About the Collections

The sound collection consists of period music, radio interviews, and programs which are concerned with Australia's involvement in war and armed conflict, as well as oral history recordings. There are over 4,000 items, or 7,000 hours of recordings, in the collection.

Search

To search the sound recordings collection please enter at least one search term in the box below and click the search button.

About

90% of the collection consists of oral history interviews covering the First World War, Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Vietnam, and peacekeeping operations. The rest comprises actuality recordings – radio transmissions, operational sounds of weapons and equipment; letters/messages recorded from servicemen overseas to their families in Australia; radio variety programs and documentaries; radio broadcasts, consisting of recruiting announcements, commercials, jingles, speeches and addresses; songs and military band music including marches.  

Of special interest is the Keith Murdoch Sound Archive of the Second World War: it has 365 indexed and transcribed interviews representing over 800 hours of recordings, and is available to the public in the Research Centre.

Access

You can search our collection, which provides access to over 1,700 recordings. Researchers can listen to tapes and MP3 digital files in the Research Centre. A transcript may be available for the oral history you’re interested in – to find out, send an email to filmsound@awm.gov.au