- NATIONAL COLLECTION
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- PRESERVATION PROJECTS
- Australia's 'Lost' Films: Search & Rescue
- Marius Sestier Collection
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- Deluxe/Kodak Collection
- National Film Preservation Foundation
- SPECIALISED COLLECTIONS
- NFVLS Collection
- Australian Jazz Archive
- National Registry of Audiovisual Collections
- Oral History Collection
Collection Spotlights
Many digitised works from the National Collection are available for online listening and viewing. Collection Spotlights are curated features and galleries that showcase these works.
Features
Australia's Prime Ministers
A collaboration between the National Archives of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive.
Restoration of The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
The National Film and Sound Archive's new digital restoration of The Story of the Kelly Gang was launched on 30 November 2006. A DVD was released in early 2007 which includes the restoration and a 'study version' which incorporates both footage and related documentation to provide the full story of the film.
Mike and Stefani (1952)
This spotlight features the feature film Mike and Stefani and film magazine series Australian Diary, produced between 1947 and 1973 by the Film Division of the Department of Information to publicise the government's participation in the international program to re-settle DPs - e.g. 'Displaced Persons of Europe'.
Film Connection
Through this collaboration pioneered by the National Film and Sound Archive, the US National Film Preservation Foundation’s (NFPF) preserved several short American silent films that no longer survived in the United States. The films are now available for study in both countries. Find out more abourt the six of the most interesting rediscoveries.
1967 Referendum
a selection of material relating to the landmark referendum of 1967. The referendum held on 27 May 1967 achieved an overwhelming "yes" vote to remove two discriminatory references regarding Aboriginal people from the Australian Constitution.
Australians in the First World War
This spotlight provides information and digital content relating to Australia's contribution to the First World War (1914-1918) and the impact that the war had on the country's film and recorded sound industry.
For the Term of his Natural Life
Based on a novel by Marcus Clarke (1846-1881), For the Term of His Natural Life was directed and produced by in 1927 by Norman Dawn.
Jedda
Restoration work was required before the National Film and Sound Archive could release the 1950s Australian screen classic to a modern audience on DVD.
The Sentimental Bloke
The reconstruction of The Sentimental Bloke started in 1997 when George Eastman House, the internationally renowned archive based in Rochester, New York, lent to the National Film and Sound Archive (then called ScreenSound Australia) a high quality 35mm acetate version of the film found in their archives.
'Smithy' - Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
Based on the life of Sir Charles Edward Kingsford-Smith (1897-1935), Smithy was filmed in 1946 by Ken G. Hall.
Wake in Fright
A lost masterpiece is rescued, restored and rediscovered.
For the last three decades the film was long‐believed lost until the film's editor Anthony Buckley traced the original negatives to a vault in America marked for destruction.
Sound Galleries
Waltzing Matilda
Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson penned Waltzing Matilda in 1895. Ever since, there have been numerous versions and interpretations of the work.
Bruce Leonard's Theatre of the Mind
Theatre of the Mind features a selection of the classic drama, comedy, variety shows, serials, quizzes, plays and children's shows which were popular on Australian radio from the 30s to the 50s.
Women in Early Radio
Listen to oral histories and early radio plays written, directed, produced and performed by the women in the first years of Australia's radio broadcasting.
Image Galleries
There are many digitised images from the Collection available for online viewing.
Australian Cinemas and Theatres
Also known as Picture Palaces, Australia has been home to some unique and interesting theatres and cinemas.
Very Rare Paget Plates Discovered
A very important discovery from a collection of family images by cameraman and director Franklyn Barrett.
Soldiers of the Cross
Believed by many to have been Australia's first lengthy motion picture play, Soldiers of the Cross was actually an illustrated lecture.
People
Ray Barrett (1927-2009)
Barrett was widely acclaimed across his fields, winning national and international awards for theatre, film and television. Yet it was his humble beginnings in radio that determined his life as an actor.
Shirley Ann Richards
Shirley Ann Richards was one of Australia's most popular actors in the 1930s, playing the lead in a number of runaway film successes for the Cinesound Studio.
Graham Kennedy
His comic style led him to be crowned the unofficial king of Australian television - a title that he retained until his death in 2005 at the age of 71.
Charles Chauvel
A biography and filmography of Charles Chauvel, considered one of Australia's greatest ever filmmakers.
Joan Long
Producer and screenwriter Joan Long is best remembered for the films Silver City and Puberty Blues.
Lottie Lyell 'Photo Play Artiste'
This publication includes previously unpublished scripts and personal documentation, as well as reproductions of stills and original scenarios from lost films.
Cecil Holmes
In New Zealand and Australia, Cecil Holmes made astounding contributions to film during a tough era for the industry.
