National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) — Attraction in District of Canberra Central

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of film, television, sound, radio, video games, new media, and related documents and artefacts. The collection ranges from works created in the late nineteenth century when the recorded sound and film industries were in their infancy, to those made in the present day.

The NFSA collection first started as the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library (within the then Commonwealth National Library) in 1935, becoming an independent cultural organisation in 1984. On 3 October, Prime Minister Bob Hawke officially opened the NFSA's headquarters in Canberra.

The work of the Archive can be officially dated to the establishment of the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library (part of the then Commonwealth National Library, precursor to the National Library of Australia) by a Cabinet decision on 11 December 1935.

After being part of the National Library of Australia (NLA) and its predecessors for nearly 50 years, the National Film and Sound Archive was created as a separate Commonwealth collecting institution through an announcement in Parliament on 5 April 1984 that took immediate effect. At that time, an Advisory Committee was established to guide the institution.

On 21 June 1999, the name was changed to ScreenSound Australia, the National Collection of Screen and Sound, and changed again in early 2000 to ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archive. It reverted to its original name, National Film and Sound Archive, in December 2004.

In 2000, Screensound joined the PANDORA Archive, the web archiving project started by the NLA in 1996, as a collaborating partner.

Meanwhile, consequent on amendments to the Australian Film Commission Act which took effect on 1 July 2003, it ceased to be a semi-autonomous entity within the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and became an integrated branch, later a division, of the Australian Film Commission, a funding and promotional body.

In 2007, the Liberal Government announced the creation of a new agency to be called Screen Australia which would incorporate the main functions of the Film Finance Corporation, the Australian Film Commission (including the Archive), and Film Australia. Following elections in November 2007, however, the new Labor Government implemented an election promise to allow the NFSA to become a statutory authority, similar to other major cultural institutions including the National Library of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Museum of Australia. The NFSA Act became law on 20 March 2008 and came into effect on 1 July 2008, with celebrations...

A great museum of sorts. Museum comes with the connotations of being a plane filled with dusty antiques but this place is more of a blast from the past. They had a great exhibition on video games of the past featuring everything from arcade machines with classic games like space Invaders to Sonic games on old Sega consoles. Then you had past PC games of the league of legends style and a selection of great indie titles featuring Minecraft, journey, QWOP and fruit ninja. And then you had your more interactive party games; guitar hero, singstar and dance games. Top it all off with a chatty staff member or two and you have yourself a great experience of walking through a history of video games allowing for us younger generations to get a glimpse of what technology and video games were like. The only small gripe I have is that there was an unfortunate absence of some recognisable characters such as video games favorite plumber. However it is my understanding that this is the fault of large corporations refusing to lisence the use of there video games and not the fault of the exhibitor. All in all it is a great place to take in a bit of history with a nuanced approach, not just reading about it in a history book. A great exhibition on video games and I expect it will have more great exhibitions and events in the future. Would...

The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia's 'living' archive – the custodian of over 2.8 million items that we not only collect, but preserve for future generations and share in many diverse ways.

It’s all about the Collection. Established in 1984, with roots dating back to the 1930s, the NFSA is Australia’s premier audiovisual archive and a place of engagement with Australian audiovisual production, past and present, for everyone.

It is Australia’s ‘living’ archive and the custodian of over 2.8 million items that is collected, but preserve for future generations and share in many diverse ways.

The NFSA collection holds more than 2.8 million works, including films, television and radio programs, videos, audio tapes, records, compact discs, phonograph cylinders and wire recordings. It also encompasses documents and artefacts such as photographs, posters, lobby cards, publicity items, scripts, costumes, props, memorabilia, oral histories, and...