The exterior walls of the Sydney Opera House were inspired by the sails of the pleasure craft on the nearby harbour.

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris sings a self-penned tribute to the SOH while he does a painting of it. We see him in make up, preparing for the first performance in the concert hall.

A DH60G 'de Havilland’ Gipsy Moth is prepared for flight at the Adelaide Parafield. Chief pilot of the Royal Aero Club of South Australia Jack Buckham, locks the wings of the plane into position. The …

A member of the Addison Road Drop-In provides an on-the-spot commentary on a parking policeman or 'brown bomber’ booking a motorist on Marrickville Road.

Inside the recreation room at the centre, the young men play …

In court, Dr Sort (Penne Hackforth-Jones) describes Alvin’s condition – satyromania – 'the male equivalent of nymphomania’. Alvin and girlfriend (Elli Maclure) argue with a disgusted taxi diver (Peter Cummins). Dr Sort’s lawyer (Jon Finlayson …

This home movie clip, shot by the Archibald family, is taken from on board a boat in Sydney Harbour. It shows various steamships and boats on Sydney Harbour as well as the Sydney Harbour Bridge …

The harvester is operated by a person seated on one side of the machine. The camera films, from various positions, the harvester as it is guided along the edge of the cane field. Men walk …

Lengths of molten steel pass through a large machine that rolls them into rails for use in the Trans-Continental Railway. The molten steel snakes its way down the track before withdrawing again. The camera shifts …

Charles and Elsa Chauvel have come through the dry outback to camp on a riverbed just outside the little town of Katherine. Elsa gives the viewer a tour through voice-over commenting on shots of the …

This segment addresses secretaries and executives and informs them of their responsibilities in the posting, receipt, sorting and delivery of mail.

This clip opens with type scrolling over a background screen declaring that Australia is at war and threatened by a ruthless enemy. The enemies, according to the newsreel, are ‘agents of Germany’ or ‘Hitler’s …

This clip suggests that Nazi agents already reside in Australia and that government officials work day and night to stamp out the ‘enemy within’. The audience is called upon as ‘loyal citizens’ to do their …

This newsreel segment begins with a title card which sums it up nicely: ‘slums, illegal gambling and SP bookmaking is a real and vital problem confronting the governments of Australia today’. Following newspaper headlines, the …

Aggie Abbott tells of how, when Zita returned to her mother after years of being absent, her mother said that her daughter was dead. Ron Wallace, Zita’s husband, talks about Zita’s experience of …

Zita is sitting on a stool feeding a poddy calf. In voice-over Aggie Abbott says most children who were taken away never returned to their country. Zita on the other hand has sought her family …

Effie (Mary Coustas) is interviewed by the National Broadcasting Commission’s John Honani. Effie has brought her own self-congratulatory résumé that John reads out before they discuss the role of missionaries in Papua New Guinea.

The clip details the relationship between Australia and the US regarding weapons testing. A 20-year memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Australia in 2005 allows the two countries to carry out exercises in …

This actuality footage was taken by the official photographer of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Frederick Charles Wills, and his assistant, Henry William Mobsby in 1899. Crowds line the streets to watch the First Queensland …

A man places a leather sheet under a pressing machine that cuts out segments for the soles of shoes. He illustrates this for the camera and holds up one of the sheets. The soles are …

Kamimura (Kuni Hashimoto), the Japanese prisoner leading the outbreak, addresses his fellow prisoners and prepares them for the glory of imminent death. The men then begin their breakout in a brief sequence that quickly segues …

In this flashback to the First World War, Jack (Jai Koutrae) cowers in his trench as a shell explodes, showering him with debris and dust and temporarily deafening him.

Various scenes in and around the Blue Mountains are shown including: bathers in a pool; Leura gardens; holiday homes; Leura golf course; the Katoomba cascades and the Three Sisters rock formation.

Tourists take photos of the local people and pay a fee. A young Papua New Guinean is interviewed about his response to tourism.

