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Appraisal Statement

Under section 47 of the Public Records Act 2023, the State Archivist is authorised to make an Appraisal Statement stating criteria for identifying public records appropriate for retention in the custody of the archives.

With the new Act to commence by proclamation on 5 December 2024, QSA is currently updating our existing Appraisal Statement to:

  • Clearly incorporate First Nations perspectives and protect public records of enduring value
  • Assist QSA and agencies to identify public records with enduring value for appropriate management including possible transfer to the collection.

What has changed

In line with the new Act, the new Appraisal Statement seeks to recognise the importance of public records for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples by:

  • Recognising the ongoing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to the land and affirming QSA’s commitment to the 2019 Tandanya Adelaide Declaration
  • Adding a new characteristic for records that support “First Nations Peoples and Culture”
  • Including a new foundation appraisal principle that affirms appraisal should be “Supportive of First Nations culture and knowledge methods”.

The structure of the Appraisal Statement has been significantly revised to improve its clarity and useability. This includes:

  • Setting out additional criteria for determining whether records have enduring value, including new general appraisal characteristics
  • Specific appraisal characteristics now include not only examples of public records which fall within the characteristic, but also examples of public records which would not be required to be retained
  • “Queensland Society and Culture” replaces the former specific appraisal characteristic of “Substantial contribution to community memory”
  • Addition of a glossary of key terms.

Additional information on the appraisal of records in digital formats has also been included within this document.

Next steps

Feedback closed on Friday 18 October 2024 and is currently being considered.

Updates will be communicated via QSAs agency newsletter, webinars and emails to QSAs records management contacts.

Further questions can be made by emailing rkqueries@archives.qld.gov.au.

Last updated:
24 October 2024