Series descriptive note

Summary heading

National Anthem Poll

Function and purpose

This series contains a discrete collection of three vinyl discs, six quarter inch tapes and two films as well as related press clippings and documents. They consist of publicity material for the National Anthem Poll held in 1974.

A statement was released by the Australian Bureau of Census and Statistics in November 1973 to announce that a national anthem poll would be conducted as part of the February 1974 population survey. Consequently advertisements were produced and aired to publicise the poll. Three songs were offered to choose from, Waltzing Matilda, Advance Australia Fair and Song of Australia. Advance Australia Fair polled the highest.

This series contains audiovisual formats. As audiovisual formats are either redundant or susceptible to deterioration, some items in this series have been copied to ensure their preservation. Preservation copying involves the creation of preservation, duplicating and reference copies. These copies can be found in the following series:

Preservation copies: C5479, Audio preservation copies of AA1974/619, Records of the National Anthem public opinion poll including tape recordings, phonographic discs, scripts and departmental material.

Duplicating copies: C5480, Audio duplicating copies of AA1974/619, Records of the National Anthem public opinion poll including tape recordings, phonographic discs, scripts and departmental material.

Reference copies: C5481, Audio reference copies of AA1974/619, Records of the National Anthem public opinion poll including tape recordings, phonographic discs, scripts and departmental material.

C5724, Paper records for AA1974/619, Records of the National Anthem public opinion poll including tape recordings, phonographic discs, scripts and departmental material.

Related legislation

Using the series

Items 1, 2 and 3 are vinyl discs that were unable to be copied to produce a satisfactory quality recording. Items 1, 4 and 7 all have the same content so a preservation copy was made for items 4 and 7 and a reference copy produced for item 7 as it contained an additional interview. Items 5 and 8 have the same content so a preservation copy was made for items 5 and 8 and a reference copy made for item 5 as the quality was better. Item 6 has a preservation and reference copy. Item 9 has the same content as 5 and 8, they all contain a number of voice-overs. Item 9 is missing one so only a preservation copy was produced for this item.

Items 10 and 11 are films and have not yet been copied.

Language of material

Physical characteristics

System of arrangement and control

The items had no existing system of arrangement so a single numbering system has been imposed on the records by National Archives staff. The records have been examined, treated and copied in control symbol order.

Relationships with other records

Finding aids

Access conditions

Series history

Administrative information

The following data was keyed from the paper documentation:

Form number: NAS 43

Date of transfer: 16/12/1974

Archives file number: A1974/334

Archives accession number: AA1974/619 15

Provenance

Immediate source of acquisition

Custodial history

These records were transferred to the Sydney office in September 2005 from the National Archives Canberra office as part of a larger inter-repository transfer of audio visual records.

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources