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Pensions for Veterans (1953)

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Veterans of the waterfront education content clip 1, 2

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Waterside workers haul sacks of flour to be shipped to Europe and Asia for export. A dramatic symphonic score accompanies a voice-over by Jock Levy describing the difficult conditions of the workers (12,000 men – half the total workforce – are injured every year). The music changes as older workers transport barrels along the docks. A single veteran walks from the wharves into the city. The voice-over rhetorically ponders the man’s future, 'What awaits you in the city you’ve served so long and so well?’.

Curator’s notes

The swift changes in mood within this clip are created by the music and montage. In an interview for John Hughes’s documentary on the work of the WWF Film Unit, Film-work (1981), Keith Gow talks about the influence of Soviet directors on his style, particularly Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin. This can be seen in the opening sequence of this clip where the rhythm of work and industry is created through a careful montage of shots and a repetitive symphonic score. After young men methodically haul sacks of flour for 'the bread of Europe’ and 'the bread of Asia’, the pace of the images and music slows to match the veterans of the waterfront.

These scenes were staged especially for the film, and the shots are framed to maximise identification with the veterans and their plight. Gow and Levy asked the extras (all wharfies) to 'play it as it was’. This clip presents an impression of daily reality told with emotional truth (albeit one with a political agenda). The final, poetic sequence concentrates on one solitary 'old man’. The narration speaks to him directly – 'walk, walk, walk. Keep on walking old man … and where will you walk to?’. This poignant rhetorical question aims to solicit an emotional response from the audience. It suggests that this man, alone in a city that doesn’t appreciate him, is representative of all veteran workers and that he deserves far more than he is getting. The repetitious 'walk, walk, walk’ appears again later in the film.

The image of the old man – his feet on the docks and his trench coat silhouette walking the city – is reminiscent of the depiction of Arthur Stace, the subject of Lawrence Johnston’s documentary Eternity (1994). In that film, Stace (played by Lex Foxcraft) is similarly anonymous and goes unrecognised in a city that ignores him.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This is a black-and-white narrated clip from a 1953 documentary produced by the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF) Film Unit. It portrays the physically demanding work of waterside workers and asks what fate awaits veterans who cease work. A montage of close-up scenes and orchestral music depicts younger wharfies working at a dangerous pace, then cuts to older workers struggling with heavy trolleys. A poetic narrative and a slow musical score lead the viewer from the shoes of a working veteran to a final scene where he walks from the wharves towards an unknown future.

Educational value points

  • This clip reveals the physically arduous manual work and poor working conditions experienced by waterside workers up to and including the 1950s, which led to high rates of injury and disease. Work in confined warehouse spaces and ships’ holds with materials that generated dust and fumes contributed to respiratory disease. A reliance on lifting, carrying and pushing resulted in hernias, arthritis, physical breakdown, injuries and also deaths. Health deterioration increased with age.
  • Waterside workers over 60 years old such as those depicted in this clip comprised almost 7 per cent of the waterfront workforce in the 1950s. The WWF was responsible for filling labour quotas, and older men with no pensions and no prospects needed their help to keep working. While they were unable to perform the most physically demanding tasks these men could maintain a work capacity within the requirements of the Stevedoring Act.
  • This clip builds a case for pensions for veteran waterside workers at a time when there were no superannuation schemes and no pensions for them. In 1953 the WWF sought to gain a weekly pension of £8 for maritime workers over 65 years of age and with 20 years in the industry, to be funded by compulsory employer levies. It took until April 1967 for a groundbreaking agreement to be reached on a voluntary pension, funded by workers and employers, for workers in all major ports.
  • Cinematic techniques are employed to create a persuasive argument in favour of provisions for older waterside workers. Music underscores the work pace and danger and also the dilemma of veteran workers. Short scenes and changing camera angles add to the sense of frenzy and urgency of the work in the hold. Close-ups reveal the dignity and endurance on the worn faces of the veterans. The narration style changes from factual to poetic during the clip’s message.
  • The clip is from Pensions for Veterans, the first film produced by the WWF’s Film Unit as part of the union’s campaign to achieve pensions for its older members. Those appearing in the clip were waterside workers, former waterside workers or from affiliated unions. The 14 films made by the Film Unit between 1953 and 1958 sought to present views on subjects crucial to the lives of workers from the viewpoint of those workers.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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