查询30639供应商 捷多邦，专业PCB打样工厂，24小时加急出货 NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AUTUMN – WINTER 2 0 0 5 Seven Little Australians Russian Anzacs Chinese records Egon Erwin Kisch Vale Laurie Aarons Laurence (Laurie) Aarons passed away in February 2005 at the age of 87. His name is one remembered by many Australians. The child of political activist parents, Laurie was a long-term member of the Communist Party of Australia and served as its National Secretary between 1965 and 1976. His father, Sam, saw service with the International Brigades who fought against Franco’s Fascists in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39. Not as well known is Laurie’s role in later life as a researcher at the National Archives of Australia. NAA: A1, 1912/20919 When the Archives Act 1983 came into operation in June 1984, it provided access for After Federation, many Chinese men the very first time to Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) records. The attempted to bring their wives and Communist Party, and those associated with it, had been a surveillance target of ASIO children from China to Australia. throughout the Cold War period, and Laurie Aarons (with prompting from son Mark) In 1912 Sam Yin, a Brisbane businessman became one of the Archives’ first researchers to seek access to ASIO records under the and naturalised British subject, submitted new Act. Laurie was, by then, in retirement and was keen to assemble a documentary this photograph of his wife and son for record of the Communist Party of Australia that could be used to write its history. that purpose. Our latest guide opens a Laurie was never entirely convinced that ASIO and the Archives were releasing all of the window into our fascinating collection material they could. Determined to hold the Archives Act to its promise of public access of Chinese records (see page 10). to Commonwealth records, he relentlessly sought reviews of any decisions to withhold information from public release. The Archives, Laurie and ASIO met a number of times May 2005 Issue 29 ISSN 1327-4155 Memento is a free publication of the National Archives of Australia. It is issued three times a year in hard copy and online. To subscribe, fax, phone or email us (see details below). Subscriptions: Tel: (02) 6212 3609 Fax: (02) 6212 3914 Email: [email protected] Editorial inquiries: Tel: (02) 6212 3923 Email: [email protected] Address: Queen Victoria Terrace Parkes ACT 2600 PO Box 7425 Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610 Internet: www.naa.gov.au/publications National Archives contacts National Reference Service at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal over such cases. For the Archives it proved an Tel: 1300 886 881 enormously valuable test of the strengths of the Act, and the Tribunal’s judgments Fax: 1300 886 882 Email: [email protected] helped refine the scope of some of the exemption categories. World War I service records Laurie was held in very great affection by the reference staff who helped him. He was a unique Email: [email protected] researcher to the Archives because he was the subject of so many of the records he sought access to – from his World War II Army dossier to the nine ASIO volumes about him. World War II service records Email: [email protected] Laurie’s access requests resulted in almost a thousand files – many of them comprising well over 100 pages – being released to the public. He blazed the trail for many later The National Archives is an Australian researchers and journalists wanting to access ASIO records. government agency. (above) Laurie Aarons participating in the May Day March, Sydney, 1966. The numbers handwritten in blue onto the print were used by ASIO to identify those appearing in the photograph. Laurie is number '8'. NAA: A9626, 150 2 MEMENTO News from the National Archives Seven Little Australians, episode 8, ‘Yarrahappini’: (left to right) Noel Campbell as Jacky, Mark Shields-Brown as Bunty, Magnificent seven Tania Falla as Baby. NAA: C612, ‘Seven Little Australians’ back on screen In early 2003, the National Archives into the Archives’ custody, including the The Archives’ audiovisual preservation approached the Australian Broadcasting all-important negatives. These had been team decided to go a step further. Commission (ABC) to talk about preserved in our film vault and were in Taking advantage of the pristine new preserving television programs from near pristine condition. film components, they created a new the past. The ABC had several possible choices but there was one standout Our preservation goal was to extend set of master tapes. Once the ABC saw candidate – Seven Little Australians. the life of the film components. As we the quality of the new masters, they Rebroadcast several times since its had the original negatives, we were able went ahead with a re-release of Seven premiere in 1973, the tale of Captain to use them to make