The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette is a publication of the Government of Australia, and consists of notices required by Commonwealth law to be published.[1] Types of announcements in the Gazette include, appointments, promotions and transfers of persons to positions in the Australian Public Service (APS), previously "Commonwealth Public Service"; creation, dissolution and renaming of boards, departments and commissions within the APS; conferring of awards and honours to persons and organisations by the Government; calling of tenders and awarding of contracts by the Government.[2]
Since 1 October 2012, the Gazette is no longer physically published or compiled and now only consists of individually searchable notices online.[1] Prior to this, the Gazette was published weekly with each Gazette numbered, with the numbering beginning again at No. 1 each year.[2]
The creation, publication and dissemination of a governmental gazette was one of a myriad of bureaucratic functions attendant on the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901.
The first Commonwealth Gazette, dated 1 January 1901, was written by Robert Garran and published on 2 January 1901. It contained Queen Victoria's proclamation dated 17 September 1900, for the establishment of the Commonwealth, the announcement of the appointment of ministers and their respective offices, and of the appointment of the Governor-General and his staff.[3] The appearance of the first Gazette was reported by newspapers in every state, some in considerable detail.[4]
By 1974 the Gazette had become so large and unwieldy that it was decided to split it into four separate publications, numbered independently:
Since 1974 a range of other gazettes has been issued by the Australian Government. Their number and titles have not been constant; the current (2017) list includes:[13]
APSjobs is a website which incorporates an electronic version of the APS Employment Gazette.
The Commonwealth Gazette for the years 1901–1957 has been digitised by the National Library of Australia and is available online through Trove.[14]
Various Commonwealth of Australia Gazette titles spanning the years 1901–2012 have been digitised by the National Library of Australia and are available online through Trove.