Government Gazettes
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What is a Government Gazette?
A government gazette is an official publication used to publicly notify the actions and decisions of the government. All Australian governments (Commonwealth, State and Territory) publish official gazettes.
History of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette evolved from a single printed publication to a wide range of separate Gazettes, most of which are now only published electronically.
From 1901 until 1973 the Gazette was published as a single weekly publication that included General Gazettes, Periodic Gazettes, and Special Gazettes. Before 1940, this included the publication in full of territory ordinances, including those for the ACT and the Northern Territory. By 1974 the weekly Gazette had become so large and unwieldy that it was decided to split it into four separate gazettes: the Government Notices Gazette, Periodic Notices Gazette, Special Notices Gazette and Australian Public Service Gazette.
Since 1974 the General Gazette and the Periodic Notices Gazette have been further split into separate Gazettes for specific topics and agencies. These Gazettes include Gazettes for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Tariff Concessions, Chemicals, Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), and Food Standards.
Gazettes - Federal Register of Legislation
Commonwealth Government gazette notices concerning legislation, and other notices required to be published in the Gazette by Commonwealth law are published on the Federal Register of Legislation. Government Notices Gazettes (including Periodic and Special) published between 1 January 1901 and 1 October 2012 are available in PDF format at Gazettes 1901 - September 2012. Since 1 October 2012 the Government Notices Gazette has been published in electronic format as individually searchable notices. Links to State and Territory Gazettes are available on the Federal Register of Legislation at Help and resources under other sources of Australian Law.
Online Resources
The National Library of Australia (NLA) provides access to fully searchable copies of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazettes, from 1901 to 2012 on Trove. You can find information on how to search Trove at Trove help made easy. The library provides additional information on State and Territory Gazettes and links to a range of other resources on their website in its Government gazettes research guide.
GovPubs, the Australian Government Publications Guide, is a guide to selected types of Australian government publications, such as Acts, Gazettes, Hansards, and Parliamentary Papers, available in National, State and Territory libraries or online. A complete list of all current and previous gazette titles, including State and Territory gazettes, can be found on the National Library of Australia's GovPubs - Gazettes webpage.
The weekly Commonwealth of Australia Public Service Gazette is available electronically and has been split into two documents, one for all vacancy notices published and another for all outcome notices published for the week. The website also allows you to search for notices published previously in the Gazette and provides information for job seekers interested in working in the Australian Public Service.