All titles sourced from NFSA
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1940s (continued)
Christmas Crackers home movie – 1945
This amateur film from 1945 shows the joy of a family reuniting at the end of the Second World War after the men return from overseas service.
Family Antics documentary – 1945
This is very strange but oddly compelling: a father, his son, and three fox terriers do acrobatics and balancing acts for the camera.
First Victory Home Loan: Squander Bug advertisement – 1945
This ad aimed to persuade Australians to donate money to the war effort, portraying it as patriotic and a show of commitment to the cause.
Kolynos Dental Cream Advertisement: Kisses advertisement – c1945
This advertisement is an early example of associating a product with sexual or social desirability.
Mid-East documentary – 1945
The African continent would have still represented the ‘heart of darkness’ for many Australians viewing this film.
Movietone Special: Peace: Australia Celebrates newsreel – 1945
This Movietone News special edition newsreel marking the nationwide celebrations at the end of the Second World War includes the iconic image of the 'dancing man’.
ALP Cinema Advertisement: In the Wake of the Storm advertisement – 1946
This cinema ad for the 1946 federal election encourages Australians to stay with the Labor Party, which has successfully led the country through the end of the Second World War.
ALP: Frank Forde, Election 1946 newsreel – 1946
Labor Deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde appeals to his Capricornia electorate to vote for him and Prime Minister Chifley in the September 1946 federal election.
City in the Sun documentary – 1946
Post-war austerity is nowhere to be seen in this romanticised look at the streets of Sydney in the summer of 1946.
Liberal Party Cinema Advertisement: The Golden Age advertisement – 1946
This Liberal Party cinema advertisement for the 1946 federal election proposes that life for ordinary people under the incumbent Labor government is by no means as good as it should be.
The Overlanders feature film – 1946
As the Japanese threaten northern Australia in 1942, a drover takes a mob of prime beef cattle across 2,600 kms of hazardous country to Queensland.
Persil Washing Powder: Their Day advertisement – 1946
This washing powder’s particular magic is its ‘oxygen dazzle’ which allows the powder to lather easily without the need for rubbing and scrubbing.
Rinso Washing Powder: Easy Does It advertisement – 1946
This Rinso advertisement from 1946 features Bill Kerr with Joy Nichols, Dan Agar – all actors and radio stars of the era.
Smithy feature film – 1946
Smithy was Charles 'Bud’ Tingwell’s first film. With characteristic modesty, he later said he won the part as a control tower officer because he supplied his own uniform.
Sprod, John: Pioneer Tours Bus Trip to Flinder’s Ranges, Building Brick Houses home movie – c1946
John Sprod was influenced by his father, an amateur photographer who taught him how to develop film.
Sydney Harbour and Anzac Day home movie – c1946
This colour home movie shows the official Anzac Day parade through central Sydney in 1946, one year after the end of the Second World War.
Travelling Library documentary – c1946
This remarkable colour footage captures the excitement that the mobile library brought to school children in the 1940s.
Beautiful Melbourne sponsored film – 1947
This film, put together by the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 1947, increased public awareness of the dire state of those living in slum housing in Melbourne.
Beyond the Furthest Fences sponsored film – 1947
This is an abridged version of the feature-length documentary The Inlanders. Both follow the Australian Inland Mission through central Australia in 1947.
Bush Christmas feature film – 1947
In a rare villainous role, Chips Rafferty plays a horse thief, Long Bill. He is tracked by five kids spending Christmas in the Blue Mountains.
Cinderella on Strings documentary – c1947
Cinderella is a marionette but she still gets to meet her Prince Charming.
Kraft Cheddar Cheese Cinema Advertisement: Your Daily Diet advertisement – c1947
This Kraft advertisement examines the value of three food groups: protective foods, energy foods and body builders.
Land Short of People documentary – 1947
A narrative of white settlement pioneering against the odds – the tyranny of distance, the harsh conditions, and the massive landscapes.
Timber sponsored film – 1947
Timber communicates a romantic perspective of logging and the timber industry – both seen as having minimal negative environmental impact.
Aborigines of the Sea Coast documentary – 1948
A valuable ethnographic record of a 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land.
