Archiving_Audio_Visual_Heritage_Australi

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Archiving
Audio
Visual
Heritage




 
Australia’s visual and sound cultural heritage collecting agency is the National Film and 
Sound Archive. While the Archive has been developing its public profile since it was re-
established as a stand-alone agency in 2007, it remains constrained by lack of legislation 
for its key cultural function; collecting audio-visual heritage. 
 
The NFSA, as the key agency to collect Australian audio-visual history, has been subject 
to shifts and inconsistencies in Australian cultural policy. ‘Speaking records and film’ 
were established as part of the work of the National Library of Australia (NLA) in 1935. 
While the NLA had a mandate to collect audio-visual heritage it was focused on its legal 
deposit obligations to maintain print-based materials. Later, 1975, the Australian Film 
Commission, was established into promote the film industry in Australia and preserve 
film history, but the archival component was never fully developed under the aegis of the 
AFC. In 1984 the NFSA formally separated from the National Library and set up as an 
independent organisation. 
 
In 1999 the NFSA was renamed Screensound Australia. This reflected a more corporate, 
modern approach to the work of archiving electronic media. The new entity made much 
of the need to partner with commercial and public institutions to achieve its cultural and 
heritage preservation goals. At the same time it developed access policies predicated on 
user-pay principles as it tried to monetise its holdings. While Screensound started to 
modernise its relationships to the public, developing awards and increasing its public 
profile, the commercial partnership projects were difficult to achieve. In 2003 
Screensound was merged with the AFC. This unhappy arrangement was finally abolished 
with the Labor government in 2007 who 'demerged' the Archive, which went back to its 
original name, the National Film and Sound Archives. 
 
Through out these shifting institutional arrangements a legislative program was never put 
in place to support legal deposit of electronic broadcast media texts to mirror 
arrangements for printed material. The NFSA relied on voluntary contributions from the 
media industry and particularly individuals who had amassed personal collections while 
being part of the media industries. They also conducted major oral history projects to 
record the memories and recollection of industry participants. Overall, however, there 
was a perception that the NFSA need to build a political constituency through exemplary 
collecting to provide a basis for legislative change. 
 
The NFSA has recently engaged the public through an innovative program that builds a 
profile through public events and institutional educational programs as well as 
establishing ‘champions’ that take the ideas of the NFSA into the broader community. It 
uses a YouTube channel to promote special events, such as the recent presentation by 
Howard de Backer (Gotye). Two key fora for the NFSA are the Thomas Rome Lecture 
(on sound heritage) and the Longford Lyell Lecture (film/television). At the same time 
the chive sponsors a number of wards that promote excellence and diversity in 
Australia’s audio visual industry. These include; the Ken G Hall Film Preservation 
Award, the Cochrane Smith Award for Sound Heritage. The Orlando Short Film Award 
an annual celebration of Australia’s best lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex 
short films while the NFSA’s National Folk Recording Award encourages excellence in 
Australian folk music recording. There are also regional and national professional awards 
for conservators (in conjunction with South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archives 
Association) and young cinematographers. 
 
With the development of new electronic forms such as web sites the issue of collecting 
electronic media heritage has become a matter of political concern. In 2007 the 
government produced a discussion paper and invited comment on the feasibility of 
extending the current legal deposit scheme to include audiovisual and electronic material. 
While various organisations contributed submissions including the Australian Library and 
Information Association, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as well as the NLA 
and NFSA, there were no conclusive policy developments. Later, in 2012 a further 
consultation paper was released on ‘library deposits for the NLA. As the government 
noted: “‘Library material’ includes all paper-based publications, books, pamphlets, sheet 
music and periodicals that are published in Australia. The scheme currently does not 
apply to films, sound recordings or other materials in an electronic form, such as web 
material or books published electronically.” This is despite the NLA actively collecting 
websites through its Pandora initiative. 
 
In it submission to this latest consultation process the NFSA argued its strong support to 
extending or legal deposit arrangements to electronic library material and audiovisual 
materials saying: “Without this, the publicly funded institutions mandated to collect and 
preserve Australia’s cultural output remain heavily dependent on active industry liaison 
and voluntary participation to undertake their core functions.” [Submission on 
Consultation Paper: Extending Legal Deposit, NFSA, 20 April 2012; for a full list of 
NFSA submissions and access to the pdf files go to NFSA 'Our submissions']. 
 
As yet there remains to be any final policy developed as a result of the latest rounds of 
consultations. There continues to be a number of critical issues that are proving difficult 
to resolve including copyright and intellectual property as well as responsibility for 
collecting and legislation versus voluntary collection for AV and online materials. Still it 
is critical to have a national policy and clearly delineated collecting responsibilities as we 
increasingly move to electronic forms of publication. In this process the NFSA will have 
a crucial role in conjunction with other key national collection agencies such as the 
National Library of Australia.