Our Structure and Functions

NSW State Archives and Records is the NSW Government’s archives and records management authority. Its purposes are to preserve the State archives and enable and promote their use, and set standards and provide guidance and services to improve records management across the NSW public sector including local government, the universities and the public health system.

The public can access State archives via the Public Reading Room located at the Western Sydney Records Centre. Address and hours are as follows:

Western Sydney Records Centre

161 O’Connell Street, KINGSWOOD

Telephone

(02) 9673 1788

Hours of opening

• Tuesday-Friday 9am to 5pm
• Saturday 10am to 4pm
• Monday, Sunday and public holidays CLOSED

The reading room and public facilities are wheelchair accessible.

Postal address

PO Box 516, Kingswood NSW 2747

Our core regulatory, archival management, public access and service delivery functions are budget-funded through a grant from the Department of Premier and Cabinet. The Government Records Repository (GRR) operates off-budget to provide records storage services to the public sector.

NSW State Archives and Records is governed by the State Records Act 1998, which also establishes public offices' obligations in relation to their records, and governs public access to records more than 30 years old. The Act is currently under review. Information on the review can be seen in our news section.

NSW State Archives and Records is comprised of five branches.

Organisation Chart

NSW State Archives and Records Authority and Sydney Living Museums

Our Leaders

State Archives and Records Senior Executive Team

The Senior Executive team meets each week to maintain a strategic view of operations, monitor progress towards corporate goals across programs, and review and approve major policies and initiatives. The Senior Executive team consists of:

Chief Executive Officer – Adam Lindsay

Adam Lindsay was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NSW State Archives and Records Authority Staff Agency (SARA) and Sydney Living Museums (SLM) when the role was created in February 2022. The CEO is responsible for supporting the joining of SLM and SARA to create Museums of History NSW and the State Records Authority. Following this, the role will become a Ministerial appointment and undergo an appointment process of its own. In addition to his role as Chief Executive Officer, Adam serves as a Director for the SLM Foundation.

Adam joined SARA in April 2017, becoming Executive Director in August 2018. From 1 July 2019, Adam also began leading SLM as its Executive Director, signalling the start of a very exciting partnership, one of enormous potential for both institutions.

The State Archives Collection and the 12 important sites, and associated collections, managed by SLM make up a formidable portfolio of assets, with which we tell many stories and engage people across the state, the nation and the globe.

Adam has over 14 years’ experience in senior leadership roles within government and cultural institutions. Prior to joining SARA, Adam was the Assistant Director of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). His major achievements included co-planning a program that attracted record attendance and featured one of 2017’s top 20 most attended exhibitions globally, securing significant increases to funding and overseeing the heritage listing of the Queensland Art Gallery building.

Adam also worked with the Australian Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, where he successfully implemented digital television across Australia’s remote Indigenous communities. This project was the largest in-home service delivery program to Indigenous households in the country’s history and the first time remote communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, had equitable access to television content available to Australians living in metro areas.

Chief Operating Officer – Danielle Toga

Recently appointed to Chief Operating Officer in April 2022, Danielle leads the operations branch of our organisations providing executive leadership and direction to Heritage Assets & Museums, Corporate Services, and Commercial Services divisions across SLM and SARA. This diverse portfolio provides the operational functions across our organisations, including Finance, ICT, People & Culture, FAST, Buildings and Facilities, Business Assurance, Venue Hire and Retail teams.

In November 2021, Danielle joined SARA and SLM as Director, Corporate Services, responsible for driving corporate processes and procedures, standards and policies, ensuring they meet compliance obligations under the applicable legislation. In this role there was a strong focus in strengthening corporate capability, facilitating corporate planning and performance monitoring. 

Danielle has over 16 years’ experience in senior roles within NSW government, in a wide range of corporate areas. Danielle has extensive experience in the strategic leadership of people and programs, driving the achievement of key organisational priorities as well as critical-to-business operations. Her major achievements include leading the Service NSW response to the 2020 cyber breach and driving rapid policy change at a cluster and whole of government level as a member of the COVID taskforce at Transport for NSW.

Director, Collections – Martyn Killion

Collecting History

As Director, Martyn has oversight of the care, management and accessibility of our collections, most notably the State Archives Collection, the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection and house museum collections.

This involves ensuring the proper transfer of material including transfer of records into the State Archives Collection and their documentation; their care through conservation; providing services for the public to access the collections. This division is supported by key business units – Access Services, Collections Care, and Collection Services.

