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Mar 2020
A rose-pink tinted image of a woman looking off into the distance.

The McDonagh Sisters

For International Women's Day, we present a portrait of the pioneering Australian filmmakers, the McDonagh Sisters – Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis.

By Graham Shirley / 4 Mar 2020
Film
Photographs
Sydney Harbour with the bridge in the background

McDonagh sisters' filming locations

Can you help us identify these Sydney locations from landmark 1920s films made by the McDonagh sisters?

By Graham Shirley / 4 Mar 2020
Film
Feb 2020
Cricketer Sir Donald Bradman walks onto the Sydney Cricket Ground ready to bat.

Bradman in Colour

A recently donated film reveals the only known colour footage of Sir Donald Bradman playing cricket.

By Jeff Wray / 21 Feb 2020
Film
Nov 2019
Album cover for mental As Anything's record 'Get Wet' with a hyper saturated colour photo of the band members.

Get Wet

In November 1979, Australian band Mental As Anything released their debut album 'Get Wet' and launched a long career.

By Sean O'Brien / 27 Nov 2019
Oral History
Posters
Sound
Television
Apr 2019
Three women pose for the camera. One wears a white wedding gown. The other two are bridesmaids in pink.

Vintage fashion in colour

Mark Foy's fashion parades from the 1940s and '50s, featuring designers Pierre Balmain and Schiaparelli, captured in gorgeous colour footage.

By Beth Taylor / 29 Apr 2019
Film
Mar 2019
Black and white portrait of actress Betty Bryant wit her elbows resting on a piano accordian and her face in her hands.

Starstruck: Betty Bryant

A look at Betty Bryant, once Australia’s most famed film ingénue, who features in the exhibition Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits, now open on the Gold Coast.

By Tenille Hands / 6 Mar 2019
Film
Object
Photographs
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

Wirth's Circus home movies

Film curator Tara Marynowsky looks at a preserved collection of 16mm home movies of Wirth's Circus and the family that ran it.

By Tara Marynowsky / 10 Sep 2018
Film
Photographs
Aug 2018

Ron Grainer and Doctor Who

Listen to a 1966 interview with Australian composer Ron Grainer, who wrote the memorable theme music for Doctor Who.

By Adam Blackshaw / 31 Aug 2018
Sound
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