Curated collections

Vintage sound recording and reproduction equipment from the NFSA's artefacts collection.

Together, these beautiful artefacts contribute to the story of recorded sound in Australia.

Listen to Binny Lum's radio interviews with the Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Dame Joan Sutherland, Fred Astaire and more.

Sounds of Australia began in 2007 to celebrate sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. 

In the 1960s, the Australian government created Life in Australia as a marketing tool to sell potential 'New Australians' from Europe the idea of a prosperous, happy life down under.

Designed to attract an audience and to project an identity, festival posters are an essential tool in the marketing and branding of festivals. 

The art of poster-making flourished in Poland following the Second World War.

Long before vinyl records, cassette tapes and compact discs, there were wax cylinders.  

From the city to the sea, the hills to the festivals, enjoy the sights of Adelaide!

These Studio Manasse portraits capture the 'new woman’ of the 1920s and 30s: confident and provocative. 

View behind-the-scenes collection items relating to Caddie, a breakthrough Australian film of the 1970s starring Helen Morse.

Thousands of songs were written about the First World War. Many were destined to disappear before or soon after the cessation of hostilities but others became big hits at the time.

From Garbo to Valentino, the Taussig Film Stills Collection features the world's first movie stars.

Crocodile Dundee remains the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, with Paul Hogan’s iconic Mick Dundee at the heart of the film. 

In the first half of the 20th century, music was commercialised on 78 rpm shellac discs which could hold a little over three minutes on each side.

Here are 25 of the Sounds of Australia: recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance.

Many high-profile television journalists have contributed to the NFSA's Oral History program.

Go!! helped launch the 0-10 television network in 1964 and was ‘Australia’s swingin’est teenage show’. 

 A rare 100-year record of the birth and development of the national capital of Australia from its foundation in 1913 to its centenary celebrations.

In addition to preserving Australia’s filmmaking past and present, the NFSA also recognises the importance of learning from filmmakers themselves.

Australia Today billed itself as a 'digest of current events’.

This collection includes images of Anzac troops in Egypt and Gallipoli, some beautiful hand-tinted glass slides and a couple of popular songs from the First World War era.

From punk rockers to pop darlings, these Oral History interviews highlight the depth and diversity of Australian music.

The Australasian Gazette newsreels held at the NFSA span over three decades and capture political and national events, sport and entertainment.

Thousands of classic European film stills and portraits from the beginning of cinema to the 1930s are now preserved at the NFSA.