Researching in the National Archives of New Zealand

Wellington Archives

New Zealand has four offices for the national archives. They are Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Christchurch. The National office is in Wellington.  The records that are held range from the beginning of the British Government in 1840 up to the present day. The records cover many subjects about New Zealand life and individuals.

Before visiting the Archives it would be first a good idea to use the national archives website to find the location of the archived material that you are after as they are held in different locations.  Once you have found the location, you can visit the reading room and obtain a reading card that is used when ordering the archives you want to view and to help when making copies of them. Not all records are able to be viewed as they may be restricted. To access those records permission from the department involved needs to be obtained. Some records are actually restricted for 100 years from the date they were made and on the website it gives you the date when the restriction expires. These types of records would be court records and police records.

The Archives holds records like coroners reports, liquor licensing, probate and insolvency records involving businesses and individuals. Other records include surveys of the various towns like Whangarei .The Wellington Office even holds records to do with the filming of Lord of the Rings movies, although they are restricted until 2025.

The Archives of New Zealand do have exhibitions for the general public to view like the treaty of Waitangi in Wellington and other displays about New Zealand like the Women’s Suffrage petition. These can be either viewed online or in the actual archive centres as well.