Journal Article

Building roads and bridges was one of the first major activities of Australia's early settlers. This pursuit was fundamental to the country's economic and cultural development. The Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW is the successor to a number of agencies that have had responsibility for building some of NSW's major infrastructure. In order to understand how, when and by whom this infrastructure was built it is important to preserve historical records. This paper outlines the issues associated with the long term preservation of vital engineering documents and in particular seeks to address the what, why, how and when organisations decide to capture for posterity the knowledge contained in such records. Issues associated with the capture and long-term preservation of records in electronic format that may fall prey to technological obsolescence are discussed with reference to the requirements for State government agencies to comply with current recordkeeping standards and legislation. Sustaining our cultural heritage may depend as much on our recordkeeping practices and skills as on the vital work of the maintenance crews who are paid to maintain and restore these structures.