Titles from the 1980s
304 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next
1983 (continued)
Strikebound feature film – 1983
A docudrama based on the memories of Wattie and Agnes Doig, a miner and his wife involved in the Gippsland coal workers’ strike of 1937.
A Voice for the Wilderness documentary – 1983
Jobs versus rainforest preservation – this 1983 documentary was part of a successful popular campaign to save the rainforest inland from Port Macquarie.
Yanks Down Under documentary – 1983
This documentary profiles Americans in the entertainment business, including a 16-year-old Marcia Hines brought to Australia by the musical Hair.
1984
Bodyline television program – 1984
This mini-series recreates the 1932-33 cricket test series that threatened ties between Australia and England and changed cricket forever.
Breakout documentary – 1984
Japanese POWs were not trying to escape from their Cowra prison in 1944 so much as escape from the dishonour of capture.
Cockatoo Island: HMAS Success Launching historical – 1984
The HMAS Success was ultimately the last ship to be built on Cockatoo Island before the dockyard closed in 1992.
Couldn’t Be Fairer documentary – 1984
This film, to some degree, is a tribute to Mick Miller, who was committed to fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples.
The Cowra Breakout television program – 1984
In the early hours of 5 August 1944, 1,100 Japanese prisoners launched a mass breakout from a POW camp near Cowra.
The Flying Vet documentary – 1984
The bonus for the viewer is that the vet, and his wife, provide a real sense of what it’s like to live in remote Australia.
George Dreyfus: A Portrait documentary – 1984
Composer George Dreyfus marks this portrait with his own whimsical style, showing how lively biography can be when the subject is prepared to satirise himself.
The Gillies Report – Series 1, Episode 4 television program – 1984
Max Gillies’ ability to capture the mannerisms of our politicians and Patrick Cook’s searingly funny scripts are this program’s great strengths.
Grave of the President documentary – 1984
In 1942, ocean liner President Coolidge accidentally struck two allied mines and sank. One of the world’s biggest shipwrecks is now a popular dive destination.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas documentary – 1984
The film follows the lives of a group of men who have bonded through their addiction to alcohol.
Kemira: Diary of a Strike documentary – 1984
Tom Zubrycki made the documentary on the run, following events as they happened and creating a 'diary’ of each passing day as the story unfolded.
Mail Order Bride television program – 1984
A hard-hitting drama about racism, sexism and xenophobia in a small country town.
Mother and Son – The Funeral television program – 1984
This sitcom shows the fraught relationship between 40-year-old Arthur and his mother Maggie, who is at turns forgetful, quick-witted and manipulative.
Mother and Son – The Money television program – 1984
The problems of ageing would seem like an unlikely subject for television comedy but Mother and Son became an instant success when it was first shown in 1984, continuing for nine years to become one of Australia’s best-loved television shows.
My First Wife feature film – 1984
Director Paul Cox made this film about a disintegrating marriage after going through a painful break-up himself.
Neptune’s Nippers documentary – 1984
At the age of 12, Jason Duplator won a scholarship from the Wildlife Research Institute to participate in a marine training program.
Nicaragua: No Pasaran documentary – 1984
David Bradbury spent six months in Nicaragua telling the story of the revolutionary Sandinistas coming to power after 43 years of organised resistance.
Out of Darkness documentary – 1984
One of the most valuable messages of Out of Darkness is that the Australian landscape is in fact an Indigenous artefact.
Peach’s Explorers – East to West television program – 1984
Bill Peach loves Australian history and tells us explorers’ stories by using their words, cleverly recreated from diaries and notebooks, and journeying through the same arid interior.
Peach’s Explorers – South to North television program – 1984
There’s a strong sense that each of these men is very much of his time, imbued with a duty to expand knowledge and a ruthless craving for fame and fortune.
Peach’s Explorers – The Prison Walls television program – 1984
The story is entertainingly told with a clever use of dramatic re-creations. The various techniques work to bring history alive.
