National Film and Sound Archive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Australian National Film and Sound Archive preserves and shares Australia's moving images and sound recordings from the country's first film images to the modern classics. The work that the Archive undertakes dates back to the National Historical Film and Speaking Record Library (part of the then Commonwealth Library), which was established by a Cabinet decision on 11 December 1935. The National Film and Sound Archive was created as a separate Commonwealth collecting institution in 1984. At that time, a Council was established to guide the institution. In 1999 the organisation changed its name to ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive. From 1 July 2003, ScreenSound Australia became part of the Australian Film Commission and its original name, the National Film and Sound Archive was reinstated. [1]

[edit] History of the building:

In 1910, King O’Malley, the Minister for Home Affairs declared that Canberra, Australia’s infant National Capital would be ‘the finest capital city in the world’.

The Wall Street Stock Market crash in 1929 placed significant constraints on this vision. Plans for new projects were abandoned and the population stalled at approximately 9,000 people. The Great Depression restricted vital funding for construction and brought development of the city to a standstill.

Fortunately, the building which now houses the National Film and Sound Archive was one of the few public buildings provided by the Federal Capital Commission before it was abolished in the early 1930s (it was later re-established as the National Capital Development Commission by Prime Minister Menzies).

This building was the home of the Australian Institute of Anatomy from 1931-84. Originally it held the anatomy collection of Sir Colin MacKenzie. This collection included the heart of the celebrated Australian racehorse Phar Lap. Professor Sir Colin MacKenzie became the founding director of the Institute on Anatomy, and on his death in 1938 his ashes were placed behind a commemorative plaque in the building’s foyer.

According to the Register of the National Estate, buildings constructed during this phase were ‘built to broaden national interest and establish the city as a centre of archives and collections’. As such it became a fitting home in 1984 for Australian items of enduring cultural significance collected by the newly created National Film and Sound Archive. Every effort has been made to retain the heritage aspects of the building in its use as a modern archive.

Both grand and austere, the building is often classified as art deco, though its overall architectural style is technically ‘Late 20th Century Stripped Classical’, the style of ancient Greece and Rome but simplified and modernised.

Classical architecture was popular during the 1930s and 40s but lost favour after the downfall of Germany’s Third Reich. The style was again revived in the early 1960s and became common for government buildings in Canberra during this time. Examples include the Law Courts of the ACT (1961) and the National Library of Australia (1968).

Buildings in this style often feature a symmetrical façade, a horizontal skyline, classical columns and a central entrance. Traditional building materials such as stone and terracotta are often employed.

The building characterises what the Register of the National Estates has described as ‘some of the finest examples of nationalistic Australian Art Deco design and detailing in Australia.’

The art deco influence is evident in the strong and consistent decorative features of native flora, fauna and Aboriginal art and motifs throughout the building. The entrance features a curved central bay decorated with goannas, ferns and waratahs. The entrance door itself has a carved stone surround of open-mouthed frilled lizards framed in triangles. Tiled panels beneath the windows at the front of the building have blue and green motifs which resemble Aboriginal bark paintings.

The foyer’s beautiful interior features a geometrically patterned marble floor. The black marble in the floor was quarried from the Acton Peninsula, now submerged beneath Lake Burley Griffin.

The foyer also features a stained-glass platypus skylight. Face masks of well-known scientists of the era are featured on the foyer’s walls as a reminder of its previous incarnation as the Institute of Anatomy.

Beyond the foyer is a tranquil landscaped courtyard. Each side of the courtyard features carved wombat heads over the main arches. The courtyard leads to two galleries which now hold fascinating exhibitions.

The original part of the building has a theatre and research centre. Each area is decorated in geometric art deco patterns, a feature repeated throughout the building in its doors, ventilators and light fittings. The theatre was the meeting place for one of Australia’s pioneering film societies in the 1930s—the Canberra Film Society.

In 1999, the building’s large triple-level rear wing was opened. This new wing’s design is in keeping with the Art Deco style of the main structure with details and finishes to match the original.

Today, the building is open to the public as a treasure house of Australian film, television and sound recordings.