Scenic shots of Uluru as the voice-over speaks of the 'geological timescale of the continent and its growth and ageing’. Then, we see Uluru weather a storm. As rains cascade down over the rock, the …

This clip begins with a shot of a crowd (mostly women) gathering around suitcases on the pavement outside Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, just before Christmas 1928. Men are filmed loading suitcases onto the running …

A montage of business plaques and signs introduces the growing secondary industry that Geelong cultivates. To the sound of cheerful music, factory workers, assembly plants, fabric manufacturers, cement works, harvesters and motor vehicle manufacturers are …

It’s a period of eager anticipation. John Stephenson from South Yorkshire and his 12-year-old son Tyler are learning survival skills that they hope to apply when they are living in the Australian bush. The …

The Aboriginal participants introduce the Europeans to some of the bush tucker of the region. Only John and his wife are prepared to try the worm-like carbora, although they know they’ll be a rich …

The settler women rebel against the clothing conventions of the early 19th century. Each feels that she can’t work alongside her husband and children unless she is able to adapt those ridiculous European dresses …

On board a paddle steamer, the camera travels up the Euphrates river passing villages in the swamp and marshland region of the country – a lush landscape strewn with long reeds and covered in date palms …

In this 1940s travelogue we see a traditional dance of the Balinese women The Dance of the Eyes. We are told that it is rarely performed.

Rae (Nicole Kidman) shuts off the engine and takes the key. Hughie (Billy Zane) tries to get it back but she’s too quick for him. Unfortunately, the dog is even quicker.

‘Mrs Sydney’ (Pat Firman) prepares an evening meal for her husband with her newly acquired electric range while a voice-over emphasises the stove’s economy and efficiency. At the end of the advertisement, she asks …

Arthur Stace writes the word 'Eternity’ in chalk on Sydney’s streets. Director of photography, Dion Beebe, uses black-and-white film to capture the mood and time of Sydney in the 1930s.

The boys at Westbrook Farm Home for Boys in Queensland’s southeast sleep in open wards. The dormitories are connected to a main dining room where they gather for meals. The superintendent and his wife …

This is the series theme song from the opening of the episode. It establishes the setting, characters and backstory of the crime wave in Fairytale land which necessitated the arrival of the two outside world …

The Evil Queen reports a crime. Someone has stolen the poisoned apple she gave to Snow White and she wants it found. Detective Johnny Legend wants to throw her in the ‘slammer’ but the Chief …

This simple home movie clip taken by Leslie Francis Farey from 1932 shows us children candidly playing in a suburban backyard in Melbourne. Three children play with a pram, doll and tin drum. The youngest …

Luc (Anh Do) and his sister Anne (Lisa Saggers) discuss football as they wait for the team’s first practice to start. Anne holds her pet tortoise, Britney, a gift from her brother. Luc gives …

Neil Davis talks about working with the South Vietnamese army. He recalls that they were involved in fighting much more than the American forces, and suffered correspondingly higher casualties. The Americans were referred to as …

Combat cameraman Neil Davis discusses one of the most memorable images of the Vietnam War, when the national police chief shot dead a Vietnamese suspect. Davis tells the full story of how the prisoner was …

This clip explains the methods used to design the new model FE Holden. A GMH employee holds a transparent plastic life-size model to demonstrate how the 'average man’ determines the proportions of …

In a suburban street, a woman driving a Holden pulls up to do her Saturday morning shopping. Other GMH cars, including a Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Pontiac, are shown. The woman enters a …

A paperboy delivers the Saturday newspaper in a suburban street. A man in his pyjamas waves to his wife as she leaves to do the weekly grocery shopping, taking her daughter and the family dog …

After the coup has been foiled, Stacey (Ray Barrett) meets Cathy, the child/woman (Janet Scrivener), at a café. As her godfather, he had given her a golliwog, when she was eight. Now he buys …

