For most material, copyright lasts for 70 years after the end of the year of the creator’s death, or 70 years from the end of the year the material was first made public. Material protected for 70 years after first publication includes works first published anonymously or under a pseudonym (where the author cannot be identified), works first published after the creator’s death, recorded sounds, and films made since 1 May 1969. There are shorter periods of protection (50 years from making or 50 years from first publication) for material made for, or first published by, a Commonwealth or State government department or agency.

If the author died before 1955, however, the copyrights in works published in the author’s lifetime have expired. This is because the copyrights had already expired when the copyright periods were extended on 1 January 2005, and there was no “revival” of copyrights which had already expired.

Copyright expires at the end of a year, and comes into the public domain on 1 January of the following year. If a writer died on 15 June 1960, for example, copyright will expire on 1 January 2031 (not on 16 June 2030).

More:

• Works in the public domain
  
• Duration of copyright information sheet
• Q&As
  

More on introduction to copyright