Migration
The following clips have teachers’ notes related to this topic:
Bullying at school
The new Jewish boy at school is bullied by two boys.
On being young and Muslim in Australia
Waleed Aly and Susan Carland spend a great deal of their spare time talking to other Australians about their faith. They’re very much the ideal Aussie couple. They’re also devout Muslims, Waleed was …
Darwin streets and Chinatown
In this short clip, the camera observes part of Darwin’s town centre, main street and shopfronts. People walking along the footpaths under shopfront verandahs look at the camera. A Chinese family walks into one …
A new life in Australia
Channa Dassanayaka is from Sri Lanka and came to Australia when his mother, who was a politician, thought that things were becoming too dangerous in Sri Lanka and sent Channa to Australia for his safety …
Annual Greek picnic
This clip shows members of the Canberra Greek community on their annual picnic at Good Hope just outside of Canberra on 26 December 1949. Friends and relatives sitting in the shade lift their glasses and …
Heat of the Pilbara – ‘white with salt’
Blue skies, as the camera pans down, the frame rests on 'Wickham, Western Australia’. A Torres Strait man recalls how he came to work on the railway and stayed. As he describes his experiences we …
Promised bride
Kavisha Mazzella performs a song about an arranged marriage to a man in a 'faraway country’ – Australia. The song’s story is acted out music-video style in black and white.
Italy revisited
Kavisha Mazzella visits Italy to find traditional songs. She interviews musicologist Professor Ugo Vuoso about how the songs are recorded for posterity.
Post-Second World War challenges
This clip begins with workers walking and cycling to work at the start of the day. As the narrator talks about the ‘working man’s paradise’, the images show scenes of negotiations between businesses and …
Education and public health
The voice-over describes Australia’s education and health services in positive terms. It mentions the challenges of educating children over Australia’s vast distances.
Children play in a sandpit in a playground; others play on …
A new life
An official visiting the orphanage in Liverpool invites the children to do their bit for the British Empire by putting themselves forward to begin a new life in Rhodesia, Australia or Canada.
The wrong place
The six Iraqis and six Cambodians have swum ashore from the Indonesian fishing boat. The captain Muluk (Sawung Jabo) tells them to climb a sand dune and wait for a bus, but he knows there …
Operation Overland pipeline
As part of Operation Overland, a man dressed in diving gear is lowered into the water to work on the 36-mile oil pipeline. Workers drain parts of the Werribee River so the line can be …
A new multicultural home
In this 1957 clip, TE Carpenter (Pat Tingwell – younger brother of Bud), the boring contractor from Boorandarra, has taken a job on the Snowy Mountains Scheme and has been settled in the new township of …
The dreams of our pioneers
As the Eucumbene Dam (then called Adaminaby Dam) nears completion, the final building arrives at the new Adaminaby, and the waters of the new Lake Eucumbene begin to rise.
Snowy Mountains Scheme opened
The Governor-General opens the Snowy Mountains Scheme in 1974. It is one of the world’s greatest engineering achievements.
A man from Snowy River
In this clip, filmed in 1948, a 'man from Snowy River’ swaps his horse and his bushman’s life for a bulldozer and employment on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. While on one level reflecting the …
‘The Snowy Mountains song’
At night, in the recreation hut of one of the Snowy Mountains Scheme workers’ camps, the men sing 'The Snowy Mountains song’.
South Sea Islanders cutting cane
This clip filmed in 1899 is one of the few pieces of footage of Melanesian labourers cutting cane in Queensland. The workers stack the cane onto a wagon while their supervisor keeps a watchful eye.
‘Your turn to shout’
Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari) gets a lesson in the language of drinking from a friendly Australian (Jack Allen) at the Marble Bar, a legendary Sydney watering hole. The barmaid (Anne Haddy) looks bemused.
‘Why don’t you go back to your own bloody country’
A drunken Anglo-Australian (Keith Petersen) abuses an Italian migrant family on a Sydney ferry. Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari) watches in discomfort.
‘A dago just the same’
Nino Culotta (Walter Chiari) comes to meet Harry Kelly (Chips Rafferty), father of Kay (Clare Dunne), the woman he wants to marry. Harry is a successful building contractor, who thinks his daughter can do better.
Arriving at the Migrant Reception Centre
A group of migrants arrive by bus at the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre. As they disembark and collect their luggage, a female voice-over explains they have come from many countries across Europe. The centre functions …
School, activities, food and leisure
Children run in races at the centre’s sports day, while parents look on. Some of the children play tunnel ball outside one of the housing quarters. The kindergarten provides toys and games for younger …
