Help

Site Search

These tips will get you started with basic query language and acquaint you with the available search options.

A few tips to note before beginning:

  • The search engine is not case-sensitive and so will return the same results for a search on Australia as it will for a search on australia
  • By default, the search interprets and searches for words that derive from a common stem. For example, a search for instructional returns files that contain instruct, instructs, instructions, and so on.
  • This default search only works with full words, not word fragments such as instru. For word fragment searches, you are best to use the instru* option.
  • Spaces between words turn the words into a phrase.
  • AND takes precedence over OR. So a search for flag or anthem or australia and national will see (australia and national) or flag or anthem occur. To control precedence, brackets can be used, for example (flag or anthem or australia) and national.

Below are some common searching examples.

Search Term
Resulting Search
department
 Documents containing depart or department or departments or departmental, and so on.
"department"
 Documents containing ONLY the word department
dep* Documents containing ANY word beginning with dep, including depart or department or departments or departmental as well as departure or depot or deputy and so on.
department and flag Documents containing the words depart or department or departments or departmental AND the words flag or flags or flagged.
department or flag Documents containing the words depart or department or departments or departmental OR the words flag or flags or flagged. (You can also search as department, flag)
department not flag Documents containing the words depart or department or departments or departmental but NOT the words flag or flags or flagged.
department flag
Documents containing an exact match of the PHRASE 'department flag'
australia <near> prime Documents containing the word australia NEAR the word prime (within 1000 words).
The closer the search terms are to one another, the higher the document appears in the search results.
australia <near/5> prime

Documents containing the word australia WITHIN 5 words of the word prime.
You can use any number after the forward slash to limit searching for proximity
australia <paragraph> prime Documents containing the word australia in the same PARAGRAPH as the word prime.
To search for three or more words in the same paragraph, simple repeat. For example australia <paragraph> prime <paragraph> minister

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Document Formats

Documents included on this website may be presented in a number of formats. The most commonly accessed documents are provided as standard webpages, which can viewed in a browser or printed and read offline. In addition some documents are also provided in Rich Text Format (RTF) and Portable Document Format (PDF)

RTF documents can be opened in most word processor programs including Microsoft Word, Microsoft WordPad, Corel WordPerfect, AppleWorks, and ClarisWorks.

For more information regarding our use of PDFs, please see our PDF Help page.

When a large document is presented in RTF and PDF format, it will be presented as a whole, and may also appear in sections for quicker download.

Some documents are presented only in PDF format. If you have trouble accessing one of these documents, first refer to our PDF Help page. If this does not solve your problem please contact the Web Administrator through the Site Feedback section of the website.

Downloading documents and files

Documents on this website are primarily presented as standard webpages, which can viewed in a browser or printed and read offline. Some information may be presented in alternative formats such as RTF or PDF for use as well. These document are often required to be downloaded for future reference, storage or transfer. Some transcripts are also available in video and audio formats. These files are able to be downloaded and viewed offline.

To download any of the files to your desktop, C drive, floppy disk or other storage drive, simply click the right-hand mouse button (Ctrl click for Mac's) on the document link and select the "save target as" or "save link as" option and then select where you would like to save the file. The downloaded file can then be opened and/or used independently (such as an email attachment) as needed.

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Plug-ins & Helper Applications

Audio files

Some of the information on this site is presented in an MP3 audio file format . Audio files are in MP3 format.

What is MP3?

MP3 is a near-CD quality file format for sound files, and is very popular for music on the web because of its powerful compression. For example, you can get hundreds of songs on a single CD using the MP3 format.

How to play MP3s

MP3s can be played on your computer using programs like RealOne, Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player. These players are usually free and can be downloaded and installed on your PC from the websites linked to this page.

Video Files

Some information on this site is presented in a 'streaming Flash' format. This media can be played, paused and re-played on the site as needed using the controls located below the small video screens on the page.

In some cases multimedia files may not function fully. This may be due to your configuration, a security setting or restrictions on updating plug-in programs. A text version of multimedia presentations is provided wherever possible as an alternative.

What is Flash Streaming?

As video files are usually large in size they can cause delays in downloading and usually you have to wait for all of the file to download before you can play it. For this reason, we have chosen to 'stream' the video used on this website. When a file is 'streamed' it is passed down to your computer in smaller 'packets' that play as they arrive. Some delays may still occur between the arrival of the 'packets' particularly if you are using a low access modem (56K), however the delay will still be much less than the full file download time.

How to play Streaming Flash

In order for you to receive and view streaming Flash content, you will need to have a Flash Player (such as Adobe Flash Player) on your computer. These small plug-in programs are free and can be easily downloaded and installed from websites such as the Get Adobe Flash Player website. This website also provides help and support in using the Flash Player plug-in.

Further Assistance

For further assistance contact the Web Administrator through the Site Feedback section of the website.