[edit] The Scientists:

The foyer walls feature 12 scientists (two of which are death masks):

Sir Harry Brookes ALLEN (1854 – 1926) Pathologist Born in Geelong, Victoria, Allen was educated at Flinders School, Geelong, and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. At the university of Melbourne he secured first-class honours in every year of his course, and graduated M.B. in 1876, M.D. in 1878, and B.S. in 1879. In 1876 he was appointed demonstrator in anatomy, in 1882 he became lecturer in anatomy and pathology, and from the beginning of 1883 was professor in these subjects. He was also pathologist at the Melbourne Hospital. He had been editor of the Australian Medical Journal from 1879. In 1888 he was made president of the royal commission appointed to inquire into the sanitary state of Melbourne; typhoid fever was then common and the commission's report included the recommendation that a water-borne sewerage system should be adopted. Allen was appointed president of the intercolonial rabbit commission in 1889; In the same year he was general secretary of the intercolonial medical congress, held at Melbourne. Allen was elected to the university council in 1898, the first professor to be a member of that body. In 1906 Allen took the title of professor of pathology. A well-equipped laboratory of bacteriology had been established, and Allen could now feel that he had a medical school in which he could take some pride. But though apparently wrapped up in his department, he was able to spare time to do valuable work outside it. There were two medical societies in Melbourne, the Medical Society of Victoria, and the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association, and in 1906 Allen succeeded in healing the breach between them. In the same year there was a strong difference of opinion as to whether the proposed Institute of Tropical Medicine should be established at Sydney or Townsville. Allen was elected president of the Australasian medical congress held in Melbourne in 1908, an honour he valued very much. In 1919 he published Pathology. Notes of Lectures and Demonstrations, a volume of nearly 500 pages.

John BELL (1763-1820) Anatomist Notable surgical anatomist who was born and practiced in Edinburgh, Scotland, is considered, along with Desault and John Hunter, to be a founder of the modern surgery of the vascular system. A man of compassion, Bell made many enemies because he was outspoken about the unnecessary pain and suffering inflicted by incompetent surgeons practicing in Scotland. He also wrote several books, his most notable being Principles of Surgery. A skillful writer, Bell's works are characterized by their thoroughness: historical methods of treatment are reviewed, the surgical knowledge of the day is discussed, and an abundance of clinical descriptions are included. Bell was also a talented artist, and was one of the few medical men who illustrated his own works. John Bell went to Italy in 1817 to recover from the effects of falling from a horse. As was his habit, Bell made thorough notes of his impressions. Making no mention of his ailment, or of the political upheaval brewing in Italy at the time, Bell confines his commentaries to scenes, buildings, paintings, and statues. Never regaining his health, Bell died in Rome in 1820.

Charles Robert DARWIN (1809 – 1882) Naturalist was a British naturalist who achieved lasting fame by convincing the scientific community of the occurrence of evolution and proposing the theory that this could be explained through natural and sexual selection. Born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on February 12, 1809, Darwin was the fifth child of a wealthy and sophisticated English family. His maternal grandfather was the successful china and pottery entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood; his paternal grandfather was the well-known 18th-century physician and savant Erasmus Darwin. He developed an interest in natural history while studying first medicine, then theology, at university. Darwin's five-year voyage on the Beagle and subsequent writings brought him eminence as a geologist and fame as a popular author. His biological observations led him to study the transmutation of species and, in 1838, develop his theory of natural selection. In 1839 he married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and he and his wife had ten children. Fully aware that others had been severely punished for such "heretical" ideas, he only confided in his closest friends and continued his research to meet anticipated objections. However, in 1858 the information that Alfred Russel Wallace had developed a similar theory forced early joint publication of the theory. His 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, continued his research, and wrote a series of books on plants and animals, including humankind, notably The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

George Britton HALFORD (1824 – 1910) Anatomist and Physiologist Halford began studying medicine in 1842, became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1851, and of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1852. He obtained his doctorate of medicine at St Andrews in 1854. After practising at Liverpool he was in 1857 appointed lecturer in anatomy at the Grosvenor Place school of medicine, London. He had done some research work in comparative anatomy, and had begun his work on the poison of snakes which he continued for many years. As he approached 60 he began to feel the strain of his combined offices, but the appointment of a brilliant young assistant, H. B. Allen who became lecturer in anatomy and pathology in 1882, must have made his position easier, and Halford took the title of professor of general anatomy, physiology and histology. Though easing down in his work to some extent, he was still a great influence with the students. In September 1896 Halford was given leave of absence on account of ill-health until the end of 1897. This leave was afterwards extended and he did not become emeritus professor until 1900. After his retirement he lived at Beaconsfield near Melbourne and was much interested in the development of coal-mining in South Gippsland. He died at Inverloch, Victoria, on 27 May 1910. In 1928 his family founded the Halford oration at the Australian Institute of Anatomy, Canberra. His most brilliant research work was on the heart. He began research in other directions which was never completed. It was impossible to spare much time in his earlier days at the university, and when his retirement came it was too late.

