Our building

25,000 years of storytelling

The National Film and Sound Archive's Acton building is located on the ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples who have inhabited the area for at least 25,000 years. Historical evidence suggests that the Canberra region was traversed and occupied by the Ngambri, Ngunnawal, Ngunawal, Ngarigo, and Walgalu peoples, and was an important place for meetings and ceremonies. Their descendants continue to live and practise language and culture in and around the region.

The building was occupied by the Institute of Anatomy from 1931. During this time, the Institute exhibited and stored collection materials containing human remains, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and First Nations people from the Pacific region. When the Institute of Anatomy left the Acton building, the remains transferred to the National Museum of Australia. The NMA, in consultation with communities, has a Repatriation program to identify and return ancestors to Country.

A piece of Australian architectural heritage

The main wing of what is now the NFSA building in Acton, Canberra was one of the first major public buildings to open in Australia’s fledgling capital city and was designed by the young architect Walter Haywood Morris. A major part of its charm comes from the abundance of stylised carvings of Australian flora and fauna that can be spotted on walls, ceilings and entryways around the site, including wombats, waratahs and goannas.

The striking foyer, with its geometric floor paved with local marble, also features an array of twelve reliefs representing the greats of 19th and early 20th medicine and anatomy, including Louis Pasteur and Lord Lister – reminders of the building’s origin as the Institute of Anatomy.

A rare combination of the idiosyncratic and classic early Canberra, the building was included in the Commonwealth heritage list in 2004, joining other valuable natural and cultural heritage places owned or controlled by the Australian government.

In 2024, the NFSA won the Architecture and Building Conservation category in the ACT National Trust Heritage Awards. The awards recognised the success of our Heritage Management Plan, noting the renewal of our ground floor spaces, specifically the foyer, Mediatheque and The Library.

The sunny courtyard is a popular spot for locals to linger before screenings, or to visit for lunch or coffee. The landscaping is based on an original scheme from the 1930s but was remodeled in 1991 and officially reopened by Hazel Hawke, wife of then Prime Minister Bob Hawke. The fishpond, of course, is occupied by bronze platypuses.

The campus also includes a 1930s residence built for the original director of the Institute of Anatomy. An extensive new wing for the NFSA was completed in 1999.

Home for a dynamic cultural institution

While the audiovisual collection dates from the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1984 that it moved to the Acton site and spun off from the National Library to form the National Film and Sound Archive . As well as the cinema, theatrette, gallery and other public spaces, the Archive’s administration, conservation labs and world-class digitisation studios are located here.

Now, there is more of our heritage building open to the public than ever before. While you are visiting, you will be surrounded by staff selecting and preserving Australia’s diverse and surprising audiovisual heritage for future generations.

The NFSA also maintains extensive storage vaults in the Canberra suburb of Mitchell.

You can find out about our work, and experience some of the collection, on this website!