Grandad Rudd (Bert Bailey) challenges his neighbour Mr Regan (Les Warton) to a family cricket match, in order to avoid having to pay Regan for some pigs. The Irish Regan accepts, stipulating his own rules …

Detective Sergeant Ray Birch (Bruno Lawrence) calls journalist Tom Stewart (Colin Friels) forward at the site of an armed siege. A three-time rapist called Les (Richard Carter) has a woman tied up in a warehouse …

This clip from a silent, black-and-white cinema advertisement for Anthony Hordern & Sons shows Santa landing on Sydney Harbour by seaplane and being rowed ashore to Lady Macquarie’s Chair where he is welcomed by a …

This clip from a silent black-and-white cinema advertisement for Anthony Hordern & Sons shows Santa visiting the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Santa, accompanied by a young girl dressed as a fairy, arrives by horse-drawn carriage and waves …

Two boys run and dive into the Dawson River alongside Theodore weir as others look on, some sit on the waters edge. A car drives across the top of the weir as pedestrians cross in …

We see thousands of bees swarming on frames. A beekeeper uses a ‘smoker’ to blow smoke onto the bees so he can remove one of the frames and brush them off calmly. He uses a …

Lauren (Jasmine Ellis) is very worried about what Horace (Frank Gallacher) might be up to, and when she finds him stealing the sausages out of the kitchen she knows she was right. Her behaviour is …

With a tablecloth and lots of alcohol, a group of alcoholic friends celebrate Christmas Day. The men are listening to themselves talk on a radio program that was prompted by the making of this documentary …

Rat tails bring a reward of sixpence each (equivalent to about $5 today) and Lord Howe Island locals join the hunt for the pests. Two women take their three fox terriers to smoke out a …

Kenny (Shane Jacobson) drives a tanker full of sewage to the Melbourne sewerage farm at Werribee, as he explains the origins of the word 'shit’. Back at the depot, he demonstrates some of the damage …

After her father’s death, his friend Tom Riley (Reg Lye) tells Jessica Simmonds (Liz Alexander) that he was murdered. In the pub, he explains the similarity to the disappearance of heiress Juanita Nielsen.

Jessica (Liz Alexander) teams up with Communist union leader Elliott (John Hargreaves) to try to stop the demolition of Angel Street. Elliott provokes a reaction from Collins (Allan Bickford), the casino operator who’s behind …

This clip includes footage filmed by Damien Parer of Papuan stretcher bearers carrying wounded Australian troops from the 39th Battalion along the Kokoda trail through dense jungle terrain and across a river. The voice-over commentary …

This clip shows students from Scots College on the final leg of their seven day trek through the Owen Stanley Ranges towards Kokoda in Papua New Guinea. They navigate their way across a makeshift log …

Whale biologist, Vassili Papastavrou, explains the variety of whale species. He highlights whale intelligence and the danger of harvesting even the minke whale.

When they meet The Silver Shadow (Tayler Kane) for the first time, Josh (Alex Hopkins), Alex (Hannah Greenwood), Campbell (Aljin Abella), and Gretel (Sage Butler) find his being a 1950s superhero funny and old-fashioned. He …

When they accept the task to take on the legacy of The Silver Shadow to save the world, Josh (Alex Hopkins), Alex (Hannah Greenwood), Campbell (Aljin Abella), and Gretel (Sage Butler) also agree to live …

At the dating agency, Peter (Norman Kaye) is 'introduced’ by proxy to a prospective partner, a young woman called Patricia. He fears he’s too old but the consultant says she needs a mature man …

Morgan (Dennis Hopper) has been shot while stealing a horse. He is rescued by an outcast Aborigine, Billy (David Gulpilil), who nurses him back to health in the mountains. They decide to seek safety across …

A crazed joyrider (Vincent Gil) and his girlfriend (Lulu Pinkus) lead the highway patrol on an extended chase. Their luck runs out when they come up against Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), the best cop on …

Family friend May Swaisey (Sheila Florance) helps Max’s wife Jessie (Joanne Samuel) and child (Brendan Heath) to escape the Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his gang, but they soon catch up. The scene uses iconic …

This is one of the two television advertisements produced to facilitate the change to metric on Australian roads in July 1974.