William HARVEY (1578 – 1657) Anatomist By all accounts, William Harvey led a charmed life. Harvey, oldest of seven children, was born in 1578 in Kent, England, at the halfway point of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was a voracious student, earning his bachelor's degree in 1597 from Cambridge University. He continued his schooling at the University of Padua, the foremost medical school of the time. Harvey returned to England in 1602 and married Elizabeth Browne, who was the daughter of one of the Queen's physicians. Harvey himself obtained a fellowship at the Royal College of Physicians. In 1618 he was appointed as a physician to the court of James I. His research into the circulatory system and his other lines of inquiry were generously sponsored and encouraged by James I's successor, King Charles I, to whom Harvey was later appointed personal physician. By studying animals given to him by his regal employer, Harvey eventually developed an accurate theory of how the heart and circulatory system operated. He published his theories in 1628 in his famous book "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals," which made him notorious throughout Europe. But William Harvey was not satisfied with being the foremost anatomist of his day. He was intrigued by everything about the body, and at some point turned his attention to reproduction. He speculated that humans and other mammals must reproduce through the joining of an egg and sperm. No other theory made sense. It was 200 years before a mammalian egg was finally observed, but Harvey's theory was so compelling and so well thought out that the world assumed he was right long before the discovery was finally made.

John HUNTER (Surgeon) (1728 – 1793) John Hunter was born in 1728 on a Scottish farm on the outskirts of Glasgow; the youngest of 10 children. He received little in the way of a formal education and dropped out of school at the age of 13 years. Despite this background he was to become one of the of the most influential British surgeons of the 18th century. In 1748, he wrote to his brother William, an anatomist and obstetrician, enquiring as to whether he could join him in London. Later that year he began preparing anatomical dissections and within a year he was helping his brother teach anatomy. John Hunter became an assistant at the Chelsea Hospital and in 1751 he was appointed apprentice at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Between 1754 and 1756 he worked as a house surgeon at St. George's Hospital. In 1761, he developed pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease which was to affect him for much of his working life. In order to improve his health he was commissioned as an army surgeon and was sent to France and Portugal for two years. During this time he became familiar with the management of war wounds and their complications. In 1764, he returned to London where he set up his own anatomy school and started in private surgical practice. His surgical career was slow to be established. However, in 1767 he was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1768 he was appointed as surgeon to St. George's Hospital. The written work produced by Hunter had a significant impact on medical practice of the time. His first book was the Natural History of Human Teeth, published in 1771. His second book, A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Teeth, described dental pathology. In 1786 he published A Treatise on Venereal Disease. In The Digestion of the Stomach after Death (1772) he described shock and intussusception and in A Treatise on Blood, Inflammation and Gun-Shot Wounds (1794) he questioned the need to surgically enlarge gun-shot wounds and disproved the belief that gunpowder was poisonous. In 1786 he was appointed deputy surgeon to the army and in 1789 he was made Surgeon General. He described ligation of the femoral artery in the treatment of popliteal aneurysms. The lack of a university education failed to lessen his contributions to surgery, medicine and science. Many of these contributions were the result of clear and concise personal observations based on innumerable hours spent preparing anatomical dissections.

Jean Baptiste LAMARCK (1744 – 1829) Naturalist French naturalist and an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with natural laws. Lamarck is however remembered today mainly in connection with a discredited theory of heredity, the "inheritance of acquired traits". He was also one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. Born into poor nobility (hence chevalier - knight), Lamarck served in the army before becoming interested in natural history and writing a multi-volume flora of France. He was appointed to the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. After years working on plants, Lamarck was appointed curator of invertebrates, a term he coined. After working on the molluscs of the Paris Basin, he grew convinced that transmutation or change in the nature of a species occurred over time. He set out to develop an explanation, which he outlined in his 1809 work, Philosophie Zoologique. His defenders believe he is unfairly vilified today. They note that he believed in organic evolution at a time when there was no theoretical framework to explain evolution. He also argued that function precedes form, an issue of some contention among evolutionary theorists at the time. On the other hand, the inheritance of acquired characteristics is now widely rejected. Darwin not only praised Lamarck in the third edition of The Origin of Species for supporting the concept of evolution and bringing it to the attention of others, but also accepted the idea of use and disuse, and developed his theory of pangenesis partially to explain its apparent occurrence. Darwin and many contemporaries also believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, an idea that was much more plausible before the discovery of the cellular mechanisms for genetic transmission.

