On this page:
Purpose
Keywords (or name)(include)
Dates (include)
Location of record (include)
Access status (include)
Reference numbers (include)
Search level
Exclude searching
Keywords (exclude)
Dates (exclude)
Location of record (exclude)
Access status (exclude)
Reference numbers (exclude)
How the collection is described
Advanced hints
The Search screen allows you do a wide range of simple or complex searches. The top half of the screen is where you type in or select the details that you want to include in your search. The bottom half of the screen allows you to type in or select the details that you want to exclude from your search. This means that you can search as broadly or as specifically as you wish.
In the middle of this screen - in the 'Search level' box - you can specify what categories of archival information you wish to include in your search.
The 'Clear' button allows you to remove all search details so that you can return to a fresh screen.
The 'Browse thesaurus' button allows you to search for specific terms and see terms that are linked to that term.
The 'Preferences' button takes you to a screen where you can choose a specific set of search preferences that will apply to all your future searches (until you change your preferences).
Type in keywords or name which you wish to include in your search eg censorship or Anderson. See Tips on searching for more information.
Type in the date range of the material that you are searching for, eg if you are looking for material about munitions during World War I your search would have a date range of 1914-1918. A range is shown by putting a - (hyphen) between the two years. You can also type in single year.
If you enter a date range (eg 1914-1918) all records falling within this date range will be retrieved, ie:
Select (from the scroll-down list) the location of the record which you want to include in your search. If you choose 'Any', your search will include material in each National Archives office and the Australian War Memorial. If you choose 'Sydney' your search will only retrieve material which is located in the Sydney Office of the National Archives.
You can select a specific access status (from the scroll-down list) so that your search is focussed on those items that are 'open', or 'open with exception' or 'closed' or 'not yet examined'. If you select any of these categories, your search will only retrieve items which have that exact access status.
Open means that the whole item is available for public access.
Open with exception means that only part of the item is available for public access.
Closed means that the whole item is unavailable for public access.
Not yet examined means that the item has not been examined and no decision has been made about its access status.
For more information see Fact Sheet 10 (Access to records under the Archives Act) and Fact Sheet 11 (Ordering records).
You can type in archival reference numbers so that your search is focussed on specific organisations, agencies, persons, series or items. See Tips on searching for more information.
When you use RecordSearch three levels of descriptive information are searched in the following order:
RecordSearch stops at the level where it first finds matching data, and displays the result, which you can then display or refine. This default setting appears in the 'Search level' box as 'All until a match is found'.
If you log on as a registered user, you can control the levels of information you search by using the 'Search level' scroll-down list to select from among 'Items', 'Series', 'Agencies persons organisations', 'All' or 'All until a match is found'.
If as a registered user you prefer to always search the same level, you can set this as your preference by clicking on the 'Preferences' button at the foot of the Search screen and following the instructions on the screen.
You can select the details you want to exclude from your search. Note that if you enter data in several exclude search options as part of one search, for example:
the system will only exclude the material that has both options, ie a keyword of munitions and a record location of Melbourne. Such a search will not, for example, exclude all material located in the National Archives, Melbourne Office.
If you want to exclude all material with a keyword of munitions and all material located in Melbourne from your search result, you will need to undertake the search in two steps. In your first search you should exclude the keyword, then when you get your search result, request Refine search and exclude the location.
Type in keywords or name which you wish to exclude from your search. See Tips on searching for more information.
Type in the date range of the material that you wish to exclude from your search, eg if you are looking for material about munitions from 1901 to 1930 but you want to exclude material during World War I your search would exclude the date range of 1914-1918. A range is shown by putting a - (hyphen) between the two years. You can also type in single year.
Please note that if you enter a date range (eg 1914-1918) all records falling within this date range will be excluded, ie all records that have a 'start date' within that range; all records that have an 'end date' within that range; and all records that have a date range that overlaps the period.
Select (from the scroll-down list) the location which you want to exclude from your search, eg if you choose 'Melbourne', your search will exclude material that is held by the Melbourne Office of the National Archives.
You can exclude a specific access status so that your search is focussed on only those items that are 'open', or 'open with exception' or 'closed' or 'not yet examined'. If you select any of these categories, your search will not retrieve items which have that exact access status.
Open means that the whole item is available for public access.
Open with exception means that only part of the item is available for public access.
Closed means that the whole item is unavailable for public access.
Not yet examined means that the item has not been examined and no decision has been made about its access status.
For more information see Fact Sheet 10 (Access to records under the Archives Act) and Fact Sheet 11 (Ordering records).
You can type in an archival reference number so that your search excludes a specific organisation, agency, person, series or item. See Tips on searching for more information about searching using reference numbers.
The National Archives documents contextual information about the collection using the Commonwealth Record Series (CRS) System. The CRS System allows the Archives to keep track of Commonwealth government agencies and the records they produce by registering and describing them according to descriptive standards defined by the CRS System. These details are then recorded in the RecordSearch database. More information about the National Archives' system of intellectual control and how the collection is described may be found in the CRS Manual.
We are working to incorporate the following features into the search screens. As an interim arrangement, you may like to use the following methods:
If you want to retrieve only those items with a digitised image, then you need to 2 searches, one including rs@i in the Keyword (or name) option, and one including ph@i eg:
For all digitised images about Sir John Monash:
1st Search - Keyword: John Monash rs@i
2nd Search - Keyword: John Monash ph@i
If using no other keywords it is possible to do a combined search using both rs@i and ph@i by changing the keyword search option default from 'All words' to 'Any words' eg:
For all digitised images in a particular record series: