This series consists of examples of posters published for the Australian National Travel Association to advertise Australia as a desirable tourist destination.
Five are large and forty three are of medium size. All but one are backed with linen or with 0.5 cm cardboard, apparently for exhibition purposes. It is not known how many different posters were published. Further examples may be held in offices of the controlling agency, or elsewhere.
A single number listing was imposed on the collection by the Australian Archives, Victorian Branch because the posters were not in discernable order at transfer. Any previous order is unknown. Many of the posters have numbers. However, these numbers are in various formats and may have been created by the printer rather than reflect the arrangement in which they were kept.
Subjects include Australian flora and fauna, sporting scenes, rural and city scenes, indigenous motifs and celebrations for the national 150th anniversary in 1938 and the State of Victoria's 100th anniversary in 1934-1935. Two posters reproduce oil paintings, three reproduce photographs and the rest are poster art. Most include the designer's name.
A related series (M947) consists of one original art work for an Australian National Travel Association poster of this period. However, no printed poster of this work is held in series M948.
Colour transparencies, reference copies and microfiche of the posters are held in the National Archives of Australia's Melbourne Office. However, in 1989, the surviving original posters were transferred to the NSW Office of the National Archives, at Chester Hill, at the controlling agency's request.
The ‘proposal for transfer’ form for this series indicates a date range of circa 1930 to 1940. However, one contributing artist , Eileen Mayo, did not arrive in Australia until March 1953 (see C1115, 16 March 1953, ‘Ixion’). A National Archives staff member indicated that the National Library and the National Gallery attribute the year 1959 to item 13, ‘The Great Barrier Reef’. Mayo's Australian National Travel Association posters were included in editions of Modern Publicity for 1955 to 1957, 1958 to 1959 and the subsequent edition according to www.australianarthistory.com. The contents and accumulation end year have therefore been changed to 'circa 1959'.