FUNCTION AND CONTENT

The series consists of documentary evidence tendered, known as exhibits, during the examination or re-examination of each witness before the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s (CA 3993).   Exhibits can be either original items or copies of items, including departmental files, reports, correspondence, maps, clothing, personal diaries and logbooks, and photographs.

For each exhibit a cover sheet was prepared on which was recorded the following details :  exhibit number, date tendered, place tendered, witness, source/circumstances, description, transcript.

There is some duplication amongst the exhibits, eg documents originating in the United Kingdom may appear both at their point of origin (in RC558 or RC559) and in the Australian Collation (RC800) having been drawn from Australian Government files where they were placed on receipt.  Some exhibits are duplicates of documents already tendered, eg RC683, RC730 and RC739.

On occasion, composite sets of exhibits were tendered separately, four of which are of considerable size (the first three listed below were compiled after being identified by the Royal Commission, its staff and representatives of the parties as being relevant to the Commission's Terms of Reference):

RC558
Ten volumes of documents copied from UK Ministry of Defence files in London and at Aldermaston.

RC559
Six volumes of documents copied from files of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.

RC800
'The Australian Collation' - 86 volumes of documents copied from Australian, South Australian and Western Australian Government files.  By far the major exhibit prepared and used by the Commission's research team, it consists of photocopies of material from original correspondence and reports, filed chronologically.   This exhibit is arranged in annual volumes (with parts), for the period 1946 - 1985.  Four sets of this exhibit were maintained, ie master copy, research copy, commissioners' copy, counsels' copy.

RC819
'The Aboriginal Collation' - 14 volumes of documents identified from the Australian Government, South Australian and Western Australian Government files and other sources by representatives of the Aboriginal people as being relevant to the Terms of Reference.

Extracts from both CRS A6454 ('Z' series) and  A6456 ('R' series) have been tendered as evidence and form part of this series.  Some items in this series are original items topnumbered from CRS A6454 or A6456 - photocopies of these were substituted for the originals in A6454 or A6456.  In some cases, the reverse situation is evident, ie the originals reside in CRS A6454 or A6456, and copies placed in A6455.

USING THE SERIES

System of Arrangement and Control

Exhibits have been grouped into an alpha-numeric system according to the organisation which originally tendered them, ie

    AB1 - 21,     Aboriginal Affairs
    AG1 - 13,     Attorney-General's
    AN1 -  3,     ANVA [Australian Nuclear Veterans' Association],
                   NSW
    AQ1           ANVA, Queensland
    AS1 -  2,     ANVA, South Australia
    BV1 -  3,     British Veterans
    MM1 -  2,     Maralinga and Monte Bello Atomic Ex-servicemen's
                   Association
    RC1 - RC877,  Royal Commission
    SA1 -  3,     South Australian Government

Exhibit number AB18 was not used, ie no exhibit with this number exists.  Exhibit numbers RC770 to RC779 inclusive were "omitted as per transcript" (see CRS A6448) and are not contained within this series.

Finding Aids

All items in this series in the custody of Australian Archives as at January 1997 have been entered onto the item level database, ANGAM II.  Note that some items have a fuller description of their contents in the paper inventory of this series (this inventory appears as Appendix V to the final report (volume 2) of this Royal Commission, pages V-1 to V-41; a copy of this inventory is located in the Reading Room).

Access Conditions

This series was released to the public as part of the accelerated public release of the records of the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests (CA 3993) on 3 March 1986 under s56(1) of the Archives Act 1983.  At the time of this release, approximately 65% of items in this series were made wholly available, while 35% had partial exemptions applied under s33(1)(g) of the Archives Act 1983 due to continuing personal sensitivities, including personal or medical in confidence documents such as evidence of radiation dosage rates of service personnel.  Two items, both dated 1985, were wholly exempt from this release:  RC380, under s33(1)(g) of the Archives Act 1983, and RC 390, withheld at the request of the British government.

The bulk of the exhibits that have exemptions date from the time of the Royal Commission's proceedings (1984 - 1985).  As such, the public has no right of access to these exempt records under s31 of the Archives Act 1983 until they enter the open period, ie in the years 2015 - 2016.

SERIES HISTORY

The following exhibits, being the personal property of witnesses before the Commission, were returned to their owners through the Australian Government Solicitor by the Royal Commission on 21 November 1985:

AG1    2 photographs
RC11   dosimeter
RC12   film badge
RC13   1 photograph
RC85   protective clothing
RC86   1 map

The following exhibits, being the personal property of witnesses before the Commission, were returned to their owners through their solicitors by Australian Archives:

RC9    4 photographs returned 14 February 1986
RC10   1 photograph returned 14 February 1986
RC19   1 photograph returned 14 February 1986
RC23   dosimeter and film badge returned 30 June 1986

Consequently, Australian Archives has retained photocopies of the following exhibits:

AG1
RC9
RC10
RC13
RC19
RC86

Exhibit AS2, tendered at the hearing in Adelaide on 22 November 1984 by Mrs C May is missing from this series (missing on receipt of this series into the custody of Australian Archives from the Royal Commission in October 1985).