Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white clip with narration and music score shows a 1956 television advertisement for the Holden FE sedan. A family loads their holiday luggage into the boot of an FE Holden outside their home while a male narrator describes the car’s comfort and storage capacity. A studio scene shows the family seated in a model of the car’s interior to highlight the seating comfort and leg room. The clip concludes with the car driving through countryside and bush landscapes. An onscreen graphic ‘HOLDEN Australia’s Own Car’ is used.

Educational value points

• Holden’s early marketing targeted the growing suburban families of the post-Second World War baby boom. In the 1950s Holden had a strong customer base made up of suburban family units of two adults and two or more children. At the time, family motoring holidays were becoming increasingly affordable and popular, and Holden emphasised the versatility, comfort, reliability, roominess and economy of its cars.

• The advertisement presents particular features of the Holden FE – its increased boot capacity, room for six passengers, and an increased window area from the earlier FJ model – as attesting to the car’s suitability for long-distance journeys and family motoring holidays. A car that could accommodate the family holiday was appealing at a time of growing family sizes, increasing prosperity and expanding motor ownership.

• The clip features a scene of a Holden carriage suspended in the air against a studio backdrop of clouds, an unusual technique that highlights the car’s interior and emphasises its seating comfort for six passengers. The intended effect of this fantasy-like approach may have been for a family to associate an enjoyable magic carpet-like ride with long-distance travel in the Holden FE.

• Post-War developments in transport infrastructure, more leisure time and the affordability of new cars gave Australian families the mobility, time and ability to take motoring holidays as encouraged in this clip. Owning a family car also came to symbolise the growing affluence of many post-War families. Holden promoted its cars as reliable, and as such ideal for everything from local shopping to interstate family holidays.

• In the mid-1950s consumer purchasing ability, strong sales and increased production capacity positioned the Holden as the most popular choice of vehicle among Australians. Holden’s average annual production increased from 42,492 FJ models in the four years to mid-1956 to 62,064 FE models released over the following two and a half years.

• The clip reflects the increased size of families in post-War Australia – the family unit in the advertisement consists of a mother and father with four young children. The average number of children in the Australian family unit had expanded from 2.36 children in 1945 to 2.71 a decade later – a result of the post-War baby boom and migration (families with children were prioritised). This rapid population expansion in towns and cities led to the beginnings of what we now call suburban sprawl.