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Geoscience Australia is the custodian for Commonwealth vertical and oblique aerial photography. Dating from 1928, the photos provide an accurate historical record of the land, and form an important part of Australia's spatial information.

Selecting your photos

Aerial photography is recorded on flight line diagrams, which show; aircraft paths (also known as runs), the centre of the photos in relation to ground features, and film reference numbers.

Use Geoscience Australia's online catalogue of flight line diagrams to select your photos.

Each photo has a photo title strip containing the following information:

• film number
• aircraft run number
• photo number
• time and date of photo
• altitude of aircraft/scale.

Available formats

• Contact prints (from the whole photo)
• Enlargements to a specific scale - eg 1:50 000; or by ratio, eg 2x, 4x (from the whole photo or part of it)
• Diapositives - transparencies on stable based film
• Photos taken on colour film can be reproduced as black and white
• Photo mosaics involve joining together several aerial photos to form a single non-rectified image. Generally, the mosaic is re-photographed and enlarged to your specifications. This enables large areas to be covered by one image similar to a satellite image
• Orthophotos are photo mosaics with some text annotation. They are available over selected areas
• Prints may be ordered individually or in blocks to give either plain cover or stereoscopic cover
• Both black and white and colour photos can be scanned and provided at 150, 300 and 600 dpi in a variety of formats.

How to order

To order photographs, please download and complete the order form [PDF 101KB], and price list [PDF 108KB] noting the following points:

• area of interest - can be marked on a suitable map. A flight line diagram can be supplied on request
• date of photography - indicate if a particular year or group of years is required. Photography up to 1987 can be viewed at the National Library
• product required - black and white print, colour print, black and white diapositive, or colour diapositive
• product size - contact or same size print (230 mm square) or enlargement. Please indicate a specific scale or ratio. See the ready reckoner for assistance
• plain cover or stereoscopic cover
• purpose - please indicate your particular purpose so that we can provide advice
• copyright - permission to copy can be obtained when placing your order, so please indicate whether you wish to reproduce the images.

All aerial photos are copyright of the Commonwealth of Australia and may not be reproduced, stored in a system or transmitted in any form by any means - electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission.

Routine orders will be despatched approximately 10 working days after receipt. Delivery is by overnight courier to a street address, unless specified otherwise.

Urgent orders will be despatched approximately three working days after receipt.

The following additional fees apply:

• contact prints - an additional 50% of the cost of the print price
• all other products - an additional 100% of the cost of the reproduction price.

For further information please contact United Photo and Graphic Services (below).

Acknowledging Geoscience Australia

Please ensure the following acknowledgment accompanies any of Geoscience Australia's aerial photography:

© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) year of publication.

Payment and price list

All orders valued at less than $100.00 must be accompanied by payment. Photos can be ordered by mail or fax (accompanied by a purchase order) or by telephone using a credit card. Company orders and cheques should be made out to our contractor - UNITED PHOTO and GRAPHIC SERVICES Pty Ltd.

• Aerial Photography Price list [PDF 108KB]

United Photo and Graphic Services

United Photo and Graphic Services (UPGS) of Melbourne manage all customer service operations, production and delivery of Geoscience Australia's aerial photography product range. Geoscience Australia has retained policy control including pricing and copyright control.

Street Address:
Unit 4, 2 Apollo Court
BLACKBURN VIC 3130

Postal Address:
PO Box 369
NORTH MELBOURNE VIC 3051
Telephone: Within Australia: 03 9877 3922, International: +61 3 9877 3922
Fax: Within Australia: 03 9894 2971, International: +61 3 9894 2971
Email: info@unitedphoto.com.au
Website: United Photo and Graphic Services website