Summary heading
CRS A6202 – Exhibits, single letter system
Function and purpose
CRS A6202 comprises Exhibits A to J as tendered to the
Royal Commission on Espionage. These exhibits contain the documents that
Vladimir Petrov supplied to ASIO when he defected in 1954 (known collectively
as the ‘Petrov Papers’).
On 3 April 1954, Vladimir Petrov, Third Secretary of the
Soviet embassy in Canberra, defected to Australia. At the time of defection,
Petrov brought with him a bundle of documents he had access to as the covert
‘Resident’ of the Soviet Ministry of State Security (then the ‘MGB’ but
referred to as the ‘MVD’). These documents, which Petrov handed to the
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), consisted of three
distinct types of records:
- The “Moscow Letters” for 1952 (Exhibits A – F):
photographic prints of six letters dated from January to November 1952
sent from the Soviet Ministry of State Security in Moscow to Petrov as its
resident in Canberra, handwritten and typed notes incorporating the
relevant ‘deciphered list of insertions’ needed to decipher the meanings
of numbers scattered throughout the letters.
- The “G-Series” of documents (Exhibit G): a
miscellaneous collection of hand-written Russian language material dating
from 1948 – 1954, including notes on persons of interest (including code
names) taken from a sealed envelope marked “N”, and Petrov’s notes about
other documents in envelope “N” and the ‘Moscow Letters’ for 1953 and
early 1954.
- Two English language documents written by
Australian journalists (Exhibits H and J): One is a three page document
written by Fergan O’Sullivan giving short profiles of journalists working
in the Canberra press gallery (Exhibit H). The other is a thirty-seven
page document written by Rupert Lockwood, providing information on various
topics, and making certain allegations against a number of prominent
Australians (Exhibit J).
The Royal Commission on Espionage
(RCE) was established in the wake of Petrov’s defection. It was empowered to
investigate the information supplied by Petrov, particularly the nature and
extent of Soviet espionage operations in Australia and the complicity of
Australians in it. The documents Petrov gave to ASIO were tendered as exhibits
on 18 May 1954 at the Royal Commission’s Canberra hearings, and henceforth
became publicly known as Exhibits A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H & J. The Royal
Commission spent a considerable amount of time concerned with establishing the
authenticity of certain of the documents, particularly ‘H’ and ‘J’, which had
become subject to intense political controversy. Ultimately, the Royal
Commission held that the documents provided genuine proof of Soviet espionage
and how some Australians had wittingly and unwittingly assisted it.
Related legislation
Section 6F of the Royal Commissions Act (1902-1933) empowered
Royal Commissions generally to inspect documents and other types of evidence,
to retain them for reasonable periods, and to make copies or take extracts from
them.
Using the series
Exhibits A to G are entirely in Russian, and the
photographic prints of the ‘Moscow Letters’ are encoded and enciphered. As
such, the true meanings can only be understood if read against the literal
translations into English (A6203) and the final version of interpretations
(A6204). It was MVD practice to use code words, names and phrases in its
correspondence that would only be readily intelligible to its operatives. Some
examples from Exhibits A to G include ‘Academy’ (Communist Party) ‘Olympia’
(Moscow) and ‘the village’ (Canberra). In addition, the ‘Moscow Letters’ were
interspersed with numbers that had specific meanings only in the context of a
particular letter. A separate enciphered appendix was used within the embassy
to interpret the meanings of these numbers.
There are various name indexes that can be used to
identify references to specific people in these exhibits. See ‘Finding Aids’
below.
Language of material
Exhibits A to G are in Russian, while H and J are in
English.
Physical characteristics
Exhibits A to F consist of black and white photographic
prints of Russian language documents accompanied by mostly handwritten notes by
Petrov that help to decode and decipher them. The MVD’s practice was to
photograph each of its letters onto 35 mm film. The original paper record was
then destroyed. The undeveloped rolls of film were then despatched by
diplomatic bag, with the necessary enciphered appendices sent separately. The
Soviet embassy would make one print of each letter before destroying the
negatives. The appendices would also be deciphered, and the photographic prints
read against them. Some of the photographic prints in this series have annotations
on them in Petrov’s handwriting. Exhibits G, H and J are paper documents.
Originally, the exhibits were presented to the Royal
Commission in cellophane envelopes in cardboard folders. This original
packaging was removed during conservation treatment in 1982, and the prints and
notes remounted on cardboard and encapsulated in mylar to approximate how they
were presented. Below is a description of each exhibit:
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Exhibit A:
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Consists of the 26 photographic prints comprising the
Moscow Letter of 27 September 1952, two single sided handwritten pages of
notes, and one doubled sided page of notes. These were marked as A1 – A32 by
the RCE.
