Things that make you go 'Ooh Aah'

The NFSA collection of over 2.8 million items spans 120 years of Australia's audiovisual heritage. As Chief Curator Gayle Lake explains, it is a collection unique in Australia and a constant delight for those who work with it and access material from it:

Saving our 'moving stories' held on tape

A significant percentage of moving image is held on magnetic tape, a format that is rapidly becoming obsolete. Tape that is not digitised by 2025 will, in most cases, be lost forever.

The NFSA is working with cultural institutions across Australia to create a National Framework for Digitisation of Audiovisual Collections – a collaborative approach to the mass-digitsation of our heritage. This initiative is in addition to the daily work our specialists undertake to preserve collection of magnetic tape and other materials.

As Assistant Video Preservation Specialist Richard Vorobieff explains, our preservation efforts will ensure that content on tape – including classic popular TV series like Number 96, The Box, Homicide and A Country Practice – will continue to be protected and accessible to all Australians:

Richard mentions another example of a 'moving story' on magnetic tape that has reached a new audience through digitisation. This is David Bowie's first talk show appearance, a surprise visit to the last episode of The Don Lane Show on 10 November 1983:

Audiovisual heritage is creative genius

Gayle explains that the NFSA collection is our history and our culture. In preserving our audiovisual heritage, the NFSA is also working to collect, preserve and share the talent and creativity of Australians from the past and present, and into the future:

Our moving stories

Learn more about What we collect at the NFSA. You can explore items from the NFSA collection in 135 curated collections and across 10 online exhibitions.

Visit the UNESCO website for more about the theme of this year's World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2018, Your Story is Moving.