Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This silent clip, taken from a home movie filmed in the 1940s, shows people at the Dawson River and Theodore Weir in Queensland. The clip opens with two boys diving into the River as onlookers watch from the bank. Pedestrians cross Theodore Weir as a car drives by, children are shown splashing and swimming in the River and a young woman uses a homemade fishing rod to fish from the edge of the River. The clip concludes with the young woman using her fishing rod to pull an eel from the water.

Educational value points

• The Theodore Weir, shown here, was built on the Dawson River in 1925 as part of the Dawson Valley Irrigation Project established in 1923. The Theodore Weir was built to provide water for cotton and dairy farming and is one of five weirs built along a 300-km section of the Dawson River. The original Weir was 65 m long and was constructed from timber with diagonal brassings. The timber weir was replaced with a concrete structure in 1984.

• A weir, such as the one shown here, is a barrier built across an open channel of water to regulate the water flow or to change the level of water. A weir serves a different purpose from that of a dam in that dams are built across streams or rivers in order to retain water and create reservoirs.

• The clip provides an insight into the fashions, particularly the swimwear, of the 1940s. It was filmed prior to the introduction of the bikini in 1946, and the women wearing swimwear in the clip sport one-piece suits. Female swimsuits at the time often included a built-in corset, which was intended to flatter a woman’s shape. Males are shown wearing brief shorts for swimming, and these were usually made of wool or cotton.

• Historically regarded as amateur and only of interest to their creators, their immediate family and friends, home movies such as this one have now gained the status of historical documents. Home movies have increasingly been sought out to help reconstruct history, for example in documentaries and museum displays. They are a record of the lifestyles, cultures and traditions of everyday Australians, and can also provide diverse perspectives or alternative histories.

• The footage exemplifies typical features of the home movie genre. The camera is hand held with resulting instability of the image. Editing has been achieved ‘in camera’ simply by turning the camera on and off and the content is shown in real time. Leisure activities such as those shown in the clip were common themes for early home movies, as they are today.

• Advances in technology have continued to change the way home movies, such as the one shown here, are made. In 1923 the 16-mm camera replaced the conventional 35-mm camera, followed by the introduction of the 8-mm camera in 1932. Filmmaking grew in popularity after the introduction of the more affordable Super 8 camera in 1965. Later in the century, the introduction of video cameras and DVDs simplified the production of home movies.