new, high-quality Little Australians. ABC shops are now Woolcot’s unruly seven is dear to the film components. This was an expensive able to sell VHS and DVD copies of hearts of generations of Australian exercise, but in the constantly shifting the series that the ABC had previously viewers. Technical staff at the ABC had world of digital imaging standards, it is rejected for broadcast. been forced to stop broadcasting the the only solid preservation backstop. series because it had deteriorated over As well as having an excellent time to show little more than a soupy, Hand in hand with extending the preservation outcome for the National greenish haze. To all intents and purposes, physical life of the series, we also had the seven urchins were forever lost to the to think about its possible future use. Archives, the project also proved a viewing public. Although we had successfully created successful experiment for the ABC which initially had concerns about the A lengthy examination by the Archives’ new high-quality film components, the audiovisual preservation team established green-tinged master tapes necessary to small size of the market for Australian that the series had many problems – broadcast the series remained unusable. television re-releases. green and grainy film stocks, colour fade, Under the Archives Act, it would have And so it is that the unruly seven live torn film frames and even a small bug been sufficient for us to have a simple on – preserved and held in the Archives’ embedded in the negative of the heart- videotape copy of the series available for wrenching final episode. Fortunately, viewing in the Archives’ reading rooms. collection, for sale to the general however, the ABC many years ago had This would not, however, be much help public, and rebroadcast on ABC and transferred all of the original film elements to the wider viewing public. cable television. Autumn–Winter 2005 MEMENTO 3 RussianThe untold Anzacs story of Russian Anzacs Dr Elena Govor is a Russian-born Australian writer and historian specialising in the history of Russian–Australian contact. She has been widely published in Russia and Australia. Her latest book, Russian Anzacs in Australian History, co-published by the National Archives and UNSW Press, uncovers a part of Australian cultural history that until now has been silent. It tells the story of the almost one thousand Russian soldiers who fought alongside other Australians in World War I as Anzacs. Alexander Egoroff’s alien registration document. NAA: SP11/3, Egoroff A Surprisingly, after those of Anglo or Celtic The stories that emerge in Russian Others had actively tried to find their background, it was men born in the Anzacs date from pre-revolutionary Russian ancestors with varying degrees of former Russian Empire that constituted Russia, through the devastation of war success. A profoundly touching aspect of the largest group in the First Australian and revolution to the cultural diversity Elena’s research is just how many Russian Imperial Force (AIF). Uncovering of modern-day Australia. Unlike many families have reconnected because of her these men’s lives has been an act of accounts of war, Russian Anzacs does not efforts. Her book is richer too, because monumental and painstaking research. end when the fighting finishes. Instead, it includes the personal narratives of Elena’s book draws upon an extensive it passionately rediscovers ties, formerly some of the descendants of the Russian range of archival records, especially the severed, between the children and the Anzacs. Alexander Egoroff’s story is a World War I service records held by grandchildren of Russian Anzacs and good example – a man on paper brought the National Archives. Elena managed their Russian past. more fully to life by the memories of his to locate 969 men born in the Russian children and grandchildren who, despite Empire who served in the Australian In the course of her research, Elena scoured army, of whom 762 were on active phonebooks trying to make contact with their best efforts, had lost touch with service overseas. Of those, one in five (or descendants of the Russian Anzacs she their relatives in Russia until they came 151 men) died while on duty. In many had uncovered. Some people she traced into contact with Elena. The following cases Elena found not just their names, were completely unaware of their Russian story, recounted in Elena’s book, draws but also enough facts to tell these men's heritage whilst some knew only a little on a mixture of official records and life stories. about their family background. personal interview. 4 MEMENTO News from the National Archives From Bestuzhevo to Blacktown: was not easy for arriving Russians. Nearly Barbara adds circumspectly, ‘It could the Alexander Egoroff story all of them – educated intellectuals, have been because he was Russian, but professionals, peasants, labourers and we do not really know’.