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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 48| December 2000
New guide to the Aerial Photographs Collection at the National Library
The National Librarys collection includes approximately 800 000 black and white aerial photographs housed in the Map Reading Room (Lower Ground 1). The Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) donated a large part of the collection. The aerial photographs covering most of Australia were taken between 1928 and 1987. The collection consists of Commonwealth photography flown by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Division of National Mapping, and AUSLIG. The photographs are arranged and indexed according to the Australian 1:63 360 topographic sheet numbering system. The Map Reading Room also houses a collection of photomaps, photomosaic, and orthophoto maps.
Aerial photographs are a valuable resource as they provide an accurate record of how the Australian landscape has changed over time. Geologists, mining and exploration companies, land developers, planners, environmentalists, farmers, soil conservationists and landcare groups use aerial photographs as a means of monitoring land clearing and forestry development.
A new guide has been written to help readers access the National Librarys collection of aerial photographs. It covers various topics such as searching for aerial photographs, accessing aerial photographs in the library, ordering copies, and links to web sites.
The guide includes a selection of Internet sites that provide information about the individual State and Territory collections of aerial photographs, products and services, as well as policy documents. Some Internet sites such as the Aerial Photography Archive of the Northern Territory at www.lpe.nt.gov.au/airphoto/index.html contain digital images of aerial photographs. Images can be enlarged using a zoom option to enable the selection of aerial photographs for specific areas. Details on how to order photographs are also included. Other Internet sites such as the National Archives of Australia at www.naa.gov.au/fsheets/fs191.html contain information about their aerial photograph collections. The National Archives fact sheet on the web site lists the major collections available, their location details, quantity, date and series number.
Copyright on aerial photographs expires 50 years from the date of
creation or 50 years from the date of first publication for photographs
taken after May 1969. If an aerial photograph is still in copyright,
clearance needs to be obtained from the copyright owner, i.e. AUSLIG or
the RAAF. If readers wish to order copies of aerial photographs from the
National Librarys collection the guide includes the contact details
for AUSLIG and United Photo and Graphics (UPGS). The new aerial
photographs guide may be accessed from the Map Reading Room web page at
www.nla.gov.au/map/index.html.
Julie Ward
Above, right: Aerial photograph of Braidwood, NSW, 1944
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au