The National Archives is inviting Australians across the nation to identify themselves or family members who may have been captured on film by government photographers in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

‘We have an enormous collection of government photographs and have selected more than 200 to feature as Faces of Australia in our gallery and also online,’ said Ross Gibbs, Director-General of the National Archives of Australia. ‘They show people at work and play, Australians from all walks of life, as well as the more well-known.

‘We have now included this feature on the new National Archives website which we are launching today. We hope people across Australia will help us identify some of the people and places featured.’

Faces of Australia is a digital photo wall of images taken by photographers with the Australian News and Information Bureau. The photographs were used to promote Australia to the world and prospective migrants.

One of the better known ‘faces’ is cricketer Don Bradman who was photographed in 1963 signing a bat for a young fan Rick Scheeren during the Prime Minister’s XI game.

Rick Scheeren was on hand to launch the National Archives’ new website which features Faces of Australia, along with other new features. The website also includes features such as online showcases, pictures of the week and insights into new research.

Other special guests at the launch were photographers who previously worked for the Australian News and Information Bureau and who travelled from across the country to meet up for the launch.

The new website has also come out with flying colours after being tested for accessibility by vision-impaired people, using screen-reader technology.

‘The new design of our website proved to be highly accessible, with the tester locating the information they needed in 45 seconds, while similar searches of other sites took up to 5 minutes,’ said Mr Gibbs. ‘We feel justly proud that this adds a further dimension of accessibility to the National Archives’ collection.’