Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘nature’

22 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

A

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.

Ask the Leyland Brothers – Episode 23 television program – 1976

The Leyland Brothers answer viewer requests and visit Broken Hill and Uluru.

B

Bird and Animal Calls of Australia environmental – 1968

Extraordinary sounds of Australian wildlife.

C

Cactus feature film – 1986

Cactus explores both the horror of not being able to see and the notion that blindness can sharpen the senses and lift the spirits.

Crocodile Dundee feature film – 1985

This is not just the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, but also one of the most successful non-Hollywood films.

Cyclone Tracy radio – 1974

Journalist Mike Hayes describes the trauma experienced by the people of Darwin post-Cyclone Tracy, 1974.

D

Dancing Orpheus television program – 1962

This black-and-white nature program from the earliest years of ABC TV features the unique lyrebird. Narrated by John West, it won an AFI Gold Award in 1963.

Darwin c1926 historical – c1926

This historical and cultural record of Darwin in the 1920s includes valuable footage of the city’s environment and its multicultural population.

Dimpel, Konrad: German Christmas celebrations, Lutheran Sunday School picnic home movie – c1966

In this 1960s home movie, a curious baby kangaroo joins a Lutheran Sunday School picnic at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve outside Canberra.

G

Ghosts of Port Arthur documentary – c1932

A ‘novelty travel talk’ by Ken G Hall in 1930 has other resonances today: violent encounters after European settlement and the horror of the Port Arthur massacre.

H

Honeybee Blues documentary – 2009

Australian bee pathologist Dr Denis Anderson is on a quest to save the honeybee from the devastating Varroa destructor mite.

I

Indefinable Moods short film – 2001

This short animation by artist Kathy Smith is a surreal Australian dream landscape with music.

In the Wild with Harry Butler – Lake Argyle television program – 1976

Harry Butler CBE, naturalist and environmentalist, explains how man-made Lake Argyle has changed the ecology of the Kimberley region forever.

Isle of Many Waters sponsored film – 1939

The opening credits read 'a portrayal by Frank Hurley described by himself’ and contain the relaxed and descriptive narration style evident in many of his travelogues.

J

Jewel of the Pacific documentary – 1932

In this 1932 travelogue shot and narrated by Frank Hurley, rat tails bring a reward of sixpence each and Lord Howe Island locals join the hunt for the pests.

K

King Billy’s First Car advertisement – 1939

This 1930s animated advertisement contains a disturbing subtext about Indigenous Australians.

L

Long Weekend feature film – 1978

On a long weekend camping trip to a lonely beach, Peter and Marcia confront the despair of their marriage, as nature takes revenge on them.

N

Night documentary – 2007

The real time and time-lapse images in Night are edited seamlessly and, in combination with the music, become very meditative.

P

Picnic at Hanging Rock feature film – 1975

On St Valentine’s Day 1900, three schoolgirls from an exclusive English-style boarding school go missing, along with a teacher, at Hanging Rock, in central Victoria.

R

Redback short film – 1995

In this playful animated short, a redback spider wreaks the ultimate humiliation on his male tormentor.

S

Shark Vs Croc television program – 2004

Former shark hunter and Australian spearfishing champion Ben Cropp compares predators.

T

Treasures of Katoomba sponsored film – 1936

Frank Hurley’s sense of adventure and eye for landscape composition is evident in this charming travelogue promoting tourism in the Blue Mountains.