20 collections
Reality and TV Crime
Australian audiences have demonstrated an enduring fascination with stories of ‘true crime’. TV curator Kate Matthews explores the relationship that Australian crime and police shows have had with reality over the years. [read more]
Australasian Gazette
The Australasian Gazette newsreels held at the National Film and Sound Archive span over three decades and capture a diverse range of subjects including political and national events, sport and entertainment. [read more]
Cinesound Movietone Australian Newsreels
The Cinesound Movietone Australian Newsreel Collection held at the National Film and Sound Archive comprises 4,000 newsreels from 1929 to 1975. [read more]
Water in Australian cinema
Australia is the driest inhabited continent, but you don’t have to drill far to find water in our movies. [read more]
Menzies Home Movies
The Menzies Home Movie Collection includes approximately 35 films of varying duration. It provides a unique opportunity to see the world through the eyes of an Australian Prime Minister. [read more]
Berlei Advertisements
These cinema and television advertisements promote Berlei’s extensive range of foundation garments, corsetry and lingerie. [read more]
Prisons on Film
Paul Byrnes examines the history of Australian penal cinema, from prison ships to detention centres. [read more]
A Short History of Indigenous Filmmaking
After almost a century of silence as a creative voice in screen culture, Indigenous filmmakers have, within a generation, become a vibrant presence in the centre of filmmaking in Australia. Liz McNiven explores the short but significant move from being in front of to behind the camera. [read more]
Straford Family Films
The Straford Family Collection of films includes a diverse range of amateur films made between 1927 and 2007 by brothers Frank and John Straford and their father Vivien. [read more]
Horror in Australian Cinema
While vampires and zombies thrilled audiences in the Northern hemisphere, Australia’s idea of a horror scenario lay somewhere in the vast centre of the continent. [read more]
Australian Comedy Part 1: The Silent Era
Part one in Paul Byrnes’ series on comedy in Australian film looks at the silent filmmaking era. [read more]
Outback on Screen
NFSA Historian Graham Shirley traces the rich diversity of Australian cinematic representations and interpretations of the outback. [read more]
General Motors Holden
This is a collection of black-and-white and colour cinema and television advertisements produced for General Motors Holden from 1948 through to the mid 1970s. [read more]
The Depression
The Depression was worse for Australia than many other countries. Paul Byrnes wonders if that explains its treatment on Australian screens. [read more]
Marvellous Corricks
The Corrick family were vaudeville-style entertainers who toured Australia, New Zealand, and the world in the early 1900s. [read more]
AWM Western Front
Paul Byrnes argues that the surviving First World War footage held by the Australian War Memorial of Australians at the Western Front is worthy of more serious regard. [read more]
Australian Comedy Part 2: The Early Sound Era
Part two in Paul Byrnes’ series on comedy in Australian film covers the early sound era. [read more]
Australian Ethnographic Film
Michael Leigh surveys the long history of ethnographic filmmaking in this country and the representation of Indigenous Australians on film. Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this page may contain images of deceased persons. [read more]
Surfing
From lifesaving to 'soul surfing’: Paul Byrnes tracks the history of surfing and surf movies in Australia. [read more]
Snowy Hydro
This is a collection of films and footage shot and produced in the main by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority film unit, during construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme between 1949 and 1974. [read more]
