The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) tells the national story by collecting, preserving, and sharing Australia's rich history of audiovisual media. Recorded sound and moving images came to dominate cultural expression and the national record over the course of the 20th century, and this impact has only gained pace in the 21st century with the proliferation of creation and consumption of audiovisual content on digital platforms.

From our earliest recordings in the 1890s to the latest games and immersive digital productions, the NFSA collection represents not just our technical and artistic achievements and stories but also our obsessions and myths. Our collective memories are preserved with the uncanny immediacy of recorded sound and moving images.

Our collection began in 1935, making us one of the first audiovisual archives in the world – some individual collection items date back to the 1890s. Today, the collection includes video and audio recordings and contextual materials such as costumes, scripts, props, photographs and promotional materials. It includes almost 700,000 unique works, and nearly 7 million physical and digital components - with more added every day. It’s a diverse, dynamic and often surprising repository: it includes items inducted into the UNESCO Memory of the World register, sporting matches, TikToks, game shows, polyester film, podcasts, and advertising jingles. NFSA curators preserve these items for future generations and continue to build the collection, ensuring it provides an unbroken record of Australian creativity and diversity.

The wealth of stories captured in the national audiovisual collection is available to all Australians across the NFSA's website and online platforms as digital exhibitions, curated collections, and original productions like podcasts.

The NFSA also makes the collection available for enjoyment, learning, research and re-use through various public programs and services. These include Sounds of Australia, NFSA Restores, screenings and events, and learning programs delivered online and at our headquarters in Acton, Canberra. Our Enterprises team also facilitates access to and reuse of collection materials for industry and academic researchers.

The film collection

The NFSA’s holdings include features, documentaries, shorts and experimental works on a variety of formats. 

Highlights include:

• The earliest surviving footage of the Melbourne Cup (1896)
• The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world’s first acknowledged feature film
• Cinema newsreels chronicling national and international events for four decades
• Acclaimed documentaries like Sherpa (2015)
• Haunting short films like Karroyul (2015)

Over 300,000 film items are preserved, including international works from Soviet silent classic Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924) to films featuring Deborah Mailman, Rose Byrne and Nicole Kidman.

The TV collection

The NFSA television collection spans Australian broadcasting from 1956 to today, covering commercial, subscription, community and internet television. Genres include drama, comedy, music, variety, children’s programs, sport, lifestyle, reality, advertising and news.

• Drama highlights: The Adventures of Long John Silver (1955), Skippy (1966–69), Number 96 (1972–77), Neighbours (1985–2025) and Mystery Road (2018)
• News and current affairs: Our Television News and Current Affairs Program captures bulletins and coverage of major events, supported by partnerships with ABC, SBS, Network Ten, Nine Network, Seven Network and regional broadcasters.

The collection also charts milestones like the introduction of colour and digital television.

The radio collection

The NFSA radio collection includes podcasts, news and current affairs, talk shows, documentaries, sport, jingles, variety and quiz shows, classic drama serials and inaugural broadcasts.

Given the large size of Australia’s commercial, community and public radio sectors, our program selection focuses on titles with cultural, historic and aesthetic significance, guided by the NFSA collection policy.

Our off-air radio capture program adds over 18,000 hours of radio content each year. We also hold a unique collection of radio-related scrapbooks, scripts and photographs.

Explore collection highlights and Radio 100.

The sound collection

Spanning more than 120 years, the NFSA’s sound holdings range from wax cylinders recorded in 1896 to today’s digital releases. The collection includes music, political speeches, poetry, nature recordings, historical events and experimental works.

Fragile formats are digitised under ongoing preservation programs.

Explore collection highlights and Sounds of Australia.

The video games collection

The NFSA is building a national collection of video games, charting the industry from The Hobbit (Beam Software, 1982) to Untitled Goose Game (2019) and contemporary productions.

We preserve:

• Source code and prototypes
• Design documents and concept art
• Publicity materials and fan culture artefacts
• Hardware and digital formats

Video games are a dominant cultural form in the 21st century, and are used in educational, health and training contexts as well as for entertainment, competitive play and creative expression. Video games face unique preservation challenges as hardware and software rapidly become obsolete. Our approach ensures these works and their histories remain accessible.

Interested in contributing materials?

The documents and artefacts collection

Documents and artefacts reveal the creative and cultural context behind Australia’s audiovisual history, including:

• Film and concert posters, lobby cards and photographs
• Costumes like Johnny O’Keefe’s coat and Oscar-winning outfits from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
• Props, promotional materials and audiovisual technology such as magic lanterns, gramophones and cameras
• Scripts, scrapbooks and personal papers from figures like Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Rolf de Heer and organisations like Crawford Productions

Explore more in our Curated collections

The oral history collection

The NFSA’s Oral History program preserves personal recollections from practitioners across Australian audiovisual industries. Interviews capture both established and emerging careers, offering unique perspectives on creative and technical contributions.

Enquiries:

General: oralhistory@nfsa.gov.au

Listening appointments: access@nfsa.gov.au

We collaborate with the Australian Media Oral History Group to share these voices.

The First Nations collection

The NFSA holds over 30,000 audiovisual items representing First Nations experiences across film, sound, oral histories and digital formats.

Usage of these items, and ongoing collection of First Nations materials, is governed under our First Nations Engagement Strategy which mandates First Nations-led and co-designed programs and approaches. We work with communities to ensure respectful stewardship guided by Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) protocols and to redress historical shortcomings in the collection, management and usage of First Nations knowledge.

These works reflect cultural knowledge, creative contributions and the evolving role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners in Australian audiovisual storytelling.

For more information about our work with First Nations collections and communities visit First Nations Engagement at the NFSA.