Thornton not only pokes fun at the ignorance of conservative white purchasers of Indigenous art, but also exploits the paradigm of 'authentic Aboriginality’. The same ignorance Catherine (Sophie Lee) displays in relation to the culture …

Henderson (Charles 'Bud’ Tingwell) offers Eric Jackson (Terence Donovan) a proposition – give him two thirds of the $20 million he’s planning to steal from Darcys counting house, or lose his toes, one by one …

The family have returned to Maggie’s house for the wake after her brother’s funeral. Uncle Tom (Peter Gwynne) has a heart attack and dies on their sofa in the lounge room just as …

Set to a jaunty song about having fun in Nicaragua, Bradbury uses stills and black and white archival footage to describe Somoza’s rise to power, backed by the US who provided military training and …

A pair of frail, gnarled feet. The Aboriginal daughter (Marcia Langton) on her hands and knees, gently washes her white mother’s arthritic feet. The Aboriginal woman begins to remember another time, when as a …

Keith F Adams, his wife Audrey, his sister Margaret and their dog Tiger prepare for the long journey north to the Northern Territory. The equipment and provisions are laid out on the lawn of the …

Neri (Marzena Godecki) is stunned when a hologram of her long-dead father (Robert Cooper) appears. He explains some of her history and how their mission was to watch over human colonisation of the sea. He …

A cut-out picture of the Overland Whippet is accompanied by a caption describing it as ‘America’s first high-speed European-type light car’. The Whippet car lines up with a whippet dog to demonstrate its speed …

Dr HC Coombs, the great Australian public servant and advisor to six Australian prime ministers, talks about whether it’s possible to be an entirely neutral public servant.

Taking a narrative form, this advertisement from 1931 begins with Helen hanging out the clothes. Her daughter, Joan, brings her the mail and she opens an invitation to a bridge night which happens to be …

Wool is graded by experienced sorters and then passes through scouring machines that wash and clean the wool. It is then steam heated and teased and passes through several rollers and a carding apparatus that …

Just after the First World War, Charles Kingsford Smith (Ron Randell) secures the backing of the Blackburn Aviation Co for his entry to the inaugural England to Australia Air Race, but he is dismayed when …

Kingsford Smith and co-pilot Charles Ulm (John Tate) are nearing the Australian coastline, after a history-making flight across the Pacific from San Francisco. A violent storm has engulfed their plane, the converted Fokker now known …

After the transfer of prisoners in the middle of the night, Mr Norton (Max Phipps) comes to apologise to Jackson (Bryan Brown) for the breaking of the deal. Norton talks about the fear he felt …

This clip shows a sherry party held by Melbourne socialite Jenny Faulkner, husband of Lou Connolly, at her home in South Yarra. The guests include a young shipping magnate, a German wool buyer, the wife …

Fadi introduces the workshop session of the youth conference. The attendees and facilitators break into discussion groups and talk about a range of issues.

The Creswick Forestry School ensures that scientific, theoretical and practical knowledge and experience inform forest policy, ensuring that reforestation, allocation of state forests, and protection against bushfires combat the ‘organised destruction’ of the industry.

Kate visits a volunteer organisation to get help to locate her birth parents. Barry (Nick Enright) explains why there is so much secrecy around the details of adoption.

This clip shows an orange-peel scoop; ‘flying fox’ machinery; Lake Victoria; a channel bridge and inlet regulator; and the construction of channels and levees.

Balmain resident of 48 years Mrs Moran addresses a local crowd gathered in the streets of Balmain about the dangers of shipping containers being trucked through the main streets of their suburb. As she is …