FUNCTION AND CONTENT

On September 24, 1984, the Australian Archives released records of the Royal Commission on Espionage, relevant Cabinet records and contemporaneous Prime Minister's Department files which also included material relating to the defection of Vladimir Petrov.

Although most of these records would not have been eligible for release until 1985 and 1986, the government, in the interests of the public, agreed to an accelerated release of all related records with the exception of those few considered exempt from access.

In anticipation of the release, the Australian Archives staff prepared lists of relevant records and selected key documents which would be copied and made available for sale to the media at the time of the release.

The items in this series consist of lists of relevant records created by the Australian Archives, explanatory documentation to accompany the copied documents, the Prime Minister's media release, and one copy of each document selected with the intention of viewing by or sale to the media at the time of the release.

The documents selected were those created by the Royal Commission but were unpublished, crucial exhibits presented to the Commission, cabinet records relating to Petrov, and files created by the Prime Minister's Department.

USING THE SERIES

The selected documents are photocopies of the original record held by the Archives. They have details about the original record imprinted on the first page and the majority are housed in folders with an Archives imposed title.

There was no evidence of a system of arrangement by the Australian Archives at the time the series was created and the 23 items have now been allocated a single number.

As the selected documents featured in this series are copies of original records, details of those records can be found in Related Series.