Summary heading

A6221 – Secretariat’s copies of Annexure to the Report of the Royal Commission on Espionage.

Function and purpose

This series consists of two items: Copies Nos 3 and 5 of the ‘Annexure to the Report of the Royal Commission on Espionage’. These are official copies of the original signed Annexure, which was presented with their final report by the Royal Commissioners to the Governor General on 22 August 1955. ‘Copy No 2’ and ‘Copy No 5’ embossed in gold on the front covers identify these copies as those received by the Royal Commission Secretary and one retained ‘on hand’ in the Secretariat (1).  There are no annotations on these copies, but Copy No 5 contained a loose carbon copy of a Top Secret name index to the Annexure.

The Annexure itself is a 20-page document consisting of excerpts from the ‘Moscow Papers’ and ‘in camera’ evidence that the Royal Commissioners withheld from their final report. This included the names of certain foreign diplomats in Australia, officers of the Department of External Affairs and slanderous material which the Royal Commissioners and / or government agencies felt should not be made public, and so could not be published. The Annexure was intended for ‘official eyes only’ and had a very limited distribution (2):

The Royal Commissioners left any decision to publish the Annexure to the government (3). The Annexure was not tabled in Parliament with the Report on the Royal Commission on Espionage on 14 September 1955.   

Related legislation

The Letters Patent authorising the investigation and report of the Royal Commission on Espionage was issued pursuant to Section 3 of the Royal Commissions Act 1954. The legal and constitutional authority of the Royal Commission was later confirmed and strengthened by Section 5 of the Royal Commission on Espionage Act 1954.      

Using the series

 The Annexure should be read in conjunction with the Report on the Royal Commission on Espionage to understand the information withheld from the latter.  

Physical characteristics

These copies of the Annexure are red leather bound volumes with limp covers. The Australian Coat of Arms is embossed in gold on the front covers, along with: ‘Commonwealth of Australia 1954-1955 - ANNEXURE TO THE REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON ESPIONAGE SYDNEY - 22^nd August 1955. Each copy has its respective copy number (‘Copy No 3’ and ‘Copy No 5’) similarly embossed on the top right hand corner. The volumes each contain 20 numbered carbon copy pages.

Copy No 5 contained a loose, 4 page carbon copy of a Top Secret name index to the Annexure attached to a red Prime Minister’s Department Top Secret file cover. This has been removed from the item and registered as a sub item of it.

System of arrangement and control

Items in this series were uncontrolled when received into the Archives. Initially, the items were controlled as ‘WHOLE SERIES’. However, A single number system has been imposed upon it as a result of work by Arrangement and Description in April 2005, with [1] – [2/1] being the range of control symbols.

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 assembled as a result of the Royal Commission’s investigations (exhibits, transcripts of proceedings and reports etc).

Originally the Secretariat retained two copies of the Royal Commission’s Report, to which these two copies of the Annexure belong. One of the Report copies was used in the editorial process for publication and was subsequently destroyed. The other Secretariat copy of the Report is now in A6218.

There are several other bound copies of the Annexure in the National Archives collection. These include the original signed copy presented to the Governor General (A6219), the Prime Minister’s copy (A6220) and Mr Justice Philp’s copy (A6215). An unbound copy is also filed in the Secretariat’s correspondence files (A6213, RCE/V/16).    

Finding aids

The Royal Commission on Espionage prepared a typescript index to the Annexure, arranged alphabetically by surname / subject. One copy of this can be found in CRS A6213 as item RCE/V/10 (item barcode 240892). Another copy was found in one of the Secretariat’s copies of the Annexure in CRS A6221, and has been registered as item 2/1 (item barcode 8917126)

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also indexed names mentioned in the Annexure during their access examination of RCE records in 1984. The resulting index, which covers a number of different RCE series, is now registered as CRS A11025 – but is closed to public access.  

Series history

Along with other Royal Commission on Espionage records, this series was received into Archives custody from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1984. It was formerly accession AA1984/503. Arrangement and description work was undertaken in April 2005 as part of a Collection Development Project involving multiple series of records associated with the Royal Commission on Espionage. As a result of this work, a single number system for control was imposed, the series descriptive note updated, and the item rehoused in an acid free container.     

Custodial history

Along with the Secretariat’s other records, this item was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department after the RCE Secretariat ceased to function in 1957. The RCE records remained in the Cabinet Secretariat until the mid 1970s, when they were lent to the Royal Commission on the Intelligence Services (RCIS). After being returned to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, an archivist from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was engaged to properly catalogue and index the records. As a consequence of this work, the then Australian Archives was asked to undertake conservation work on the collection. In relation to CRS A6221, this work was minimal (some interleaving of acid free folios into the volumes) since the items were found to be in good condition.  

End notes

(1)  ‘Distribution of Annexure to Report’. A6213, RCE/V/16

(2)  ‘Distribution of Annexure to Report’. A6213, RCE/V/16

(3)  Report of the Royal Commission on Espionage, p. 181.