Peach’s Explorers – The Secret of the Rivers: Captain Charles Sturt television program – 1984
This Bill Peach series uses recreations, diary entries and letters, among other devices, to tell the story of Australia’s colonial exploration in visually interesting ways.
Pianoforte short film – 1984
A young woman who yearns to become a concert pianist is rescued from a sleazy cabaret by a mysterious cat burglar with whom she falls in love.
Play School – Bags Wednesday television program – 1984
An episode of the iconic pre-school program Play School from 1984, featuring presenters Noni Hazlehurst and John Hamblin.
Raoul Wallenberg: Between the Lines documentary – 1984
Profile of Raoul Wallenberg, an extraordinary humanitarian who disappeared after performing heroic deeds during the Second World War.
The Ship That Shouldn’t Have documentary – 1984
A scientific expedition aboard the steam-powered Cheynes 2 was beset by disasters. The members of the expedition were lucky to survive.
Shooey’s Little World documentary – 1984
Keith and Gladys Shoesmith live in the country with their six children. An interesting insight into the family life of a genuine battler.
Waterfront – Episode 1 television program – 1984
Wharfies involved in a worker’s dispute and Italian refugees desperate to work during the Depression clash with tragic consequences.
Waterfront – Episode 2 television program – 1984
The series tells of the determination to stand up for what is right in a world that is rapidly slipping into a showdown between the extremes of fascism and communism.
Wings to Victory documentary – 1984
Celebrating the win by 12-metre yacht Australia II, this was the first time that America had lost the America’s Cup in 132 years.
1985
Arthur Boyd: Figures in the Landscape documentary – 1985
Arthur Boyd shows how he uses his fingers and the palm of his hand to paint, allowing him to 'feel his way through the painting’.
Australia Post – News Release E-Post Electronic Mail sponsored film – 1985
This 1985 video press release explains E-Post, a new service offered by Australia Post to replace the old telegram service and superseded teleprinter technology.
Australia Post – The Last of the TPOs sponsored film – 1985
This program marks the closure of the Travelling Post Office, a mail service that had worked in conjunction with Australia’s various railway networks since 1865.
Belsen For Example documentary – 1985
The recollections of concentration camp survivors, now living in Australia, and rescuers, are extraordinary.
Bliss feature film – 1985
To say Bliss was ahead of its time is an understatement: the bold metaphors and sharp satire weren’t appreciated by everyone in 1985.
Burke & Wills feature film – 1985
The epic and tragic story of the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, in 1860–61.
Butterfly Island – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
A young Vietnamese refugee on the run complicates the Wilson family’s attempts to save idyllic Butterfly Island from a crooked resort developer.
Clowns and their Make-Up documentary – 1985
As the title indicates, this is about how to apply clown make-up and not about much else.
The Coca-Cola Kid feature film – 1985
The Coca–Cola company sends its top trouble shooter to boost sales in Australia. He plans to win customers away from a much loved, old-style soft-drink maker.
Crocodile Dundee feature film – 1985
This is not just the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, but also one of the most successful non-Hollywood films.
Desert Walker: Gulf to Gulf documentary – 1985
The Flying Doctor base helped Denis Bartell when he became the first white man to walk across Australia from north to south.
D-Generation – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
While the D-Generation credits read like a who’s who of two decades’ worth of Australian comedy, at the time these comedians were unknowns.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 2 television program – 1985
German Jews who had fled to Britain to escape Nazi persecution were then interned as 'enemy aliens’ in Australia and became known as the 'Dunera boys’.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 3 television program – 1985
Just who or what is a Jew is an important theme of this series. Private Dunstan’s response shows how sheltered Australia was from the maelstrom of Europe.
For a Price documentary – 1985
This catalogue of what kinds of sex there was for sale in the mid-1980s, also makes a link between drugs and prostitution.
A Fortunate Life television program – 1985
While most viewers will be aware of a strong note of irony underlying the story, there is no doubt that in the final analysis it is one of hope, endurance and faith in humanity.
