National Film and Sound Archive of Australia - 2025

In the first few days of April, TEABBA were very privileged to have First Nations Media Australia (FNMA) invite two of our staff, Gina and Donna, to Canberra for training sessions with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), along with other organisations throughout Australia.

On day one we appreciated the opportunity to tour the NFSA Acton facilities (onsite) and learn more about the importance of cataloguing all different types of media in order to preserve and maintain for future generations to appreciate also. Day two featured a more hands-on approach with workshops in smaller groups, covering digitisation, resources from the First Nations Media Australia online toolkit, basic cleaning of analogue collections, packaging and storage, and working with a catalogue spreadsheet. Day three was another beautiful morning and a visit to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and a tour of their facilities, followed by a wrap-up session back at the NFSA discussing digital storage systems, content sharing protocols, and bringing digital collections together.

It was wonderful to see first hand the dedicated teamwork to fix and preserve various types of media such as the really old movie reels, records, videos, cassette tapes, mini cassettes, dvd and even cd's. The team at NFSA were amazing with the professional knowledge, care, dedication and service they provide is so very important and relevant to not only us but everyone in Australia.

Being able to preserve history as we know it is a priority! To watch them at work, fix an old movie reel as if it has splintered and restore a warped vinyl record was beyond belief! It is so important that we act NOW to preserve anything laying around at workplaces, storage spaces, sheds and homes purely due to the advancements of Technology.

Having the suitable machines that are required for certain types of media will no longer be available in years to come, hence the urgency that such important media needs to be digitised asap.

If you have an important collection of media you would like to have digitised please reach out for a quote to the friendly team at NFSA by calling 1800067274 or send an email to enquiries@nfsa.gov.au .