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National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
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The work for all of us: Reflection, education, immersion

This Reconciliation Week, be all in

National Reconciliation Week invites all Australians to listen, learn and reflect on the shared histories that continue to shape us collectively. To mark the week, the NFSA is sharing voices from the collection and reflecting on what it means to be 'All in'.

Please be advised that this page contains names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Australia is a nation made up of rich, entwined histories. Our stories, preserved and passed down through the centuries, weave into a tapestry of shared cultures and achievements – but also dispossession, violence and devastating grief. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia’s colonial history sits alongside the generations pushing for meaningful change. 

The ongoing effort to achieve a reconciled Australia, where all children have the same chances in life, is one that benefits us all. National Reconciliation Week (NRW), held between 27 May and 3 June, is a time for all Australians to learn, reflect and keep up this momentum.

The theme for NRW 2026 is ‘All in’, which recognises that real change is not a spectator activity but an active process that requires the wholehearted commitment of each and every Australian. Through our actions, our nation can be strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

The NFSA’s expansive audiovisual collection provides space to learn about our collective histories, and to recognise reconciliation as a reciprocal process. From oral histories, songs and key broadcasts on land rights movements to stories from trailblazers told in their own voices – the archive reveals how the past shapes our shared future.

Read on to learn about the NFSA’s First Nations collection items, our key projects with the First Nations Engagement team, and how you can get involved during NRW 2026.

Our shared histories

In close collaboration with the NFSA First Nations Engagement team, our curators have co‑developed 25 new First Nations items that offer Australians an accessible way to immerse themselves in our shared story.

Encompassing retro recordings, rock posters and web series, these items spotlight the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders, activists, artists, performers and diverse communities who have kept their cultures and histories alive through the ages.

Allan Moarywaalla performs on Just Folk: Episode 13, 1965.

National Film and Sound ArchiveCPJMW88S

In a wire recording from the 1950s, pioneering Arrernte painter Albert Namatjira reflects on his family and creative process. Television broadcasts capture community announcements and DIY activist advertising. Charles Perkins and the Student Action for Aborigines record their Freedom Ride through regional Australia, resolving into a historic radio documentary that was originally banned from broadcast. And digital items reveal how an online world created new spaces for First Nations creatives to tell stories, create and connect.

Our growing online collection Nangamai ('Dream' in the Dharawal language) pays tribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trailblazers, icons and dreamers who have shaped the nation.

A celebration of First Nations culture
The Nangamai Collection honours First Nations trailblazers who preserve culture through activism, writing, film, song, dance, art and storytelling.
Deep Dives

Key projects at the NFSA

The NFSA works collaboratively to champion First Nations creatives, stories and cultural knowledge. As active custodians of cultural memory, we centre the leadership and decision-making power of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, working closely together to align with the cultural directions and aspirations of traditional owners.

Our dedicated First Nations Engagement team leads collaborations with communities through curated and co-designed projects. This work, informed by our First Nations Engagement Committee, prioritises the digital return of collection materials relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, ensuring that knowledge from recorded media is visible and available for preservation, ongoing use and cultural practice.

The NFSA’s hub of First Nations programs and materials is a living space. It brings together not only historical items, but also the contemporary voices that contribute to our continuous story.

The wide scope of this work includes the commissioning of Jazz Money’s WINHANGANHA, a filmic meditation on how archival inheritances shape our present realities, and the Central Desert Aboriginal Men’s Digitisation Project, a co-designed project to preserve and digitise at-risk films and audio recordings from the Strehlow Collection – one of the world’s most important collections relating to Indigenous ceremonial life. 

The NFSA also provides training programs in partnership with First Nations Media Australia, which develop opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations in archival practices.

This work is active and ongoing. Stories and content are regularly added and updated with a view to fresh perspectives, storytelling and achievements as we step into the future.

Explore our First Nations Engagement section below.

First Nations Engagement at the NFSA

The NFSA’s co-designed projects, our work with First Nations content, NFSA policies and commitments, and resources and directories for further reading.

What’s On

  • Every National Reconciliation Week, events are hosted nationwide by workplaces, schools, community and reconciliation groups and early learning services to strengthen relationships and learning. Explore the Reconciliation Australia event calendar.
  • The NFSA’s Head of First Nations Engagement Pauline Clague has shared a curated selection of films and screenings that explore identity, truth-telling, family and connection to Country. Read the article here.
  • The NFSA hosted two screenings at Arc Cinema in Canberra during the week, featuring special guests. One Mind, One Heart (28 May) included a Q&A discussion with director Larissa Behrendt and Professor Peter Yu, an expert in Indigenous development and advocacy. On 31 May, the NFSA screened Stephen Johnson’s High Ground, a frontier thriller set in Arnhem Land following the First World War. Johnson joined us for a Q&A after the screening.

Main image: Artwork by Teagan Malcolm, Kamilaroi

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