An Oral History with Geoffrey Atherden
The NFSA Oral History Program has recently added to the collection an engaging career interview with award-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Atherden. Recorded by Susan Lever, the interview recounts Atherden's emergence as a writer beginning with Architecture Revues at the University of Sydney in the 1960s, up until the present time, and working with director Rachel Ward.
Susan Lever, an Honorary Associate, School of Letters, Arts and Media at the University of Sydney, is currently researching the history of Australian television drama and conducting interviews with writers for the Australian Writers' Foundation Oral History Project. These interviews are filmed by Foxtel and preserved in the NFSA Oral History collection for future reference and use. For the full article and to listen to excerpts from the interview go to the Oral History collection homepage.
NFSA's Manager of the Oral History Program, Ken Berryman, and Oral History Program Coordinator, Chris Guster, recently attended the 16th National Conference of the Oral History Association of Australia, held in Launceston. Ken delivered a paper outlining the Oral History Program of the NFSA, and Chris presented a paper on the RIMA (Remote Indigenous Media Associations) Oral History Project.
Engaging with the Torres Strait Islander People
The Poruma Group dancers perform
in the NFSA courtyard.
The NFSA's Indigenous collection team has recently returned from a visit to the communities of the Torres Strait Islands. This included the repatriation of materials for the Zamiyakal exhibition to celebrate the fifth birthday of the Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Thursday Island. The NFSA created three moving image productions of this event, including the Zamiyakal Exhibition DVD and the full sequence of both the Poruma Group dancers and the Saibai dancers who performed at the birthday celebrations. We also developed a shared copyright agreement with Gab Titui and the Poruma and Saibai performers to ensure the people maintained intellectual property ownership, as well as moral rights, and control over their performances. These recordings have been deposited into the NFSA's Indigenous collection.
As part of the NFSA's 'at risk' community produced materials survey, the Preservation and Technical Services and Recorded Sound teams undertook a preliminary survey of Indigenous audiovisual community based archives in Townsville, Cairns and on Thursday Island. This survey will contribute to the final report on the preservation status of audiovisual materials in Indigenous community based archives in Australia.
We also conducted a number of oral history recordings for both the Indigenous collection and for the recorded sound collection. These included Jackie Tims and Evelyn Lowah, community radio broadcasters from Bummer Bippera Media in Cairns, Seaman Dan, a musician from the Torres Straits and Nigel Pegrum, a sound producer from Pegasus Studios in Cairns. Before leaving, we advised Torres Strait Islander people how to conduct oral history recordings enabling them to make these recordings with their people in both Creole and their own Indigenous languages. These recordings will form part of the NFSA's Oral History collection.
The NFSA in Canberra was lucky enough to be treated to a special performance by the Poruma Dancers. The NFSA filmed the performance and are creating a DVD to highlight the importance of our outreach engagement programs.
Exchanging Ideas
In September, the NFSA welcomed Deb Stoiber, Nitrate Vaults Manager at the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center to Canberra, as part of our annual staff exchange program with George Eastman House (GEH). Deb spent a month with the NFSA, meeting with staff, and reviewing our collection and preservation risk management projects. Although a nitrate specialist, Deb's study encompassed the range of items and formats in the NFSA's collection. Reflecting on her NFSA experience, Deb said that the exchange program 'gave me an opportunity to do things that I wouldn't normally do' and 'to observe how another archive approaches its tasks and to share ideas.' Deb also noted that, while the NFSA and GEH share the same goal of preservation, that as 'a public archive the NFSA is really striving to meet the needs of the public by making so much of the collection available as possible.' To learn more about Deb's time with the NFSA, you can visit her blog here.
The annual staff exchange program allows one staff member and/or student from GEH and one staff member from the NFSA to spend up to one month working and/or studying in the other institution for their individual professional development and for the benefit of both institutions. The program develops and deepens the NFSA's relationship with GEH and fosters the exchange of specialised ideas, knowledge and experience about audiovisual archives and archiving. It gives staff in each organisation an opportunity to experience an audiovisual archive overseas, to develop their professional experience and to share their skills and learning - overseas and at home.
Non-theatrical Loans Catalogue Grows... and Grows!
Since 2004 the NFSA has managed the Non-theatrical Loans Catalogue (formerly called the National Film and Video Lending Service), a veritable treasure trove of films and videos developed over many years by the National Library of Australia. With more than 16 000 titles, the Catalogue is now part of the national collection cared for and preserved in accordance with the NFSA's Statement of Curatorial Values. The NFSA has paid a fee to rights holders of selected titles so that these can be borrowed by authorised institutions and groups for non-theatrical screenings.
The NFSA is expanding the Catalogue with a large number of DVDs acquired over recent months. The aim has been to broaden significantly the range of important Australian and international titles with particular focus on: films for children and young adults; arthouse cinema; Hollywood classics; and Australian film. DVDs added to the Catalogue over the past three months range from Camille (1937) to Schindler's List (1993) to L.A. Confidential (1997) to Australia (2008). To check on the latest additions, select either Past 30 days or Past 90 days in the Acquisition Date box.
Wireless House
Wireless House, Glebe Park, Sydney
On Saturday
25 September 2009, Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP opened the newly revitalised Foley Park in Glebe and officially launched the Wireless House sonic art project. Originally established during the Depression to provide free radio broadcasts to the community, the Wireless House had sat dormant and forgotten for decades.
The NFSA, City of Sydney, and sonic artist, Nigel Helyer have partnered to sonically activate Wireless House once again. Over 200 recordings sourced from the NFSA's collection can be heard at the Wireless House. Titles include quiz shows hosted by Jack Davey, popular serials like Portia Faces Life, Dr Paul and Martin's Corner, comedies like Mrs Obbs, sports commentary, early jingles and broadcasts of historic events such as Prime Minister John Curtin's declaration of war with Japan in 1941. Listening to these radio excerpts today, we can experience some of the radio broadcasts people heard at Wireless House in Foley Park from the '30s through to the '70s.
Staff from the NFSA's Sydney office attended the Wireless House launch event and the NFSA marquee attracted considerable public interest.