Joseph LISTER (1827-1912) Surgeon After studying the arts at University College, London, Lister graduated and decided to take up medicine. He enrolled in the faculty of medical science in October 1848. During this time he was taught by the eminent physiologist William Sharpey, recognised as one of the greatest surgical teacher of his day. Lister was a brilliant student and graduated a bachelor of medicine with honours in 1852. In October 1856 he was appointed as an assistant surgeon, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, to James Syme, who's daughter he later married. When the Regius Professorship of Surgery at Glasgow University fell vacant in 1859 Lister was selected from seven candidates. In August 1861 he was appointed surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and put in charge of its new surgical building. The hope was that the new building would decrease the number of deaths caused by what was then called hospital disease (now known as operative sepsis). This proved a vain hope when Lister reported that between 45 and 50 percent of his amputation cases died from sepsis between 1861 and 1865 in his Male Accident Ward. It was in this ward that Lister began his experimental work with antisepsis. Having tried methods to encourage clean healing, with little, or no success, Lister began to form theories to account for the prevalence of sepsis. He discarded the popular concept of direct infection by bad air when, In 1865, Louis Pasteur suggested that decay was caused by living organisms in the air, which on entering matter caused it to ferment, Lister made the connection with wound sepsis. A meticulous researcher and surgeon, Lister recognized the relationship between Pasteur's research and his own. He considered that microbes in the air were likely causing the putrefaction and had to be destroyed before they entered the wound. Lister now began to clean wounds and dress them using a solution of carbolic acid. He was able to announce at a British Medical Association meeting, in 1867, that his wards at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary had remained clear of sepsis for nine months. Although his methods initially met with indifference and hostility, doctors gradually began to support his antiseptic techniques. In 1870 Lister's antiseptic methods were used, by Germany, during the Franco-Prussian war saving many Prussian soldier's lives. In Germany, by 1878, Robert Koch was demonstrating the usefulness of steam for sterilizing surgical instruments and dressings

Louis PASTEUR (1822 – 1895) French microbiologist and chemist Pasteur’s work with germs and microorganisms opened up whole new fields of scientific inquiry, aided industries ranging from wine to silk, and made him one of the world's most celebrated scientists. In 1854 Pasteur became a professor of chemistry at the University of Lille, and soon began studying fermentation in wine and beer. He became convinced that, as he put it in an 1878 paper, "the germs of microscopic organisms abound in the surface of all objects, in the air and in water." He determined that such microorganisms could be killed by heating liquid to 55 degrees Celsius (about 130 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher for short periods of time. This simple process became known as pasteurization, a process used today in milk and many other beverages. Pasteur then turned his attention to other aspects of microorganisms. He virtually created the science of immunology, showing that certain diseases (like rabies) could be prevented by what he called vaccination: injecting animals with weakened forms of the disease. So great were Pasteur's successes that an international fund was raised to create the Louis Pasteur Institute in 1888. Pasteur worked with the institute until his death, and it continues today as a centre of microbiology and immunology.

Sir James Young SIMPSON (1811 – 1870) Obstetrician and pioneer in the field of anaesthetics. Born in Bathgate, the son of a baker. Simpson attended the University of Edinburgh from the age of only 14, graduating in 1832. He was appointed to a Chair of Midwifery at the same institution in 1840, quickly establishing the position of this subject as a popular and essential part of medical education. He was a pioneer in the use of anaesthetics, particularly chloroform, developing its use in surgery and midwifery. He introduced ether to obstetric practice in 1847, but in a search for something better, Simpson tried different anaesthetic agents with his colleagues by inhaling their vapours around the dinner table at his home. He championed the use of chloroform against medical, moral and religious opposition. It was not until Queen Victoria used this anaesthetic during the birth of Prince Leopold (1853) that its use became generally accepted. Simpson also pioneered obstetric techniques and responsible for much reform of hospital practice while working at the Infirmary in Edinburgh. In 1866 he became the first person to be knighted for services to medicine. Simpson is buried in Warriston Cemetery (Edinburgh). Around 1700 medical colleagues and public figures joined his funeral procession and more than 100,000 people lined the route to the cemetery. He is remembered by the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion in Edinburgh, together with a statue in Princes Street Gardens and a bust in Westminster Abbey.