Martyn has over 35 years experience in the NSW Public Sector. This includes a long association with NSW State Archive and extensive government experience particularly in the area of culture and the arts having worked in a number of roles at Arts NSW (now Create NSW) and in cultural institutions.

Director, Commercial Services – Ben Alexander

Supplementing History

As Director, Ben leads the Commercial Services division with oversight of Digitisation, Information Processing, Logistics, Venues and Leaseholds. The Commercial Services division performs under the Chief Operating Officer and supports the financial stability of our organisations generated by our commercial offerings.

Ben has over 24 years’ experience in Records Management service provision, with a focus on Warehouse, Logistics and Digitisation services. Working across the public and private sector Ben has gathered deep experience in a number of roles, particularly in operations and systems areas, with over 9 years at the General Manager/Director level.

Director, Strategy & External Relations – Kathryn Natoli

Aiding History and Securing History

Kathryn as our Director, Strategy & External Relations leads the division that is responsible for providing expert advice, monitoring the performance and compliance of our organisations and directly supporting the work of SLM through valuable corporate partnerships and philanthropy. The heritage advice, strategic projects, procurement, governance and philanthropy and corporate partnerships functions all form part of the division she leads. The role also acts as our Chief Audit Executive, Chief Risk Officer and is the Secretary for the Foundation.  

Kathryn practiced employment law for 9 years and has a Bachelor of Law and Master of Law specialising in In-House Counsel. Since joining SARA in 2018 Kathryn has led three different machinery of Government transitions, developed internal audit capacity and increased compliance and risk maturity. Kathryn is also leading the process to bring about the legislative change to improve the State Records Act and create Museums of History NSW.

Director, Programming, Production & Audience – Rebecca Bushby

Communicating History

As Director, Rebecca leads the Programming, Production and Audience division supported by key business units – Curatorial & Research, Digital & Design, Production & Experiences, Audience & Marketing and First Nations Cultural Engagement. Rebecca joined Sydney Living Museums in 2017, and shortly after was appointed Project Director for the transformational Hyde Park Barracks Renewal project. A project which redefined heritage interpretation for the organisation and had a significant impact in the sector.

Rebecca has over 20 years’ experience working in the museum, arts, and cultural heritage sectors. Working across a range of content, communications, and creative production areas, she manages teams to deliver strong narratives and diverse techniques to ensure broad audience appeal.

Her key achievements align with the development of business cases, securing funding, developing strong partnerships, stakeholder management, communications, creative development, production, and digital engagement.

Rebecca has a strategic approach to commissioning and development which enables the activation of many delivery platforms - exhibitions, installations, events, public programs, learning programs, publications and digital. She is responsible for ensuring deep understandings of place, collections and history to inform contemporary curatorial practices, the delivery of multiple perspectives, learning outcomes and broad audience reach.

Director, Corporate Services – Yaseen Dean

Supporting History

Recently appointed Director, Yaseen leads the corporate services division including key operational functions, Finance, ICT, Capital Works and People & Culture. The Corporate Services division performs under the Chief Operating Officer and supports business operations by ensuring appropriate procedures and compliance are in place.

Since joining SLM in March 2011, Yaseen led the transformation of the finance team from back-office function to business partnering, supported by a high performing team as the Head of Finance. Yaseen’s work with Senior Executives has facilitated the development and implementation of strategies, streamlined processes, and enabled operations to create opportunities for future growth.

In 2018 Yaseen completed an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from University of Sydney, as part of Australia New Zealand School of Government Program (ANZSOG) for emerging and high performing public sector leaders.

Director, Museum Operations & Visitor Services – Susan Sedgwick

Visiting History

Susan is currently acting in the role of Director, Museum Operations & Visitor Services. Susan leads a customer-focussed team in the sustainable management of Sydney Living Museums’ portfolio of 12 historic properties, museums and landscapes. Her team focusses on the provision of information, and access to enhance customer experience, enjoyment, and knowledge. She leads SLM and SARA teams in the delivery of exceptional customer service, onsite and online retail, volunteer engagement and management, museum operations and horticulture to the highest standards.

Susan has over 20 years’ experience working in national and state museums and cultural heritage sites and has worked in operational and visitor services, exhibitions, publications, curatorial, registration, interpretation, collections and access, building maintenance, site presentation and asset management. 

Project Director – Beth Hise

Recently appointed to Project Director, Parramatta North, Beth is responsible for leading the delivery of the Parramatta Female Factory Project, an immersive museum experience for the 1821 Female Factory Precinct and related new cultural and educational facilities.

