Australian city life from more than a century ago is preserved in two significant silent film collections.

The travelling Corrick Family Entertainers shot footage in cities and towns where they performed, including Perth. Films acquired and made by the Corricks have recently been restored by the NFSA and are now screening at the 30th Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy and the upcoming Breath of Fresh Air Film Festival in Launceston, Tasmania.

Queensland Museum holds the Lumière Collection, the world’s first government-sponsored film project. The collection is named for the Lumière Cinematographe camera used by Frederick Charles Wills and his assistant Henry William Mobsby to film agricultural processes, transport scenes and national events. The project was funded by the Queensland Department of Agriculture in 1898 to attract British farmers to settle in Australia.

See the overview of the Corrick Collection on australianscreen and read the curators’ story of the NFSA’s discovery and five year restoration of the Corrick Collection.

Read more about the Lumière collection at the Queensland Museum.

See more historical and silent films on ASO.