Statement of Concern: Preservation of Western Australia’s Screen Culture Heritage
Statement of Concern: Preservation of Western Australia’s Screen Culture Heritage
The issue
We, the undersigned, wish to formally express our disappointment at the State Government’s continued inaction in addressing the issue of Pictures in Motion and the long-term preservation of Western Australia’s screen culture history.
The current situation—where this significant collection remains stored in a derelict and inaccessible building—is untenable. Continued inaccessibility and lack of proper storage will result in further deterioration, jeopardising an irreplaceable part of the State’s cultural heritage. Without immediate intervention, opportunities for the collection to be properly catalogued, accessed, and utilised for education, research, and inspiration will be lost.
We respectfully urge the Department of Culture and the Arts (DCITS) to work proactively with relevant stakeholders to develop and fund a relocation and preservation plan. This plan should identify and secure an appropriate facility for the collection, provide resources for safe transportation and cataloguing, and ensure its ongoing care, maintenance, and security.
In a period of significant public investment in screen infrastructure, it is imperative that equal attention is given to preserving the State’s screen history. The modest investment required to safeguard this collection represents a meaningful and necessary step toward ensuring that Western Australia’s screen culture can continue to inform and inspire future generations.
Since 2004, Pictures in Motion (Museum of Film and Television) have been collating and preserving the vast hardware of film projectors and TV studio paraphernalia that has been discarded as progress was made to digitalise and close old cinemas.
From early projectors to old news cameras to entire TV studio equipment, the full spectrum of WA’s video recording and broadcasting history from the past century is being archived and preserved by a group of dedicated volunteers.
The museum boasts items such as WA’s first television set, a Channel 10 news studio desk and hundreds of film reel showing snapshots of WA often not found anywhere else: so many that there is not enough room to store them all onsite.
The volunteers have organised mini exhibitions and set up programs for school children to have a go at reading the news, but the goal is for the collection to find a home in a museum open to the public.
“It really has a future in a museum setting where proper museum people could take it over and run it and make it work,” Mr Rutherford said.
“It’s like a time capsule and as a museum it could allow people to actually go back to another time.
“At its height, this technology was one of the only ways to educate and communicate to mass audiences.
“It’s a very important section of our history and I think it should be preserved. People need to know that’s how we got to now.”
(Excerpt from Perth Now article 14 october 2021 by Lucy Rutherford)
2
The issue
We, the undersigned, wish to formally express our disappointment at the State Government’s continued inaction in addressing the issue of Pictures in Motion and the long-term preservation of Western Australia’s screen culture history.
The current situation—where this significant collection remains stored in a derelict and inaccessible building—is untenable. Continued inaccessibility and lack of proper storage will result in further deterioration, jeopardising an irreplaceable part of the State’s cultural heritage. Without immediate intervention, opportunities for the collection to be properly catalogued, accessed, and utilised for education, research, and inspiration will be lost.
We respectfully urge the Department of Culture and the Arts (DCITS) to work proactively with relevant stakeholders to develop and fund a relocation and preservation plan. This plan should identify and secure an appropriate facility for the collection, provide resources for safe transportation and cataloguing, and ensure its ongoing care, maintenance, and security.
In a period of significant public investment in screen infrastructure, it is imperative that equal attention is given to preserving the State’s screen history. The modest investment required to safeguard this collection represents a meaningful and necessary step toward ensuring that Western Australia’s screen culture can continue to inform and inspire future generations.
Since 2004, Pictures in Motion (Museum of Film and Television) have been collating and preserving the vast hardware of film projectors and TV studio paraphernalia that has been discarded as progress was made to digitalise and close old cinemas.
From early projectors to old news cameras to entire TV studio equipment, the full spectrum of WA’s video recording and broadcasting history from the past century is being archived and preserved by a group of dedicated volunteers.
The museum boasts items such as WA’s first television set, a Channel 10 news studio desk and hundreds of film reel showing snapshots of WA often not found anywhere else: so many that there is not enough room to store them all onsite.
The volunteers have organised mini exhibitions and set up programs for school children to have a go at reading the news, but the goal is for the collection to find a home in a museum open to the public.
“It really has a future in a museum setting where proper museum people could take it over and run it and make it work,” Mr Rutherford said.
“It’s like a time capsule and as a museum it could allow people to actually go back to another time.
“At its height, this technology was one of the only ways to educate and communicate to mass audiences.
“It’s a very important section of our history and I think it should be preserved. People need to know that’s how we got to now.”
(Excerpt from Perth Now article 14 october 2021 by Lucy Rutherford)
2
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Petition created on 23 November 2025