NSW Industrial Gazette in hardcopy

Manual Search

To search NSW award information prior to 2001, you will have to do a manual search through the hardcopies of the previous issues of the NSW Industrial Gazette and the indexes.

The Gazettes are published weekly and go back to the early 1900s. Copies are available at the NSW Industrial Relations Commissions Library or the State Library of NSW. The State Library NSW does offer a research service for people out of Sydney.           

The index to the Gazettes is published as a supplement and is called List of awards and contract determinations. 

The List of awards and contract determinations only includes current award titles. Once an award has been repealed it is no longer listed in the index. If you are after an old award and you cannot find it in the latest index, keep checking the older indexes until you find it. 

When you find the name of the award you are looking for in the alphabetical list you can locate the award in the appropriate Gazette and also all changes made to that award. There are five columns under each entry:

• Column 1 shows the serial number. 
• Column 2 shows the date that the Industrial Commission approved the award or variation. 
• Column 3 has codes which tell you what sort of decision was made about the award, eg AIRC means it was an award made by the Industrial Relations Commission, VIR means there was a variation made to the award by the Industrial Registrar. The codes and their definitions are on the inside cover of the index. 
• Column 4 tells you in which volume of the IR Gazette you will find the award or variation
• Column 5 tells you the page number.

Example of historical research task

Research question: Find the gross weekly rates of pay for a Full time Shop Assistant in Charge for the period 1999 - 2001.

Procedure for researching:

Establish which award they are covered by (either look at Awards Online or ring Award Enquiries on 131 628). They are covered by the Shop Employees (State) Award.

Locate a copy of the Industrial Gazettes (they are available at the NSW Industrial Relations Commission Library or the State Library NSW).

Go to the List of Awards and Contract Determinations for the years you are interested in (1998 – 2001).

Look up the Shop Employees (State) Award in the List where you will be directed to individual Industrial Gazettes for the variations to the award during those years. Changes due to State Wage Case are normally just after mid-year.

Look up each individual variation to see if it is wage related and summarise the results.

The Full Time Gross Weekly Rate will be in one of the tables at the beginning of the variation. The Effective Date can usually be found at the end of the variation.

Results summarised as follows:

Award: Shop Employees (State) Award

Classification: Full time Adult Shop Assistant in Charge (With the duty of buying – In charge of from nil to 4 assistants) from 1st March 1999 to 1st December 2001.

The information as published in the NSW Industrial Gazettes is as follows.