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The image could be on a wall in a modern art gallery or a piece of mosaic pulled from Pompeii.
Mustard-brown, it could pass as an artistic interpretation of Australia’s arid inland where dry river beds hint at better times.
But the nitrate piece of film, held by the National Archives, is a piece of this nation’s disintegrating history.
The disintegrating image of Italian prisoner-of-war Leo Antonini. He served out the war in a West Australian camp. His image is one of potentially thousands slowly disintegrating as the Archives battles for more funding.
How the National Archives of Australia s underfunding is eating away the soul of a nation watoday.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from watoday.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.