The National Archives of Australia is struggling to continue its work under current budgets, threatening its ability to preserve the nation’s history. 

Director-General of the National Archives of Australia David Fricker told Deborah Knight preserving historic documents, which range from letters to audio-visual files, is an ongoing process.

“We’ve got to keep migrating data to the present technology. We keep it alive, we keep it useful and accessible.”

But he said a recent independent review has revealed a number of “pain points” within the organisation.

“It won’t be novel for any of your listeners to hear public servants to say we need more money, but yeah, we do.”

Mr Fricker said materials held by the archives document significant histories from major events to individual Australians.

“It’s important to remember we don’t just really want to store these archives; we’re a memory bank.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview 

Image: A6122, 1756, National Archives of Australia