Western Sydney Records Centre – 50th anniversary

In the beginning

When the Archives Act came into effect in 1961, the newly formed Archives Authority of NSW stored the most significant NSW Government state archives in the south-east wing of the State Library of NSW. A large quantity of ‘less significant’¹ records – which nonetheless were ‘of considerable value to departments and for historical research’ – were stored at the Government Records Repository, a former woolshed at Sheas Creek, Alexandria, south of Sydney’s central business district. The wooden building was a huge fire risk, and exposed the records to dust and changes in humidity and temperature. By 1964 it was full, and a second shed was acquired. Additionally, the basement of ‘an old building’ (a former tramway substation) in Margaret Lane, Sydney, was used from 1965 to store a linear kilometre of semi-current records.

Preliminary designs

The Archives Authority campaigned for the urgent provision of more appropriate accommodation for the records, and in 1963 a site of 50 acres on the corner of Bringelly and Caddens roads in Kingswood was recommended for this purpose. The land was acquired the following year, and a preliminary design was prepared by the Government Architect in 1965, responding to the criteria to include efficient security and fire alarm systems throughout, fireproof building materials, and fully air-conditioned, damp-proof and well-drained storage spaces without any windows. A small administrative block was to provide offices, receiving, sorting and repair space, and a search room.

There was to be no more than two levels throughout, featuring internal ramps to enable the movement of records with minimal steps. Conveyor systems were investigated to transport records from one end of the facilities to the other, including an automated, multi-carriage ‘electric trolley’ network using rails or slots in the floors. In fact, this network came so close to being adopted that the central corridors in use today have been made especially wide to accommodate such a system.

The overall concept involved a staged construction approach, with new storage buildings being added over successive financial years, and with staggered, independent ‘cells’ separated by fireproof walls and fire doors. These early designs were conceived during the Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the West, and a genuine concern about potential attacks from enemy parties was considered. Underground storage options for ‘unique and valuable items’² were explored, as well as a suggestion to position the site on the western side of a hill to protect records ‘from possible bomb blast in the event of attack on the city of Sydney’.³

In October 1969, nine sheds at Sheas Creek identical to those housing the archives were destroyed by fire, and another nearby shed burned to the ground in April the following year. By 1970 the two archives sheds at Sheas Creek were almost full, and from 1971 a small brick and concrete building at 127 Rookwood Road, Yagoona, was used for the most important semi-current government records.

A new location

The architectural plans and funding for construction at Kingswood were finally approved in 1972, but by then the site was in a proposed Penrith Council residential zone. So, in early 1973 the Archives Authority agreed to exchange the proposed site for another in Kingswood, to allow low-cost housing development in its place. The new site, fronting O’Connell Street, was 3 kilometres to the east and on the Sydney side of the so-called ‘bomb protecting hill’, indicating reduced concerns over international conflict.

Construction work commenced in July 1973, and facilities consisting of 12 cells adapted from the original design (minus the ramps) were nearly complete by November 1974. It was calculated that three new cells would be required each year to accommodate new accessions, and by the close of 1975, 15 cells were available to house approximately 27.5 kilometres of records.

The State Archives and Government Records Repository at Kingswood was officially opened by then Minister for Culture, Sport and Recreation, the Hon Lindley John Forbes Barraclough, on 28 November 1975.

Today the storage facilities at the Western Sydney Records Centre have expanded to six stages, including the (updated) original cells, alongside award-winning modern structures. Records stored on site include a diverse range of material and formats, such as correspondence, volumes, photographs, maps, posters, film, video and digital files. In physical terms, the site currently holds 470 kilometres of records of which more than 90 linear kilometres are state archives, increasing by around 2 kilometres every year.