Collection Conservation Officer

Posted: 31/07/2025
- Closing Date: 10/08/2025
- Salary: $75,281.00 - $81,775.00
- Job Type: Ongoing / Non-ongoing; Full time
- Location: Canberra
- Job Category: Arts, Culture

**About the National Film and Sound Archive**

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is Australia’s audiovisual archive, telling the national story by collecting, preserving and sharing audiovisual media, the cultural experience platforms of our time. The collection itself dates back to 1935, making it one of the world’s oldest audiovisual collections. It is also one of the country’s most used cultural collections, with around 125 million views of collection content each year. The NFSA is in a period of significant change. Following increased Government investment, the institution is in a process of digital transformation, establishing the NFSA as Australia’s most dynamic and valued cultural organisation. We are rebuilding our curatorial workforce and developing the NFSA’s capacity to digitise our collection at scale - to preserve it for the future, to make sure it can be discovered, and to share it with all Australians.

We continue to work on developing a stable, secure and future-proof workforce across our four physical sites based in Canberra and Mitchell in the ACT as well as in Sydney and Melbourne.

We are also undergoing a program of business improvement for many of our corporate systems to improve efficiency and reduce manual handling.

We are an ambitious organisation, and we aim to be an employer of choice within the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector, providing exciting and challenging work, as well as favourable employment conditions and unique development opportunities for our staff.

**Cultural Values**

We are an equal opportunity employer, embracing a diverse range of applicants such as veterans, and people who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, LGBTQIA community members, individuals with disabilities and/or health conditions, as well as those from varied faith and cultural backgrounds. At the NFSA we prioritise the development of a safe, inclusive, and high-performance culture through shared actions and behaviours that align with our strategy and direction. This empowers our employees to effectively contribute to our goals.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia is committed to ensuring a child-safe and childfriendly environment. All employees are expected to demonstrate a commitment to, and support for
these principles in theory and practice.

**About the Team**

The Conservation team is part of the Conservation and Collection Management section, Collection
Preservation Branch. The team has two streams:

- Audiovisual Conservation, who prepare and preserve audiovisual material for digitisation, curatorial and access programs, and analysis of audiovisual materials; and
- Collection Conservation, who care for the documents and artefacts collection including interventive treatments, exhibition preparation, condition reporting and research.

Both teams coordinate and undertake a range of collection are programs such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), chemical management, collection assessments and procedures for hazards in collections.

The team provides technical advice regarding access and digitisation requests, undertakes straightforward and complex conservation works and ensures the national audiovisual collection is preserved by maintaining current policies and procedures.

**The Opportunity**

The Collection Conservation Officer is part of a small team reporting to the Team Leader Conservation and plays a key role in a wide range of activities associated with exhibitions, collection care, and preventative conservation and works closely with the Collection Management team by assisting and giving advice on collection storage and rehousing activities.
- Please note: This recruitment process is intended to fill both current and future vacancies. While the position on offer is Non-ongoing for 10-months, a merit pool of suitable applicants may be established to fill similar ongoing and non-ongoing positions within the next 18-months._

Under general direction, this position is responsible for delivering the following functions:

- Carry out day to day documents and artefacts conservation tasks including:

- examination,
- research,
- conservation treatment; and
- exhibition related work.
- Carry out and report on preventative conservation tasks such as:

- assessment of incoming collection materials including AV materials,
- identification of hazardous materials in the collection (including asbestos, lead paints, vinegar affected materials, mould); and
- gallery cleaning and caring for collection materials on display.
- Assist in preparing objects for exhibition, loan and digitisation.
- Work collaboratively with the other Conservation and Collection Management team members to monitor, implement and address Integrated Pest Management and chemical m