Clip description
This is mute footage shot around London while Deputy Prime Minister Forde was attending the Commonwealth Statesmen’s Meeting held from 4 to 13 April 1945.
Curator’s notes
This footage was shot around London about a month prior to VE Day. It focuses on damage inflicted on buildings during the London Blitz, then goes on to include major landmarks like Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. But it’s the shots of Londoners, young and old, carrying on as usual, that capture something unique about the particular postwar moment.
The second section of the clip is shot at Gowrie House, location of the Australian Red Cross Society and prisoner of war repatriation centre. Mr Forde, accompanied by his wife, Vera Forde, addresses an appreciative audience of Red Cross workers. The clip finishes with a shot of the historic St Thomas’ Hospital and a pan across the Thames.