Archives NZ re-opens after quake

8:56 am on 23 January 2017

The government archives will re-open tomorrow, allowing employees to resume work stalled since the November earthquake.

Archives New Zealand, Archives building, 10 Mulgrave Street, Wellington

Archives New Zealand's building in Mulgrave St, Thorndon. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Nick-D / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Archives New Zealand in Wellington holds records for every government department and chief archivist Antony Moss said documents such as historic police files and land holding information were still frequently needed.

However, apart from a few urgent inquiries, all requests had to be put on hold during repairs following the 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura earthquake.

TheTreaty of Waitangi and other constitutional documents were not affected by the quake or repairs, Mr Moss said.

"The Treaty's still in the Constitution Room, which is a highly secure facility. We were able to get access to the monitoring of that room, to ensure that the Treaty and the other documents that are in there were safe at all times."

All workers were evacuated from the building at 10 Mulgrave Street as a precaution, after they received a visual report from a structural engineer a few days after the 14 November quake.