the Archives, the records of this series were contained in three two-post binders, with some loose inclusions. Re-packaging by the Archives in June 2002 has resulted in an arrangement of two original folders and two Archives’ acid-free folders, resulting in four items in total.

System of arrangement and control

 The series consists of four folders each containing a range of submissions. The folders are number in a simple numeric sequence 1 to 4. The submissions themselves are controlled by a simple numerical sequence in the range 1 to 50A. Alpha suffixes indicate that a second or third submission was received from the same person or organisation.

Relationships with other records

 File K/26 series A12384 is a register of private submissions received, showing the file in series A12385 on which the submission was placed.

File K/23 of series A12384 is a summary of private submissions that had been received as at 5 Feb 1975 categorised under headings such as ‘interesting - general’.  It shows subject matter and some with comments by a Royal Commission officer.

File K/24 is a file of requests to ASIO for Guidance checks on background of some persons making submissions (ie persons not already known to Royal Commission staff).

Finding aids

 Note that the series HA1 in the Inventory of records (CRS A12396) describes a conceptual series of all private submissions. It did not exist as a physically discrete record series. The items in CRS A12387 are identified in the HA1 description as ‘Segment C’ of this conceptual series.

Custodial history

 Following the closure of the Royal Commission in 1977 the records were transferred to the custody of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (in Canberra) where they remained until transferred to National Archives of Australia in 2001.