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Jan 2019
Popstar and TV personality Jimmy Hannan walking down the aisle at the Sydney Stadium with a crowd of people around him.

Jimmy Hannan: a winning smile

Vale Jimmy Hannan, who passed away on 7 January 2019, at the age of 84. We celebrate his life and work, and acknowledge his kind donation to the NFSA.

By Beth Taylor / 8 Jan 2019
Photographs
Sound
Television
Sep 2018
A hand-coloured still of Annette Kellerman as a child. She is dressed in a pink ballet tutu with ballet slippers and is striking a pose with her arms and on leg out.

Annette Kellerman's amazing life

Overcoming childhood adversity, Australian silent movie star Annette Kellerman took on the world – swimming, acting, performing and writing herself into the history books.

By Beth Taylor / 27 Sep 2018
Film
Photographs
Aug 2018
A rose-pink tinted image of a woman looking off into the distance.

The McDonagh Sisters

A portrait of the pioneering filmmakers, The McDonagh Sisters - Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis. NFSA Restores: The Cheaters screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2018.

By Graham Shirley / 9 Aug 2018
Film
Photographs
Actor Heath Ledger striking a dramatic pose with his arms out, one leg up in the air and his mouth open wide and eyes shut. He is in a yellow kitchen.

Heath Ledger exhibition

Audiences are about to discover the man behind the camera in the NFSA’s new exhibition Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures.

By Miguel Gonzalez / 7 Aug 2018
Film
Jun 2018
Two figures argue in a scene from the futuristic 1924 Russian science-fiction silent film Aelita, Queen of Mars

Aelita: Queen of Mars

The NFSA has recently digitised to 4K the groundbreaking 1924 Russian science-fiction feature film 'Aelita: Queen of Mars'.

By Craig Dingwall / 7 Jun 2018
Film
May 2018
A man holds hands with Louise Lovely in a garden in a scene from the silent film Jewelled Nights.

Louise Lovely: 1916 fan mail

The NFSA recently acquired two signed photographs of silent film star Louise Lovely and a letter of hers responding to a fan in 1916.

By Jenny Gall / 22 May 2018
Film
Object
Photographs
Apr 2018
Actor and filmmaker Snowy Baker leaning against a car with 'Carroll-Baker Australian Picture Productions' written on the side

NFSA Restores: Snowy Baker

The NFSA restores three silent films starring Snowy Baker - Australian Olympian, filmmaker and trainer of Hollywood stars.

By Nathan Smith / 18 Apr 2018
Film
Jan 2018
Josef Bambach tried to console Isabel McDonagh in a scene from the 1929 silent movie The Cheaters

NFSA Restores: The Cheaters

Restoring 'The Cheaters', a 1929 silent film by the pioneering McDonagh sisters.

By Tara Marynowsky / 10 Jan 2018
Film
Oct 2017
Black and white glass slide of a person with a sheet over their head pretending to be a ghost

19th century ghost photos

These 19th century photographic glass slides purport to show images of both the living and the dead.

By Adam Blackshaw / 27 Oct 2017
Photographs
Dec 2016

2016 at the NFSA

The NFSA collects tens of thousands of items every year. What were some of the highlights for 2016?

By Adam Blackshaw / 23 Dec 2016
Documents
Film
Object
Oral History
Photographs
Radio
Sound
Television