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Exhibit B:
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Contains the 17 photographic prints that make up the
Moscow Letter of 2 January 1952, with a typed page giving the meanings of
code numbers, and a handwritten foolscap page with information on it. These
were labelled as B1 – B20 by the RCE.
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Exhibit C:
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Consists of the six photographic prints making up the
Moscow Letter of 12 March 1952, and one page of handwritten notes. These were
labelled by the RCE as C1 – C8.
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Exhibit D:
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This exhibit consists of the photographic prints of the Moscow
Letter of 6 June 1952, and three handwritten pages. These were labelled as D1
– D27 by the RCE.
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Exhibit E:
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Contains the 8 prints making up the Moscow Letter of 24
July 1952, one double-sided hand-written foolscap page of notes, and one
single sided foolscap page of notes. These were labelled as ‘E1’ – ‘E11’ by the
RCE. These have been encapsulated to approximate how they were originally
presented.
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Exhibit F:
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Consists of 18 photographic prints comprising the Moscow
Letter of 25 November 1952, and one double-sided handwritten foolscap page of
notes in pencil. These were labelled as F1 – F20 by the RCE.
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Exhibit G:
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Consists of 18 loose hand-written pages in Russian.
These were labelled by the RCE as G1 to G18.
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Exhibit H:
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The original three-page document is typescript on foolscap
sized paper. These three pages are labelled H1 – H3. At some point in time
that cannot be determined, three photostat copies of the exhibit were
enclosed with the original. One is
signed BB Riley on the front page (BB Riley was one of the counsel assisting
the Royal Commission) with copy numbers stamped on the back. The second only
has copy numbers on the back. The third was marked as ‘Copy 4 – from Major
Birse’s binder’ by CP Alpen, the Acting RCE Secretary.
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Exhibit J:
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Consists of thirty-seven typed foolscap pages. These
were labelled J1 – J37 by the RCE. At some stage after the Royal Commission,
three Photostat copies of document J were included with the original exhibit in
A Royal Commission on Espionage exhibit envelope before transfer to National
Archives. One is marked as ‘Copy No 10’ and signed by the RCE Secretary, KH
Herde. Another is labelled ‘Copy from Major Birse’s binder’ and initialled by
CP Alpen (Acting RCE Secretary). The third copy has no notations on it, but
has been foliated J1 – J37 by hand in ink
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The original packaging for these exhibits has been
preserved, and is registered as CRS A6228. A photographic record of what the
exhibits looked like before conservation treatment can be found in CRS A6229.
System of arrangement and control
These records are arranged and
controlled using the single letter system they were marked with at the Royal
Commission. The control symbols range from A-J, with ‘I’ not being allocated.
This alphabetical sequence follows the documents’ original order in the parcel
Petrov handed over to ASIO. To facilitate references to specific parts of the
documents during the Royal Commission, each individual page or document in an
exhibit was numbered sequentially. Accordingly, a reference to ‘A5’ means the
fifth page in Exhibit A, while ‘J1’ is the first page of Exhibit J.
The range of control symbols imposed
by the RCE replaced an earlier alphabetical system used by ASIO (which differed
only in terms of Exhibits H and J) and the numerical identifiers Petrov used to
refer to the documents in his statements of 3 April and 10 May 1954 (1). The
table below relates the present control symbols with the previously used
identifiers:
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Present Control Symbol
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Different identification formerly used by ASIO
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Numbering used by VM Petrov
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A
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2
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B
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3
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C
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4
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D
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5
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E
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6
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F
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7
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G (G1 – G2)
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9
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G (G3)
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12
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G (G4)
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13
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G (G5 – G6)
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8
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G (G7 – G10)
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10
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G (G11 – G12)
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11
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G (G13 – G18)
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14
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H (H1 – H3)
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K.1 – K.3
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15
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J (J1 – J17)
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J.1 –J.17
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1
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J (J18 – J34)
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H.1 – H.17
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1
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J (J35)
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L.1
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1
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J (J36 – J37)
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H.18 – H.19
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1
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Relationships with other records
This series forms part of the body of records created by
the Royal Commission on Espionage. These records can be broadly divided into
three categories: the Records of the Royal Commissioners (series A6214 and
A6215), the Records of the Secretariat (A6213) and the records that were
assembled as a result of the Royal Commission’s investigations (including
exhibits, transcripts of proceedings and reports).
CRS A6203 and CRS A6204 respectively contain the literal
translations and final interpretations of Exhibits A to G. These should be used
to understand the actual meanings of Exhibits A to G.
