Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a large crowd cheering the Floral Parade, the penultimate event of the annual Carnival of Flowers, as it moves through the main street of Toowoomba, Queensland, in September 1953. The parade begins with a marching band and the elaborate Carnival Queen float, which is followed by a variety of floats from local organisations and businesses, as well as marching bands. The soundtrack consists of occasional narration, cheering crowds and a lively musical score.

Educational value points

• The Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba began in 1949 and is the longest running annual horticultural festival in Australia, held in the last week of September each year. The idea of a Carnival of Flowers was first suggested to the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce by a local businessman, Essex Tait, in the late 1940s as an opportunity to bring the community together and to promote local business after the hardships of the war years. As the Carnival grew it began to attract tourists from further afield.

• The first float in the parade carries the Carnival Queen, who had been crowned in a ceremony the night before. The decoration of the float may have been inspired by the then recent coronation of the new monarch of Australia, Queen Elizabeth II, on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey, London. The float appears to be an elaborate re-creation of the Queen’s purple velvet coronation robe, with the young Carnival Queen sitting upon her throne and waving at the passing crowds.

• The clip is from the 1950s, a period of unparalleled prosperity in Australia when the country enjoyed near-full employment, easy credit, increasing home ownership, the development of modern factories and a fast-growing population mainly achieved by post-Second World War immigration policies. Demand for consumer goods such as refrigerators, gas and electric stoves, radiograms and locally produced Holden cars reflected the affluence of the period. Television was not introduced into Australia until the last months of 1956, initially in Melbourne and Sydney only, becoming available in other capital cities in 1960, so people found their entertainment at 'the pictures’, dances and balls, vaudeville shows and community events such as this.

• The Floral Parade shown in the clip is part of a long tradition of celebrating a festival or event by a public procession through the streets. These parades often include decorated floats, which nowadays are usually motorised, as seen here. Processions became popular soon after Constantine’s recognition of Christianity as a religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century CE. While originally religious in nature, street parades have become increasingly secular, with two of Australia’s best known and most popular parades being Moomba, held since 1955 in Melbourne and originally conceived to attract more visitors to the city, and the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, held in Sydney since 1978 in celebration of sexual diversity.

• Street parades have traditionally provided an opportunity for local businesses, marching bands, church groups, voluntary organisations and other community groups to involve themselves in a civic event while also advertising their services. The floats are usually made by members of the organisations involved and vary from the elaborate to the modest, with a prize often being awarded for the best float.

• The clip shows the main street of Toowoomba in the 1950s, 46 years after it was proclaimed a city. An English botanist and explorer, Allan Cunningham, is credited with identifying the region as suitable for farming in 1816 and naming it the Darling Downs after Sir Ralph Darling, governor of New South Wales. William Horton, who built the first hotel in Toowoomba, the Royal Bull’s Head Inn, is regarded as the city’s founder. Argument still rages about which local Aboriginal word the name Toowoomba is derived from: tawampa (swamp), woomba woomba (reeds in a swamp), or toowoom or chowoom (a local melon).

• Toowoomba is situated on the crest of the Great Dividing Range, 700 m above sea level and 132 km west of Qld’s capital city, Brisbane. It is built on swamp land and its fertile soil and mild climate make it ideal for growing crops. Agriculture has always been the region’s largest industry but since the 1950s manufacturing, cultural, service and education-based industries have increased. In the early 21st century, Toowoomba is a city of 90,000 people with a further 30,000 people in the immediate region. The city has 1,044 hectares of parkland, many old, well-preserved buildings and, as seen in the clip, wide streets.

• The clip is similar in style to the newsreels of the 1950s, which were shown in cinemas all over Australia. The voice-over is in the English-accented broadcast style commonly used in newsreels and radio at the time, and the music on the soundtrack is cheerful, jaunty and interspersed with the cheering of the crowds. The floats glide past the panning camera, giving the viewer a sense of the moving parade but also of the crowds, fashions and the fine iron-lacework of typical Qld verandas, which protect people from the elements.