As we approach Anzac Day 2025, it is interesting to reflect upon sounds and moving images from and about wars the nation has endured, and with these, the lives of Australians that are rapidly receding from memory as time passes.  The NFSA was always in an excellent position to support an understanding of historical events. Artefacts from the past often throw light on that vanished history, and of course, the Archive’s vast collection of sounds and moving images can support most varieties of research, academic and otherwise. And there are other ways in which the NFSA has contributed. I am reminded and reassured by an email I received from a very knowledgeable man I did some research work with, some years ago.

You might have read the brief article on the Owls website about Tom Skeyhill, for example. He was, in his way, a sort of Anzac anti-hero. His War record might be seriously blemished, but he did manage to leave a significant and memorable mark in Australia and after that, in the USA. It was Tom who wrote the World War One diary of the US’s most decorated War hero Sergeant York. Skeyhill is credited in the Howard Hawks movie based in large part on Tom’s book, Sergeant York, in which Garry Cooper won his first Oscar. Australia lost Skeyhill to the US in 1917, but it is interesting to ask ‘Are there many other still, effectively, missing from the Australian story?’