Sir Edward Charles STIRLING 1848 – 1919 Surgeon Edward Charles Stirling was a ‘Renaissance man’, who possessed a profound interest in and knowledge of many topics. Trained in medicine and the arts, he was also keenly interested in anthropology, palaeontology, exploration, zoology, horticulture, public health, education, the advancement and accessibility of culture and the arts, the rights of women, and social justice. His incredible energy facilitated remarkable achievements in every one of these fields, and during his 71 years, he made a multiplicity of lasting contributions to society. He was born at Strathalbyn in 1848, he studied first at St Peter’s College in Adelaide, and subsequently gained four degrees from Trinity College, Cambridge: BA with Honours in Natural Science, (1869); MA (1873); BMed (1874); and MD (1880). While living in England he was also admitted as a Member then Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (1872, 1874) and worked as lecturer and surgeon at St George’s Hospital and Belgrave Hospital in London. In 1875, he returned to his homeland where his skills as a highly trained physician were invaluable. He became a consulting surgeon at the Adelaide Hospital, and was also instrumental in the 1883 founding of a Medical School at the seven-year-old University of Adelaide. He was the first lecturer and first professor of Physiology (1884-1900, 1900-19), sat on the University Council (1881-1919), and served as Dean of Medicine (1908-19). In 1882, he established the house and garden of St Vigeans at Stirling in Adelaide (the town having been named after his father and the property after the Scottish school his father attended). Stirling also made a significant contribution to the early development of the South Australian Museum, where he was Director (1884-1913) and honorary Curator of Ethnology (1914-19). A great supporter of the rights of women, he was first in Australasia to introduce a bill for women’s suffrage. He was not only committed to the political rights of women, but also believed in their right to a proper education. He lectured at the Advanced School for Girls and campaigned for women to be admitted to Adelaide University’s School of Medicine. He received many honours and awards, particularly valuing that of Fellow of the Royal Society (1893), others being CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael & St George - 1893), the Queen Regent of Holland’s Gold Medal for ‘services to art and science’ (1892), an honorary Doctorate in Science from Trinity College, Cambridge (1910), and Knight Bachelor (1917).

Sir Thomas Anderson STUART 1856 – 1920. Physiologist Born at Dumfries, Scotland, he was educated at the Dumfries academy and at 14 was apprenticed to a chemist. He soon passed the preliminary examination of the Pharmaceutical Society, and at 16 the minor examination which entitled him to registration as a chemist when he came of age. He took up medicine, and working early in the morning and at night passed the preliminary examination. He then proceeded to Wolfenbüttel in Germany, studying languages in particular, and in November 1875 returned to Scotland, entering Edinburgh university, and had one of the most brilliant careers in medicine ever known at Edinburgh. He was awarded 10 medals and won other prizes and scholarships. He completed his course in 1880, with first-class honours and the Ettles scholarship. In 1882 it was decided to institute a medical school at the university of Sydney and applications were invited for the chair of anatomy and physiology. Nominations were also requested from competent bodies, and the Royal College of Surgeons, London, the university of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and the College of Physicians, Glasgow, all nominated Stuart. In 1893 became medical adviser to the government and president of the board of health, the dual offices carrying a salary of £1030 a year. He found time to do some public lecturing and took an active interest in the Prince Alfred hospital. In 1901 he became chairman, and it was largely through his initiative and organizing ability that this hospital became the largest general hospital in Australia. He was an excellent lecturer and a first-rate teacher, but it was his remarkable business sense and personality that made him so distinguished. At times he made enemies and he was not always willing to give full consideration to the opinions of others, but his energy, organization and foresight, made possible the remarkable development of the Sydney medical school and the Prince Alfred hospital.

Charlton, K., Garnett, R., & Dutta, S., (2001), Federal Capital Architecture Canberra 1911 – 1939, National Trust of Australia, ACT, Australia.

With thanks to the Register of the National Estate, the National Capital Authority and canberrahouse.com.