As the federal election campaign enters the home stretch Australians are being asked for more than just their vote. Political corflutes, posters, how-to-vote cards, and t-shirts – these are just a few of the items the National Library in Canberra wants. The institution has been collecting and preserving original campaign material - from every single electorate and candidate - since 1901. It is to help researchers, historians and future generations understand and learn from Australia’s political history.
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00:00Whether it's in your letterbox, in your face, or on your head, federal election material
00:08is often more maddening than memorable, but ahead of the May 3 poll, it seems one person's
00:14political trash is the National Library of Australia's treasure.
00:19What we were thinking, who was trying to influence our opinion, what the discourse was like
00:23and what the issues of the day were like.
00:25The NLA has been collecting federal election ephemera since 1983, and thanks to public
00:32donations and free postage, boasts Australia's largest collection of political memorabilia.
00:38Every item produced by every candidate, for the Senate, for the House of Reps, from every
00:43party and from every state division of the party, as well as for every lobby group.
00:48There are hundreds of thousands of items, covering every poll since Federation.
00:53It's black and white, and it's quite small in size, it's very polite, it addresses the
00:57electors or the voters.
00:58And what seems like every catchphrase.
01:01A lot like coordinated advertising campaigns, complete with slogans, and candidates' faces
01:07were put front and centre.
01:09All sorted, catalogued, digitised and carefully preserved, to create a publicly available, permanent
01:16documentary record of Australia's political history.
01:19It does tell a slightly different story than the official history, because it's produced
01:23at quite short notice, and it's written to really cut through and persuade.
01:29Now the NLA is appealing for donations from the 2025 campaign.
01:34What we're really interested in is the material that, the most common material, the how to vote
01:39cards, the leaflets, the flyers that have the textual information on them.
01:44Curators welcome donations from all over Australia, but this year they're particularly interested
01:49in material from marginal electorates and remote communities.
01:53Any original, undamaged and authorised item can be donated, and if it's A4 size or smaller,
02:01postage is free.
02:02Emi Groves, ABC News, Canberra.
02:03Emi Groves, ABC News, Canberra.
02:04Emi Groves, ABC News, Canberra.