Picking at the soul of the game (2007)
As training concludes with the customary bathtub full of tinnies, coach Jack Cooper (Matthew Johns) takes Grub (Matt Nable) aside to discuss the judiciary hearing. Jack warns him his style of game is dead. Grub declares his style of play ... [read more]
A rogue crocodile (2007)
Allen (Geoff Morrell) is crawling from the river, apologising for his role in an escape attempt that ended in debacle, when the crocodile sneaks up behind him at lightning speed. [read more]
‘A nation without a mind’ (1969)
Will Gardener (Mark McManus) has just picked up returning expatriate Noel Oakshot (David Turnbull) from the airport. They visit an old house where Oakshot lived, that’s now being demolished. Oakshot holds forth on the ‘awful mediocrity’ of Australia, with its ... [read more]
It’s only natural (1998)
Professor Roger Short, biologist, says that the bonds of love that help keep the family unit together serve to protect the offspring. [read more]
No more pretty shoes (2004)
Shah reveals the irony of having planted landmines as an Afghan soldier then subsequently being the victim of a mine. His wife, Habiba, has lost a leg to a mine and regrets that she can no longer wear pretty shoes. ... [read more]
You can’t serve chicken without stuffing. (c1942)
This is a complete colour Tandaco Prepared Stuffing cinema advertisement from approximately 1942. It begins like a feature film with a title and melodramatic music and cuts to a woman crying as she peels onions for her roast chicken stuffing. ... [read more]
Les Presages (c1936)
In the final scenes from Léonide Massine’s symphonic ballet Les Presages, dancers from the Ballets Russes du Monte Carlo move frenetically across the stage, performing a series of strange gestures and jutting arm movements as they go. The final curtain ... [read more]
‘Hitta da ball – smasha da win’ (1927)
Fatty and his friends are being chased by an irate Italian man after Fatty hit a cricket ball through his window. Constable Claffey (Leonard Durell), who bowled the ball, pretends to be uninvolved, after hiding with ‘Seasy’ (Billy Ireland), the ... [read more]
‘Our country, our rules, okay?’ (2007)
Frances (Robyn Butler) and staff members Dawn (Heidi Arena), Nada (Nicole Nabout), Neil (Bob Franklin), Ky (Keith Brockett), Lachie (Josh Lawson) and Matthew (Stephen Ballantyne), search for a suitable theme for Book Week but are interrupted by an early customer ... [read more]
Life stages of the lobster (1998)
Shows the early life stages of a lobster: thousands of eggs hatch into larvae, which struggle to survive ocean currents for over a year before returning as juvenile lobsters. [read more]
Aircraft workshop (c1926)
Men work on various parts of planes inside an open hanger at an airfield. Men file and chip away at pieces of timber. Another man inspects a plane propeller which is then shown being attached to the front of a ... [read more]
An act of war (1985)
A docudrama-style recreation shows how French secret service agents might have planted the explosives that blew up the Rainbow Warrior and killed a Portuguese cameraman sleeping on board the ship. [read more]
Connecting the dots (1985)
A boys’ own moment of truth. A retired French secret service agent is willing to blow the whistle on the French Government and explain its connection to the Rainbow Warrior affair because there’s outrage in the French secret service that ... [read more]
Yvonne Kenny’s aria (2000)
Melissa Gainsford-Taylor, guest newsreader for day 15, describes to Roy (John Doyle) and HG (Greig Pickhaver) the atmosphere in the stadium from an athlete’s perspective. World-renowned Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny sings a hymn of praise to the athletes made popular ... [read more]
Petrouchka (c1936)
Three puppet figures – the Moor (Thadee Slavinsky), the Ballerina Doll (Helene Kirsova) and Petrouchka (Leon Woizikovsky) – suddenly come to life and dance onto the stage. They perform a Russian-style dance amongst the crowd at the fairground. [read more]
Dancing flowers (c1955)
A group of flowering plants – violet, white, orange, and purple – slowly blossom against a background of greenery. This is captured using time lapse photography methods. [read more]
Changeover at Mawson, 1960 (1961)
Work begins as soon as the ship Thala Dan arrives at Mawson Station, early in 1960. A total of 33 men are to spend a year in Antarctica at Australia’s first two bases, Davis and Mawson. At Mawson, they begin ... [read more]
‘Sam Griffiths’ (1953)
As part of an oral history recorded by John Meredith, Jack Luscombe sings ‘Sam Griffiths’, a satirical political song about a Queensland politician of the late 19th century. [read more]
Official parade (1932)
The Farey family travelled from Victoria to Sydney for the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. This home movie clip opens with a shot of the Farey family on a roadside stop on the Princes Highway at the ... [read more]
An ancient trade (2004)
Another well designed item in this always interesting series. Reporter Joanna Savill talks to the crew who dive for the elusive trepang, interspersed with a little history, while later in the program, we visit a Chinese Australian chef, to discover ... [read more]
