All historical
48 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
Fragments, actuality footage, unedited glimpses into our past.
A
Athol Tier as Napoleon c1931
Athol Tier’s performance as Napoleon was one of the many routines filmed for the Efftee Entertainers series of variety shorts.
B
Boer War: Transvaal Contingent, Queen Street, Brisbane, 1899 1899
Using a hand-cranked Lumiere Cinematographe, photographer Frederick Charles Wills captured the Queensland contingents departing for the Boer War.
Boxing 1908: Johnson vs Burns 1908
The Boxing Day fight between Canadian Tommy Burns and African American Jack Johnson drew an unprecedented crowd of 200,000 people.
C
Chez les Sauvages Australiens 1917
An engaging and respectful insight into Aboriginal people’s culture and their interaction with the filmmaking process, made in 1917.
Cinesound Varieties 1934
This variety show originally ran for about an hour, but only a few segments survive.
Cockatoo Island: HMAS Success Launching 1984
The HMAS Success was ultimately the last ship to be built on Cockatoo Island before the dockyard closed in 1992.
Cockatoo Island: Newsreel Film of Dockyard Activities c1939
The largest island in Sydney Harbour became the major shipbuilding and dockyard facility for the Pacific during the Second World War, following the fall of Singapore.
D
Darwin c1926 c1926
This historical and cultural record of Darwin in the 1920s includes valuable footage of the city’s environment and its multicultural population.
E
Efftee Studio Opening in Melbourne: Speech by Frank Forde 1931
This short film from 1931 records the opening of Frank Thring Senior’s Efftee Film Studios and the screening of the first ‘all-Australian talkie program’. Forde expresses optimism about the future of Australian film making, with a positive impact on local jobs and the presentation of ‘typical Australian characters’ onscreen.
Empire Day Pageant c1915
This is a silent actuality fragment from around 1915 and shows people celebrating 'Empire Day’ in full costume, apparently in a small country town. The estimated date of the footage comes from the stock dates marked on the film fragments – one method used to date audiovisual material held at the National Film and Sound Archive.
F
Footscray 1911 c1911
One of the earliest moving image recordings of Footscray, this footage was screened to locals a week later at the Federal Hall in Nicholson Street.
Footscray 1971 1971
Shot by prominent film lover and collector Harry Davidson, this footage features numerous attractions of Footscray, Melbourne, in 1971.
G
George Wallace: Australia’s Premier Comedian 1931
This screen test by seasoned vaudeville comic George Wallace led to roles in several feature films.
J
Jack O’Hagan: Vocalist Composer 1931
Multi-talented artist Jack O’Hagan performs five songs for Frank Thring’s series of variety shorts, Efftee Entertainers, including 'The Road to Gundagai’.
K
Kerr’s Cur 1975
On 11 November 1975, on the steps of Parliament House, the dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam delivers his now-famous verdict on the day’s events.
L
The Landing of the Australian Troops in Egypt c1916
A short commercial recording dramatising the Australian troops arriving in Egypt, before Gallipoli.
Le Patineur Grotesque 1896
This footage of a man performing on rollerskates for a crowd in a Melbourne park is thought to be Australia’s earliest surviving film.
Les Darcy’s Last Fight: Les Darcy vs George Chip 1916
One of Australia’s best ever boxers, Les Darcy, takes on American middleweight George Chip at the Sydney Stadium.
Les Darcy vs Dave Smith for the Championship of Australia 1916
Boxing great Les Darcy trains with, and later fights, Dave Smith, his former mentor.
M
Mabo: An Address to the Nation 1993
In a televised address to the nation, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating outlines the government’s response to the High Court Mabo decision on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights.
The Maryborough Railway Employees’ Picnic 1938
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, thousands of children and their families would attend the Maryborough Railway’s annual employees’ picnic.
Melbourne Chinese Orchestra Selections 1931
Melbourne’s Chinese Orchestra perform at His Majesty’s Theatre as part of Frank Thring’s Efftee Entertainers.
Melbourne Cup 1896 1896
This film documenting the 1896 Melbourne Cup is one of Australia’s oldest surviving films. A horse gallops into the foreground and blocks our view until the film’s producer gives the horse a pat on its rump.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade: Adelaide c1911
This actuality footage of the Adelaide Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1908 features rescue and resuscitation demonstrations by firefighters.
