Titles tagged with ‘Second World War’
84 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 next
A
Along the Road to Gundagai music – 1931
This is a famous recording of one of Australia’s most popular songs.
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.
Angst documentary – 1993
Sandy Gutman, one of the comedians featured, released Australiana in 1983 and it is still the biggest-selling local comedy record.
Australia feature film – 2008
Three outsiders – an aristocrat, a stockman and a vulnerable child – are set against the malevolent forces of greedy neighbours, a world war and assimilationist policy.
Australia Post – Post Office Film sponsored film – 1942
This is a mute, black-and-white film record of the dismantling of the Sydney GPO clock tower to relocate communications equipment during the Second World War.
Australians at War – The Thin Khaki Line television program – 2002
When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbour, a ragtag group of conscripts known as ‘koalas’ were deployed overseas.
Australians Keep the Wheels of Industry Turning advertisement – c1943
An animated advertisement to persuade Australians to invest in National Savings stamps and the 4th Liberty Loan.
Aya feature film – 1990
The story of a Japanese-Australian marriage in the aftermath of the Second World War.
B
Belsen For Example documentary – 1985
The recollections of concentration camp survivors, now living in Australia, and rescuers, are extraordinary.
Black Soldier Blues documentary – 2004
African American veterans talk candidly about the friendliness of Australians compared with their callous treatment by white American servicemen.
Breakout documentary – 1984
Japanese POWs were not trying to escape from their Cowra prison in 1944 so much as escape from the dishonour of capture.
Broken Sun feature film – 2008
Imagination and resourcefulness helped this small filmmaking team, lead by Brad Haynes, overcome the constraints of having only $50,000.
Browning Machine Gun sponsored film – c1940
An animated army training film that illustrates the operation of the Browning machine gun.
C
Canberra Files, The documentary – 2006
Sir Robert Menzies filmed his own wartime tour in 1941, including meeting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at his home.
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.
Cockatoo Island: Newsreel Film of Dockyard Activities historical – 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.
Come In Spinner television program – 1989
Lisa Harrow, Kerry Armstrong and Rebecca Gibney feature in the story of three very different women in wartime.The series won a slew of AFI awards.
Compass – Changi Days, POW Poets television program – 2003
Jim Connor was a POW who survived the Second World War but wondered whether he could survive the peace.
Compass – Quakers: Seeking the Light Within television program – 2003
Pacifism has always been a central tenet of the Religious Society of Friends. For Quakers, God is within each and every person.
Couch: Our Women of the VAD home movie – 1943
This amateur production provides an almost behind-the-scenes view of the women as they went through their VAD training.
The Cowra Breakout television program – 1984
In the early hours of 5 August 1944, 1,100 Japanese prisoners launched a mass breakout from a POW camp near Cowra.
Curtin television program – 2007
The Curtin telemovie is like a skilfully painted miniature: small in size and scope but, on closer examination, high on well-researched detail.
Curtin Speech: Japan Enters Second World War radio – 1941
In a broadcast to the nation, Prime Minister John Curtin announces that Australia is now at war with Japan.
D
Dad Rudd, MP feature film – 1940
Dad Rudd, MP truly signals the end of an era, the last gasp of the cycle of rural comedies featuring yokels and livestock that went back 30 years in Australian cinema.
Dame Enid Lyons: Maiden Speech radio – 1943
Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in Australia’s federal parliament, reads her maiden speech for radio broadcast.
Division of Radiophysics documentary – 1950
This public relations documentary outlines research undertaken by the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics during the 1940s.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 2 television program – 1985
German Jews who had fled to Britain to escape Nazi persecution were then interned as 'enemy aliens’ in Australia and became known as the 'Dunera boys’.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 3 television program – 1985
Just who or what is a Jew is an important theme of this series. Private Dunstan’s response shows how sheltered Australia was from the maelstrom of Europe.
Dyer, Frederick Simpson: Milkshakes and Bomb Shelter home movie – c1940
This footage offers a beautiful glimpse of suburban Australia during the Second World War through the everyday recreational activities of the Dyer family.
F
First Australians – Episode 6, A Fair Deal for a Dark Race documentary – 2008
Episode 6 of First Australians explores Indigenous history from 1930–67, primarily in the south-eastern regions of Australia.
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.
Fourth Liberty Loan advertisement – 1943
A Fourth Liberty Loan campaign was launched to encourage people to buy national savings stamps to contribute to the war effort.
From England to the USA: Menzies Wartime Tour home movie – c1941
Part travelogue and part historical record, this home movie captures official visits as well as the prime minister’s own travel.
G
Give a Little Credit to your Dad; Lonesome for You, Mother Dear music – 1939
Two songs by then unknown country singer Buddy Williams, recorded in 1939.
Give Us This Day advertisement – 1943
This food rationing advertisement takes its title from a phrase in the Lord’s Prayer ‘give us this day our daily bread’.
Grave of the President documentary – 1984
In 1942, ocean liner President Coolidge accidentally struck two allied mines and sank. One of the world’s biggest shipwrecks is now a popular dive destination.
Green Tea and Cherry Ripe documentary – 1989
In the bingo halls and poker machine clubs, Japanese ‘war bride’ Chiaki has found a way to become a 'dinky-di’ Australian.
H
Harry’s War short film – 2000
Richard Frankland, writer and director of the short drama Harry’s War, is from the third generation of Indigenous men to have served in the Australian army.
Hellfire Jack: The John Curtin Story documentary – 1985
A portrait of John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945.
Hewers of Coal sponsored film – 1957
This union-sponsored documentary dramatises the history of mining in Australia since the early 1900s, including the friction between miners and mine owners.
Hula Girls, Imagining Paradise documentary – 2005
Western imagination has transformed the spiritual hula dance of traditional Polynesian society into a (male) fantasy presenting the Polynesian woman as beautiful and exotic.
I
In a Savage Land feature film – 1999
Evelyn’s misadventures in the Trobriand Islands are in the foreground of this exploration of racism, colonialism and voyeurism set during the Second World War.
J
The Joys of the Women documentary – 1993
As a teenager, singer–songwriter Kavisha Mazzella rejected her Italian heritage, but now wants to keep a dying music tradition alive by recording and performing it.
Jungle Patrol newsreel – 1944
The story of eight Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese on Shaggy Ridge in New Guinea, in 1943.
K
Kokoda Front Line! newsreel – 1942
This iconic and Academy Award-winning newsreel shot by Damien Parer contains some of the most recognised images of Australian troops in the Second World War.
Kraft Cheddar Cheese Cinema Advertisement: Unexpected Guests advertisement – c1940
This snack was marketed by Kraft as a quick and easy-to-prepare snack, and importantly an economical one.
L
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.
Last Plane Out of Berlin documentary – 1999
At ten years of age, Sidney Cotton designed an aircraft. At 18, this Queensland country boy built a car he called 'the Cotton’.
The Legend of Damien Parer television program – 1964
The life of the legendary Australian combat cameraman Damien Parer, through the eyes of those who knew him and through footage shot before his death in action in 1944.
Letters From Poland short film – 1978
While the plight of migrant women was a pillar issue for 1970s and 1980s Australian feminism, this film’s approach to the issue is very much focused on the individual.

