About the Collections

Photographs

Almost one million images associated with armed conflict are held in the Photograph Collection, starting with the Sudan and continuing up to recent conflicts and peacekeeping operations. The collection is fortunate to have rare colour images from the First World War.

Included are images of the following subjects:

individual and group portraits of military and support personnel
battle scenes and battlefields
military technology such as planes, ships and tanks
military installations, hospitals, cemeteries, churches, points of embarkation
Allied and enemy soldiers and local civilians
scenes of the Australian homefront

Many of the photographs were taken by more than 200 official war and Service photographers. A few of these, like Frank Hurley, Hubert Wilkins and Damien Parer, became household names. Some, including Parer, George Dick and Tom Fisher, were killed carrying out their work. Many other photographs have been donated by servicemen and servicewomen or by their families.

Photograph collection access

You can search the Collection Search database to find photographs from the core collection. Over 203,000 records are available. The database provides access to both thumbnail and large images. Some of the photographs have been catalogued but not yet digitised, therefore some records may be retrieved which do not yet contain the digital image. Reproductions of the photographs may be ordered. All images have AWM copyright and user fees may apply if published. For more information please see How to order photos, art, film & sound.