The Department of Information was created in 1947 to promote the Australian lifestyle and Australian events overseas, particularly to intending post-war migrants. In 1950 the agency was renamed the Australian News and Information Bureau (ANIB), the title under which it was known until 1973 when it became the Australian Information Service. In 1986 it was renamed Promotion Australia and in 1987 it became the Australian Overseas Information Service (AOIS). In 1994 the AOIS was renamed the International Public Affairs Branch, a branch in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

AOIS photographers travelled to all parts of Australia to take photographs of everyday Australian life. They include subjects such as people, places, events, festivals, fauna, flora, health, agriculture and industry. The majority of these photographs are now held by our office in Canberra.

The AOIS produced a consolidated subject index which covers most of the photographs dating between 1947 and 1996. A copy of this index is available in the Canberra reading room. Use the table below to identify the series to which individual photographs listed in the index belong.

Other indexes include subject and name indexes (held in series A1201) to the black and white photographs (A1200 and A6180) and subject and name indexes (A6140) to the colour photographs (A1500 and A6135).