Miss Minnie Love in Impressions: Maurice Chevalier c1931
Australian performer Minnie Love mimics the popular French comedian and singer Maurice Chevalier for Frank Thring’s Efftee Entertainers series.
N
Naming of the Federal Capital of Australia: The Ceremony 1913
Director Raymond Longford, best known for his silent feature film The Sentimental Bloke (1919), documents the naming of Australia’s capital city, Canberra, in 1913.
R
Red Cross Activities During and After WWI c1919
The footage provides a snapshot of the daily tasks Female Red Cross volunteers performed during and after the First World War.
S
Scenes of Queen Street and Victoria Bridge, Brisbane, 1899 1899
Using an original Lumière Cinematographe, Frederick Charles Wills and his assistant, Henry William Mobsby capture a busy Brisbane intersection in 1899.
Sorrento c1922
The many attractions of the Victorian seaside town of Sorrento are promoted in this 1920s footage produced for the Sorrento Progress Association.
South Sea Islanders Cutting Cane, 1899: Nambour, Qld 1899
Photographer Frederick Charles Wills and his assistant, Henry William Mobsby capture Melanesian labourers cutting cane in Queensland in 1899.
Stan Ray and George Moon Jnr: Specialty Dancers 1931
Entertainers Stan Ray and George Moon Jnr perform a tap dancing routine on one of the stages inside His Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne.
St Kilda Esplanade c1912 c1912
This early footage of St Kilda includes the entrance to Luna Park and a jetty at the beach. The last shot, with its geometric form and structure, is like a Seurat painting.
The St Kilda Esplanade on Boxing Day c1913
A vivid snapshot of public life on a sunny day at the St Kilda esplanade and foreshore on Boxing Day 1913.
Sydney Tramways c1928
This footage demonstrates the relationship between the growing city population of Sydney in the 1920s and the developing public transport system.
T
Talkie Season Opens: Wintergarden Theatre c1929
The Wintergarden Theatre was the first suburban cinema to install audio technology to screen talkies.
Tasmanian countryside, Hobart and Tasmanian Tiger c1932
A Tasmanian Tiger, Hobart City and the Tasmanian countryside are all showcased in this black-and-white actuality footage from the early 1930s.
Tasmanian Tiger Footage 1932
In 1932, zoologist and naturalist David Fleay filmed some of the last known moving images of a living (now extinct) Tasmanian tiger.
Thursday Island and Merauke, Dutch New Guinea c1925
The cast and crew of Frank Hurley’s feature-length dramas, The Hound of the Deep (1926) and The Jungle Woman (1926), explore the culture and environment of their island locations.
Torres Strait Islanders 1898
A national treasure: the oldest film made of Torres Strait Islanders and of Aboriginal people. This film deserves national and international cultural icon status.
Training at Rushcutters Bay 1908
American boxer Jack Johnson trains before an intimate crowd at Sydney’s Rushcutters Bay, only days away from becoming the first-ever African American to claim the heavyweight title.
V
Voice of a Nation c1918
Returned Australian soldiers from the First World War march through a city street alongside horse-drawn Red Cross ambulances.
W
Wheat Harvesting c1925 c1925
Various subjects such as Alfred Deakin’s funeral and an AFL match reveal glimpses of Victorian life in the 1920s.
Wheat Harvesting with Reaper and Binder at Jimbour, Qld 1899
The official photographer of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Frederick Charles Wills, films a farmer and his wheat harvest on a property in Jimbour.
Whitlam – Visit to Bendigo and Eaglehawk 1973
Gough Whitlam, the first Labor Prime Minister in 23 years, visits Bendigo and Eaglehaw in Victoria to lend support to the party’s campaign for the May 1973 state elections.
Whitlam – Visit to the Philippines 1974
In 1974, prime minister Gough Whitlam visited Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Singapore and the Philippines with the aim of strengthening cooperation in aid, trade, investment and culture.
Wirth’s Circus Film c1925
Wirth’s Circus, one of Australia’s most well-known family circuses, toured the country extensively in the 1920s and embarked on world tours to England, South Africa and South-East Asia.
With the Dardanelles Expedition c1915
The only known moving images of the 1915 campaign at Gallipoli, shot mostly by English war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett.
WWI Troops Embarkation and Charity Bazaars, Sydney c1915
This silent footage shows newly recruited troops embarking for service; life on board the ships for troops heading overseas; and the fundraising activities of the Red Cross to aid in the war effort.
