Novel Method of Advertising Peace Bonds: The Lion and the Kangaroo (c1917)
A silent Australasian Gazette newsreel item featuring part of a parade in Melbourne. It shows signs advertising peace bonds erected on the cages of a lion and kangaroo belonging to the Colleano and Sole Brothers Circus. [read more]
Bra Boys (2007)
This is an insider account of surf culture, localism, belonging and loyalty in the Sydney beach suburb of Maroubra, presented by the 'Bra Boys’, in particular the Abberton brothers – Koby, Sunny and Jai. The documentary is filmed during the ... [read more]
A Place to Live (1950)
This dramatised documentary, made by the Realist Film Unit for the Brotherhood of St Laurence, contrasts the living conditions of the urban poor with the ‘owners of industry’ in 1950s Melbourne. It implies that while Melbourne is Australia’s financial centre, ... [read more]
Tennant Creek – Sacred Dances (1999)
We are introduced to Tennant Creek through the eyes of the Moonga Moonga dancers (lady dancers), and the women’s dances belonging to this area. [read more]
Loved Up – Our Bush Wedding (2005)
An observational documentary about the wedding between artist Gordon Syron and photographer Elaine Pelot-Kitchener. Syron went to jail in 1972 for killing a man who, in his view, was attempting to take the land belonging to his family. [read more]
Crocodile Dreaming (2006)
The removal of a sacred stone turns one small community in Arnhem Land upside down. Burrimmilla (David Gulpilil) returns to his homeland and, along with his estranged brother Charlie (Tom E Lewis), embarks on an epic quest to find the ... [read more]
BeDevil (1993)
BeDevil, a trilogy of ghost stories, uses myth interwoven with living memory to evoke a sense of place. Told in three parts – 'Mr Chuck’, 'Choo Choo Choo Choo’, and 'Lovin’ The Spin I’m In’ – BeDevil exposes the blurred ... [read more]
Lousy Little Sixpence (1983)
A documentary using historical footage and interviews with Indigenous people who belonged to the generation that were forced into unpaid servitude by the Australian government. The title refers to the amount of pocket money the indentured workers were supposed to ... [read more]
The Last Wave (1977)
David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is a successful Sydney tax lawyer who takes on the defence of five Aboriginal men charged with killing another Aboriginal man. As the city is deluged with rain, Burton recognises that he has seen one of ... [read more]
The Genie From Down Under – It’s my Opal … (and I’ll cry if I want to) (1995)
Posh English schoolgirl The Hon Penelope Townes (Alexandra Milman), possessor of the magical opal, is magically whisked away by her Australian genies, Bruce (Rhys Muldoon) and his young son Baz (Glenn Meldrum) – from her grand home in Witshire England ... [read more]
First Australians – Episode 7, We Are No Longer Shadows (2008)
The seventh and final episode of First Australians covers the period 1967–93, focusing on the Torres Strait Islands and Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo’s fight for land rights. This period was, globally, a time of increased civil rights advocacy and political activism, ... [read more]
Two Hands (1999)
Jimmy (Heath Ledger), a small-time wannabe criminal, loses $10,000 on Bondi Beach. The money belongs to Pando (Bryan Brown), the toughest criminal in Kings Cross, who sends his killer deputy Acko (David Field) to find him. Jimmy’s sister-in-law Deirdre (Susie ... [read more]
The Bronze Mirror (2007)
On his way home from the village market, a man finds a bronze mirror which has fallen from a passing noblewoman’s carriage. The man mistakes his own reflection for that of a lucky spirit who will help make him rich. ... [read more]
The Birth of White Australia (1928)
After introductory scenes at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, the history of Australia is shown as a series of flashbacks – from Captain Cook’s landing at Botany Bay to the first settlement at Sydney Cove, deadly ... [read more]
Water Rats – Goes With the Territory (1999)
The Sydney water police team are called in to investigate when a fishing boat explodes, fatally injuring a seventeen-year-old boy. What initially looks like an accident may be something more sinister: the boat belongs to Brian Geary (Steven Vidler), an ... [read more]
Death Defying Acts (2007)
In Edinburgh, Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) entertain audiences with a psychic act that depends on trickery. They spy on members of their audience and steal from them so they can dramatically reveal insider knowledge ... [read more]
The Set (1969)
A young working-class man who sells shirts at a Sydney department store, Paul Lawrence (Sean McEuan), dreams of going to art school. When his girlfriend Cara (Julie Rogers) leaves for London, Paul becomes the protégé of renowned designer Marie Rosefield ... [read more]
5 Seasons (2004)
A documentary narrated by Tom E Lewis about a region that western society says has two seasons, the wet and the dry. The Numurindi people of south-east Arnhemland in the Northern Territory’s Gulf of Carpentaria recognise their country has five ... [read more]
Radiance (1998)
Three sisters reunite for the funeral of their mother after having not seen each other for an extended period of time. [read more]
The Fringe Dwellers (1986)
A young Aboriginal girl dreams of life beyond the blacks’ camp that sits on the fringe of white society. [read more]
