NRS-15721 | Photographic collection [Department of Urban Affairs and Planning]

Full description

This series consists of photographic material held by the former Department of Urban Affairs and Planning Photographic Unit and subsequently the Heritage Branch of the Department of Planning.

The photographs were taken between 1945 and 1999 of Sydney and its surrounding localities, as well as regional NSW. The photographs were used for planning research, publications, presentations, and recording official Ministerial functions and events for NSW planning strategy purposes. The collection itself contains a wide variety of unique images relating to state planning and environmental issues. Included are subject matters such as heritage buildings and sites, aerial photographs mainly of coastal NSW and Sydney harbour foreshores, and projects undertaken by the department including the Building Better Cities Program, Canberra Very Fast Train project, and the M2 under construction.

The photographic collection is arranged by localities and planning subjects. Planning subjects were controlled by the Photographic Library Thesaurus, which was maintained by the Photographic Unit and Heritage Branch respectively. The photographic collection consists of multiple formats, including photographic negatives, negative rolls, proofs, prints and slides in black and white and colour. In most cases there are both photographic negatives and prints for each image.