Birth of a Car sponsored film – c1948
Birth of a Car, made in 1948, proudly details the planning, testing and production of the first locally-manufactured Holden model sedan.
Green Heritage sponsored film – c1948
Green Heritage is a documentary aimed at viewers who care about subterranean clover, methods of pasture irrigation and the preferred grass for livestock.
Menzies 1948 Journey, Reel 1 home movie – 1948
This 16mm colour home movie filmed and edited by Sir Robert Menzies is an extraordinary record for not only Australians but the British too.
Menzies 1948 Journey, Reel 2 home movie – 1948
A truly mesmerising piece of footage taken through the eyes of Australian prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, during a family journey through Europe.
Menzies 1948 Journey, Reel 3 home movie – 1948
This home movie is the third reel of a four-part travelogue filmed by Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, in 1948.
Nestle’s MILO Cinema Advertisement: Family Album advertisement – 1948
This 1948 cinema advertisement promotes Milo for health, enjoyment and sleep! It’s from the private collection of Roger McKenzie and fellow film enthusiast, Bernard Kent.
Nestle’s MILO Cinema Advertisement: The Joy of Living advertisement – 1948
Since 1934, MILO has been advertised in a number of ways, changing in style and tone to adapt to its audience.
Prices and the People documentary – 1948
Prices and the People provides a working-class view of price increases, wages and mounting profits and the effects on everyday people in 1948.
Searchlight on Japan documentary – c1948
Made by Ken G Hall, Searchlight on Japan focuses on Japan under Allied occupation at the end of the Second World War.
Skyway Express documentary – c1948
One of a series of travelogues produced in the late 1940s when very few Australians had travelled overseas, each is about flying into an 'exotic’ location.
These Are Our Children sponsored film – 1948
Through the lives of fictional siblings John and Molly, this film is an indictment of the social injustice facing Melbourne’s inner-city poor.
Vegemite Cinema Advertisement: Sister Knows Best advertisement – c1948
As well as being a product that the whole family can enjoy, Vegemite was marketed as having economical benefit.
Antarctica 1948 documentary – 1949
A record of the operations of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, November 1947–April 1948.
Around a Gum Tree documentary – 1949
This documentary cleverly uses gum trees as a device to explore the broad range of industries that Australia supports.
Behind the Big Top documentary – 1949
The Wirth Brothers Circus, one of Australia’s largest and most successful, survived another 15 years after this film was made.
Duff, Paul: Papua New Guinea home movie – c1949
This is a unique record of Australia’s interests in the natural resources of our Asia-Pacific neighbours.
Eureka Stockade feature film – 1949
In 1854, miners in the Ballarat goldfields take up arms against government troops in a defining moment of Australian history.
A Home of their Own sponsored film – 1949
A Home of their Own contrasts Ted and Mary’s overcrowded, inner-city housing with the 'Smith family’, who are lucky enough to live on a new suburban estate.
The Inlanders documentary – 1949
The Inlanders comes from a tradition of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking that presents the outback as a harsh and hostile terrain to be overcome.
Into the Straight feature film – 1949
Australian horse breeder WJ Curzon hires British trainer Hugh Duncan and his playboy son Paul. Father and son are both attracted to JW’s daughter, June.
Liberal Party Cinema Advertisement: The House that You Built advertisement – 1949
This Liberal Party cinema advertisement for the 1949 federal election presents a choice between the 'socialist’ and 'free democratic’ ways of life, as offered by the ALP and Liberal Party respectively.
Sons of Matthew feature film – 1949
Sons of Matthew is an extremely vivid depiction of the heroic conquest of the land by Australia’s white settlers.
Theme From ‘Blue Hills’ radio – 1949
This is the theme from the long-running ABC radio serial Blue Hills (1949–76).
Thrill of the Surf documentary – 1949
This short Cinesound documentary from Ken G Hall boasts beautifully filmed visuals, with surfers seen in silhouette and sunlight bouncing off the water.
1950s
Berlei Underwear Cinema Advertisement: Sarong advertisement – 1950
The Berlei ‘Sarong’ girdle is aimed at active women who want comfort and freedom to move at the same time.