Beth has over 20 years’ experience with SLM, including a strong background in history, exhibition development and project management. Her major achievements include leading the Hyde Park Barracks renewal project.

Project Director, New Museums Sydney – Andrea Ehlers

Andrea was appointed in May 2022 as the Project Director for the New Museum Sydney, to be situated in the Macquarie Street East Precinct. Andrea will lead the business case and masterplan development that will connect The Mint, Hyde Park Barracks and the Registrar General’s Building and create a unifying museum campus. 

Andrea has significant experience in developing business cases for government agencies that deliver transformative initiatives and developing long-term strategies for capital works programs. She has an extensive background in the design and architecture sector, leading successful design strategies for major projects for national and international, private and government clients.

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What we do

We provide a wide range of services to the public and the NSW public sector, along with guidance for public sector bodies on all aspects of records management.

Records Management

We manage a framework of policy, legislation, standards, codes of best practice and guidelines governing the making, retention and management of State records and access to them. This framework applies both to records managed by public sector bodies and to the State archives collection.

Records in our Care

A major operational focus for us is the documentation, storage and preservation of records. These include the State archives collection held in our own facilities, State archives maintained elsewhere in partnership arrangements with other organisations, and semi-active records stored commercially for our public sector clients.

Functions

Section 66 of the State Records Act 1998 provides that NSW State Archives and Records has the following functions:

• setting and monitoring standards for the creation, management and disposal of State records
• providing practical advice, guidance and training to NSW public sector agencies in all aspects of records management
• providing centralised and cost-effective storage and retrieval services for the semi-active records of public sector agencies
• identifying State records that should be retained as State Archives and authorising the disposal of those which should not
• documenting and cataloguing State Archives in their functional and administrative context
• storing the State Archives Collection in appropriate environments and ensuring that those stored elsewhere are also stored to the necessary standards
• using micro-preservation and macro-preservation techniques to preserve the State Archives Collection
• making State records more than 30 years old available for public access and use
• guiding public sector agencies in administering public access to those State records for which they are responsible
• interpreting, promoting and enhancing public awareness of the State Archives Collection
• making the best use of information technology and communications to improve our services and business.

Assess serious matters of poor recordkeeping

Individuals may make a complaint about serious instances of poor recordkeeping or non-compliant records management within a NSW Government organisation.

NSW State Archives and Records can only look at matters that specifically relate to the requirements of the State Records Act 1998 and the records management standards issued under the Act. We only accept complaints which will enable us to support improved recordkeeping practices within NSW Government organisations.

Complaint handling is not a principal function of the NSW State Archives and Records Authority and as such, NSW State Archives and Records has discretion in deciding which complaints we will accept and what action, if any, we will take.

If your complaint concerns:

• maladministration or corrupt conduct, you should contact the Independent Commission Against Corruption (see www.icac.nsw.gov.au) and the NSW Ombudsman’s Office (see www.ombo.nsw.gov.au)
• access to records and information under the Government Information Public Access Act, you should contact the Information and Privacy Commission (see www.ipc.nsw.gov.au), or
• privacy of records and information under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act or the Health Records and Information Privacy Act, you should contact the Information and Privacy Commission (see www.ipc.nsw.gov.au).

How to make a complaint to NSW State Archives and Records?

Complaints should be made in writing and include relevant information and documentation which will allow us to make an assessment and decide on what action should be taken.

Complaints should be addressed to the Manager Recordkeeping Standards and Advice and sent to either email: govrec@records.nsw.gov.au or PO Box 516, Kingswood NSW 2747.

We will acknowledge the receipt of your complaint within 2 business days.

After receiving your complaint, we will assess the information you have provided to decide what action, if any, we should take.

We will contact you within 10 business days of receipt of the complaint to advise what action we will be taking. If we decide not to take any action on your matter, we will provide you with reasons for our decision.

Vision, Aims and Values

Vision

To ensure the people and Government of NSW have ready access to records which illuminate history, enrich the life of the community and support good and accountable government.

Aims

• Ensure that the business of the NSW Public Sector is properly documented and that official records are managed efficiently and effectively to support frontline service delivery, good governance and accountbility.
• Develop, document, preserve and make available the State Archives Collection as a cultural and information resource in order to enrich the people and communities of NSW. 

Values

We are committed to:

• the highest possible professional standards
• our customers and their needs in our decisio-making and business directions
• integrity and accountability in our dealings with stakeholders, customers and the records
• innovation, creativeity and openness to ideas in our work
• respect for our customers and their diverse backgrounds and interests, and respect for each other.