Web archive

Use the Australian Web Archive to navigate Australian websites at different points in time, and view historical web pages.

When searching the Websites category in Trove, results are displayed as a list of domains rather than webpages. Select a link to enter the Australian Web Archive. 

The web archive contains complete websites, webpages and documents. These are referred to as "snapshots". One webpage may contain many different snapshots - instances of that page as it existed at different points in time. 

Links on websites in the Australian Web Archive collection will work if the linked content is archived.


Snapshot remote controls

Use the snapshot remote to navigate the archive: 

Remote snapshot for viewing archived websites

 

  Minimise or    Maximise

Minimise the snapshot remote, and the maximise icon will remain. Select and drag to move this around the screen. Select maximise to restore the snapshot remote.

Calendar button in Remote snapshot   Calendar

Show all snapshot dates in a calendar view. Select a highlighted date to view the webpage as it appeared on that date.

Previous and Next button in Remote Snapshot   Previous or Next snapshot

View the previous or next snapshot of the webpage.

Timeline button in Remote Snapshot   Timeline

View a timeline showing the history of the web page. Select a year to see a timeline of snapshots from that year. Select a date to preview or open the snapshot from that date.

Earliest and Latest selection buttons in Remote Snapshot   Earliest or latest snapshots

Jump to the earliest or most recent snapshots of the webpage.

View the live webpage

Go to the webpage as it currently exists. Note: You will be directed away from the Australian Web Archive to an external webpage.

More snapshots...

See a list of other archived websites that are associated with the webpage that you are viewing.


Use the sidebar to find information about the webpage that you are viewing. The sidebar is located on the left hand side of the page.

  Details

Get information about the webpage you are viewing. You can find information such as title, date archived, and URL.

  Collections 

If the website snapshot appears as part of a collection of sites, the collection will be listed here.

  Cite 

View citations in a number of standard styles. You can copy and paste the citation that best suits your needs. Note: Citations are automatically generated and may require some modification.

Learn more about citing sources found on Trove


Incomplete or missing websites

Websites are collected using harvest robots that are scheduled to run at regular intervals. This means we capture cumulative changes rather than changes as they occur on a website. We may also fail to collect content if it is removed between harvest schedules. 

The technical limitations of the harvest robots also mean that some online content is not collected, such as:  

  • streaming media (including video content) 
  • database content 
  • dynamic and interactive elements  
  • some scripting elements required for presentation 

There are also limits to the ability to deliver (or render) content from the archive collection. The original website was delivered dynamically, but the archive is a static copy, so functionality such as searching, dynamic menus and other interactive functions will not work. 

Websites collected for the archive may link to websites outside the scope of the National Library of Australia’s collection (eg. outside the Australian web domain) and are not included in the archive collection. 

Access to some content is restricted for legal and commercial reasons.