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Aerial photographs – Fact sheet 191

The major aerial photographic collections held by the National Archives are listed below. Additional photographs may be identified by conducting a phrase search in RecordSearch using the term aerial photo*.

Accessing some of the collections may not be straightforward because they are not always well indexed. Inquiries should be directed to the office holding the records.

Aerial photographic collections

Canberra

Series title	Date range	Series number
The trenches in northern France	1916–18	M433
Bombardment damage on the battlefields of France	1916–18	M434
CSIRO Murray River Basin aerial surveys	1931–38	D1900
Army aerial photographs of Australia	1933–	A8514
Aerial survey of Australia	1940–60	A1579
Aerial photographic mosaic glass negatives of Darwin	1944	A2832
Aerial photographic mosaics	1950–61	A2827
Aerial photographic mosaics	1950–61	A2829
Aerial photographic mosaics	1951–58	A2828
Aerial photographic mosaics	1951–58	A2830
Large format paper and digital flight line diagrams	1951–96	B6676
Snowy Mountains, black & white aerial survey photographs	1964	M2235
Lake Mackay and Mt Rennie MacDonald (WA and NT), glass negatives	1957	A2831
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority	1959–72	A5618
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority	1959–71	A5672
Australia (except Tas and ACT) (access provided by Geoscience Australia)	1960–74	A5446
Australia (except ACT) and PNG	1961–	A891
Australia (except ACT) and PNG	1961–	A892
The Australian Capital Territory	1960–	A894
South Vietnam (access provided by Department of Defence)	1967	A6919
Phuoc Tuy Province and Vung Tau areas, South Vietnam (access provided by Department of Defence)	1971	A6830
Jabiluka uranium mine site and surrounds, NT	1975	A4409
Lemonthyme and Southern Forests, Tasmania	1987–88	C2398

Sydney

Series title	Date range	Series number
Negative films of RAAF aerial survey photography of Australia (see also Melbourne)	1928–53	B5424
War Damage Commission claim files, reference maps and photographs (including Darwin, Thursday Island, New Guinea and New Britain)	1942–48	SP24/1
Vegetation cover in eastern New Guinea, black & white slides	1943	M1744
Cockatoo Island Dockyard	1944–64	C90
RAAF aerial photographs of South Australia and Northern Territory	1946	D4630
Aerial survey photographs of railway locations in South Australia	1946–48	D2771
Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway	1947–50	D5272
Army photomaps of South Australia	1947–52	D5540
South Australia and the Northern Territory	1947–53	D4631
Weapons Research Establishment, Salisbury, South Australia	1947–59	D4648
Woomera rocket range	1950–72	D1947
Railways in the Northern Territory	1950–72	D2327
South Australia and the Northern Territory	1955–60	D4632
South Australia	1955–68	AP1129/2
Outback South Australia	1961–65	D4467
South Australia	1964–85	D5270
South Australia and the Northern Territory	1965–69	D4633
Defence exercise areas (including Williamtown, Amberley, Woomera, Darwin and parts of Western Australia)	1968–70	D3917
Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway	1971–73	D4472
Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway	1972	D5271
Weapons Research Establishment (South Australia)	1975	D4675

Melbourne

Series title	Date range	Series number
Album of photographs – TAS, VIC, NSW & WA	1920	MP390/3
Negative films of RAAF aerial survey photography of Australia	1928–53	B5424
Aerial survey photography negatives of Australia	1932–40	A1103
Aerial films, CPE (Central Photographic Establishment) prefix	1942–99	B3957
Central Australia, photographic prints	1943	M1174
Allied Works Council storage depots in NSW	1944–45	MP960/5
Negative films of aerial survey photography	1945–48	B6670
Negative films, PR prefix	1946	B6671
Prints of aerial photography, National Mapping Division	1947–93	B6675
Diapositives, Australian Survey Office & AUSLIG, SO or SOC prefix	1951–88	B6668
Prints, Australian Survey Office & AUSLIG, SO or SOC prefix	1951–88	B6669
Negative films, SO or SOC prefix	1951–88	B6672
Large format paper and digital flight line diagrams	1951–96	B6676
Paper flight line diagrams (A4) of aerial survey photography	1951–96	B6690
Negative films, CA prefix	1953–93	B6654
Diapositives, National Mapping Division	1956–	B6674
Negative films, SCP prefix	1964	B6684
Test films of aerial survey photography, S prefix	1967–82	B6679
Laser profile charts and photographs	1967–83	B1375
Laser profile charts and photographs from test flights	1970–72	MT2188/6
Laser profile charts and photographs	1970–72	MT2188/7
Papua New Guinea, AP (aerial photography) prefix	1977	B473
Negative films, AUS prefix	1987–	B6673

Brisbane

Series title	Date range	Series number
Eagle Farm aerodrome and surrounding areas, and Amberley Airfield	1942–72	BP374/3
CSIRO aerial surveys of NT	1950–69	E1390
RAAF Base Amberley, Lavarack Army Barracks, Townsville and the Clevedon Remote Receiving Station	1954–69	J2781
Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centre, Taringa	1962–77	J1958
Lavarack Army barracks site, Townsville	1965	J158
CSIRO aerial surveys of NT	1971–86	E1389
Lightstations: Bustard Head, Cape Capricorn & Sandy Cape	1976	J2797
Meteorological satellite weather negatives	1978	BP542/3
Rockhampton aerodrome and Archerfield aerodrome	1978–83	J2782
Dent Island, Queensland	1989	J2857

Perth

	Series title	Date range	Series number
	Civil aviation aerial photo maps, Western Australia	1953–57	PP395/1

Adelaide

	Series title	Date range	Series number
	The Maralinga atomic test area, South Australia	1953–61	D1768

Hobart

	Series title	Date range	Series number
	CSIRO soil investigation aerial photographs of Tasmania	1946–65	P2541
	Tasmanian railways	1976–97	P2705

Darwin

	Series title	Date range	Series number
	Aerial Geological and Geophysical Survey of North Australia (AGGSNA)	1935–40	NTAC1979/126

Australian War Memorial, Canberra

	Series title	Date range	Series number
	Australian military campaigns (maps and aerial photos)	1919–	AWM195

Other sources

The National Library of Australia holds prints of approximately 800,000 aerial photographs of Australia taken from 1928–87, as well as useful information on using map indexes and flight diagrams to identify specific records of interest.

The N H (Doc) Fisher Geoscience Library holds approximately 1.4 million aerial photographs of Australia and Papua New Guinea dating from the 1940s.

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