About the Television Collection

Image: Playing For Keeps (Series 1, 2018) - Courtesy: Screentime, Photographer Kelly Gardner.

The NFSA television collection includes many iconic moments in Australian television from its beginning in 1956 to the present.

The NFSA collects and preserves titles created for Australian commercial, subscription, community and internet television. The collection encompasses all key television genres: drama and comedy series, news and current affairs, music and variety shows, children’s programs, lifestyle, sport and reality, quiz and game shows, live specials, advertisements and many moments in Australian history made famous through television broadcasting. The television collection also documents technical changes and challenges faced by the industry, including the introduction of colour and digital television.

Given the large size of Australia’s television industry, the NFSA focuses its program selection on titles with cultural, historic and aesthetic significance, guided by the NFSA collection policy.

Drama

Our collection of television drama boasts a broad representation of historical and contemporary series, including the first ever to be produced in Australia – The Adventures of Long John Silver (1955). Also among the collection are iconic Australian titles such as Homicide (1964–75), Skippy (1966–69), Number 96 (1972–77), The Sullivans (1976–82), Against the Wind (1978), Prisoner (1979–86), Neighbours (1985–current), Blue Heelers (1993–2006) and Love My Way (2004–07). Our formal agreements with federal and state screen funding agencies ensure the continued growth of the contemporary television collection. This has enabled the NFSA to preserve a range of popular Australian TV series including: Mystery Road (2018), The Family Law (2016–18), Doctor Doctor (2016–current) Nowhere Boys (2013–current), Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) and The Justine Clarke Show! (2017).

If you have an agreement that requires you to deliver copies of your production to the NFSA, please download Information for Funded Deliverables.

News and Current Affairs

Launched in 1988, the NFSA’s Television News and Current Affairs Program documents how television networks have delivered news and current affairs programs to Australian audiences since 1956.

This unique collection contains complete bulletins, as well as comprehensive coverage of major events, and has been made possible thanks to the ongoing support of Network Ten, Nine Network, Seven Network, Sky News Australia, FOX Sports Australia, GWN7, WIN Network, Southern Cross Austereo, ABC and SBS.

The NFSA also holds early television news collections dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, from ATVO, NEW10, TEN10, CTC7, GLV8, GTV9, NBN, NWS9, STW9 and Seven Network.

Partnerships

The NFSA has entered into donation agreements with FOXTEL Management Pty Ltd, Premier MEDIA group and FOX Sports to ensure that we capture the story of subscription television in Australia.

If you have television material that you wish to offer the NFSA, please see the Collection offers page.