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Apr 2018
A crying Diana Du Cane holds a dog in her arms and looks upwards at a departing ship in a scene from The Broken Melody

Casting Diana Du Cane

The granddaughter of actress Diana Du Cane contacted us after seeing her grandmother in one of the Cinesound casting books featured in the Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits exhibition.

By Jennifer Coombes / 11 Apr 2018
Film
Object
Mar 2018
Rachel Ward holds a rose and turns her head to look at the camera in a scene from The Thorn Birds

Rachel Ward on The Thorn Birds

To mark 35 years since the premiere of The Thorn Birds mini-series, we take a look at the original costume design sketches in the NFSA collection and talk to Rachel Ward.

By Tenille Hands / 26 Mar 2018
Object
Television
Feb 2018
A pink and grey Astor 7 transistor radio from the 1950s or 1960s

Top 40 radio turns 60

Sixty years ago this month, the Top 40 pop chart helped bring the golden age of radio to a close and kickstarted a new era.

By Chris Arneil / 28 Feb 2018
Oral History
Radio
Miranda rests on the grass under a parasol and looks through a magnifying glass in a scene from the film Picnic at Hanging Rock

Characters and costumes

Jenny Gall takes a look at some classic Australian film costumes and how they've shaped the memorable characters who wore them.

By Jenny Gall / 9 Feb 2018
Film
Object
Dec 2017
Deborah Mailman singing on stage in a still from the film The Sapphires

2017 at the NFSA

The NFSA collects tens of thousands of items every year. What were some of the highlights for 2017?

By Adam Blackshaw / 19 Dec 2017
Film
Oral History
Posters
Radio
Sound
Television
Satine and Christian embrace in her chambers while Toulouse-Lautrec peers down at them from outside a heart-shaped window, in a scene from Moulin Rouge!

Costume makes the courtesan

A look at the red satin dress worn by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!, as featured in Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits.

By Jennifer Coombes / 5 Dec 2017
Film
Object
Nov 2017
Hand-coloured lithographic slide of La Place de la Concorde in Paris

Polyorama Panoptique

The NFSA recently acquired a Polyorama Panoptique, a 19th century French optical toy.

By Lauren Curless / 29 Nov 2017
Object
Oct 2017
Double sepia head and shoulders portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair

Starstruck casting books

These 1930s Cinesound casting books form the heart of the NFSA and National Portrait Gallery collaborative exhibition, 'Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits'.

By Jennifer Coombes / 31 Oct 2017
Object
Photographs
A screen hanging in a garage in Wollongong, part of the 1940s home cinema set-up of film projectionist Eddie Vormister

Home cinema, 1940s style

Meet 99-year-old Eddie Vormister and his homemade film projector.

By Jessica Bolton / 25 Oct 2017
Object
A woman wearing a pink foundation garment stands amidst art deco design elements suggesting power and lightening.

Berlei's Beauty in the Balance

Berlei cinema and television advertisements and educational glass slides from the 1920s to the 1960s offer a window onto Australian fashion and social mores.

By Beth Taylor / 9 Oct 2017
Film
Object