Copies of Exhibits A to J were also made for reference use
by the Royal Commissioners, and can be found in CRS A2614 – Commissioner Owen’s
copies of reference material and CRS A6215 – Commissioner Philp’s copies of
reference material.
During the Royal Commission, the authenticity of the
documents Petrov handed over to ASIO was called into question. In response, the
Menzies government authorised the publication in book form of expurgated
original Russian versions of Exhibits A to G. This project was later abandoned,
but not before a mock-up and proof copies of the intended book had been
produced. CRS A6205 - Mock-up volume of facsimile reproductions of Exhibits A-G
contains the mark up, while there are two proof copies in CRS A6206 - Proof
volumes of facsimile reproductions of Exhibits A-G.
In 1982, Exhibits A to J underwent considerable
conservation treatment by the National Archives. As a result of this, the
original packaging was removed. This has been preserved, and registered as a
separate series - A6228. Photographic records exist to document how the
exhibits looked before and after treatment (CRS A6229 and A6230).
Finding aids
Certain name indexes for these exhibits are in existence. The
oldest - the RCE Secretariat’s name index to Exhibits A to G has been
registered as CRS A6209 – Alphabetical index to persons mentioned in exhibits A
– G. Another copy of this index exists in CRS A6214 – Commissioner Owen’s copies
of reference materials (item 2). The Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet also prepared a name index to RCE records (including CRS A6202) as part
of the access examination process in 1984: CRS A11025 – Name index cards to
records of the Royal Commission on Espionage.
The National Archives of Australia has produced Fact Sheet
130 – The Royal Commission on Espionage 1954-1955, which details
holdings of records relating to the defection of Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov
and the subsequent Royal Commission on Espionage. Copies of this can be
obtained in National Archives Reading Rooms, and online at: http://naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/FS130.html
Series history
This series, along with other records of the Royal
Commission on Espionage, was transferred to National Archives in September
1984. The series was originally accessioned as AA1984/314. Prior to transfer,
considerable work was done on the series by the National Archives in
preparation for their early release to the public on 24 September 1984 under
the accelerated release provisions of the Archives Act 1983.This
included conservation treatment, conversion into CRS series and access
examination.
Arrangement and description work on this series was undertaken
in April 2005 as part of a Collection Development project involving multiple
record series associated with the Royal Commission on Espionage. As a result of
this work, the series was properly described at item and series level in
RecordSearch, and re-packaged and rehoused in acid-free containers where
necessary.
Custodial history
Whilst in ASIO custody, the documents Petrov supplied were
photographed, ascribed alphabetical identifiers (explained above) and the their
translation and decipherment was begun. To provide the Royal Commission with
better reference copies, the NSW Police took another set of photographs in May
1954.
After the Royal Commission, these exhibits appear to have
been in the custody of ‘D’ Branch in
the Attorney General’s Department (2). By the time the RCE Secretariat had
ceased to function in August 1957, these exhibits, along with the other RCE
Records, were stored in the Cabinet Secretariat at the Prime Minister’s
Department in Canberra. Between September 1975 and May 1977, the RCE records
were provided to the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (RCIS).
After the records were returned to the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet, an archivist from the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) was engaged to properly index and catalogue them.
As a consequence of this work, the then Australian Archives was engaged to
undertake conservation work on the records. In relation to Exhibits A to J,
this involved removing the original packaging, special treatment to retard
deterioration of the photographic prints (including treatment for acidity in
the photographic paper) and removal of “Milliner’s Solution” which had been
used to expunge certain sections of the prints as part of a project to
reproduce them for publication.
Publication note
Expurgated versions of the final
translations were made public in the appendices of the Report of the Royal
Commission on Espionage dated 22 August 1955. The expunged sections were
included in the top secret Annexure to the Report of the Royal Commission on
Espionage, which accompanied the final report but was never published. By
order of the Royal Commission, Exhibits H and J were never to be published on
the grounds that they contained defamatory allegations against certain persons.
When a sub-committee of Cabinet considered the accelerated release of the RCE
records in 1984, it was decided that both documents should be released in their
entirety.
Robert Manne made extensive use
of the Royal Commission on Espionage records, including items in CRS A6202, in
the course of researching his book - The Petrov Affair: Politics and
Espionage (Sydney, 1987).
End notes
(1)
See Exhibits 8 and 10 in CRS A6201.
(2)
See letter, CP Alpen, Acting Secretary, RCE to Deputy
Director-General (Operations) “D” Branch. A6213, RCE/Y/1.