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The
Australian National Travel Association
The
Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) was established on
1 July 1929, 'to place Australia on the world's travel map and keep
it there'. Although a proportion of its funding was provided by
the Federal Government, ANTA was governed by a board representing
the interests of Australian Railways, shipping, hotel and other
business that stood to benefit from an increase in tourism. Additional
funds were levied from members and raised from the sales of the
magazine Walkabout, published from 1934 to 1974. 
The
production of attractive travel posters was only one part of a marketing
campaign that included placing advertisements in overseas journals,
locating journalists in Britain and North America to provide information
to travel, railroad and shipping agents, providing literature on
Australia and arranging window displays and film screenings. ANTA
sought to be the sole voice of tourism for Australia internationally,
wishing to present an image free of parochialism.
In
the 1930s, ANTA undertook major promotions of Victoria's centenary
and Australia's 150th anniversary celebrations in Sydney. During
the Second World War, ANTA closed down its overseas offices, only
resuming tourism promotion in 1948. The 1956 Olympic Games were
strongly promoted by ANTA, and a number of the posters they commissioned
in the 1950s were entered in international competitions. From the
1960s, few new posters were commissioned and ANTA was wound up in
1974.
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