65.
181 For the reasons that follow, the answer is yes: the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, in his capacity as Official Secretary on behalf of the official establishment of the Governor-General, had custody of the original file, and then deposited the package containing the contents of that original file with the Australian Archives.
"Property … of a Commonwealth institution"
182 The Official Secretary had physical custody of the papers later deposited with the Australian Archives. He referred to these papers as the "original file". The Official Secretary recorded that "the papers [were] in [his] strong-room under absolute security until the task [of copying the papers for Sir John] [was] completed and the original file [was] in Archives". It is thus apparent that the original file was not taken by Sir John when his appointment as Governor-General ceased but was instead held by the Official Secretary. Further, when Sir John subsequently sought access to what was in the original file, he did not ask for the original file to be sent to him in London. Sir John asked for a copy[1].
183 That the original file was part of the administrative apparatus surrounding the Governor-General is reinforced by the Official Secretary's correspondence with Sir John, written on "Government House" letterhead, about the copying of the contents of the original file and the deposit of the contents of the original file with the Australian Archives[2]. That Sir John had ceased to be Governor-General by the time the Official Secretary first corresponded with him on those subjects does not detract from that conclusion. Mr Smith remained employed as Official Secretary, albeit a new Governor-General had been appointed. Practically speaking, there was, and had to be, some continuity in the apparatus surrounding the office of Governor-General.
184 It was also an agreed fact that "[o]n 26 August 1978 Mr Smith, in his capacity as Official Secretary to the Governor General lodged with the [Australian] Archives the documents contained in Archives record AA1984/609". Mr Smith, in his capacity as Official Secretary to the Governor-General, wrote that deposit letter[3] on the letterhead of the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Government House, Canberra, and signed it "David I Smith", above the typewritten words "Official Secretary to the Governor-General". The inevitable inference is that physical transfer of the package to the Australian Archives was controlled by the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, in his capacity as
