State Records Office of Western Australia

The State Records Office of Western Australia (SRO) is the Western Australian government authority with responsibility for identifying, managing, preserving and providing access to the State's archives. The SRO also delivers best practice records management services to State and Local Government agencies.

The State Records Office operates under its own legislation, the State Records Act 2000, which was formally proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 30 November 2001. The SRO is an independent Government agency within the Department of Culture and the Arts.

The nucleus of the State archives collections is the Colonial Secretary's Office records acquired in 1903 by the first Librarian of the Public Library, Dr James Sykes Battye. Concern about the destruction of valuable records prompted the formation of the Public Records Committee (chaired by Dr Battye) in 1923, which was later revived as the State Archives Board in 1929, functioning until 1943. In March 1945, Mollie Lukis was appointed as the first Archivist overseeing the development of the State's archival collections and in 1956 the State archives collection became part of the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History.

In 1988 the State Archives became a separate Directorate within the Library and Information Service of Western Australia (LISWA) and in 1990 a Records Management Branch, (now called Recordkeeping Services), was established to enable more active engagement in records management matters at both State and Local Government level. In 1995 the State Archives was renamed the Public Records Office and the responsibility for private archives was transferred to the Battye Library in 1996. In April 1999 the SRO moved to its current home on the ground floor of the Alexander Library Building and was officially christened with its current name.

In November 2000 the State Records Act was passed and the State Records Commission was established and the State Records Office became independent of LISWA.

The State Records Act 2000 replaced the archives and recordkeeping aspects of the Library Board of Western Australia Act 1951-1983. Providing for an independent State Records Commission (SRC) with standards-setting, auditing and reporting responsibilities, the SRC is accountable directly to Parliament. Membership of the Commission is at a level commensurate with the high degree of accountability and transparency that are hallmarks of the legislation. The four members of the Commission are the Auditor General, the Information Commissioner, the Ombudsman, and an appointee with recordkeeping experience from outside Government.

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