The National Library’s image collections are the photo albums of Australia. They are an invaluable archive that helps us understand the story of Australia, its country and its people.

Just like with personal photo albums, images in the Library's collections, both physical and digital, reveal the communities we live in, the landscapes we inhabit, our history and moments both significant and ephemeral.  

Image
A black and white close up of an Aboriginal man's face from above the brows to just below the nose. He holds a small camera over his left eye.
Mervyn Bishop, Self-portrait of Aboriginal Photographer Mervyn Bishop, Sydney, 1989, nla.obj-153510920, copyright courtesy Mervyn Bishop and Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney

Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now explores 50 years in the lives of Australians. Pulling exclusively from the Library's photography collection – now made up of more than a million photographs – the 125 images in this exhibition reveal a changing Australia and the evolving nature of photography.