The Sydney Morning Herald (1911)
Synopsis
This Pathé documentary short produced for the Commonwealth Government in April 1911 shows the newspaper printing process of the Sydney Morning Herald. The film begins with the unloading of paper from a steamer at dock and progresses through the printing process to final distribution.
Curator’s notes
By 1910, cinema in Australia was becoming largely accepted as a mass medium for not only entertainment but also information. Newsreels were introduced and screened on a weekly basis and there was a strong swing toward the production of industrial documentaries. This Pathé produced documentary is an example of this. It is also one of only two known surviving Pathé documentaries made under contract to the Commonwealth Government, prior to the Government appointing their own staff cinematographer JP Campbell later that year. Pathé had the exclusive contract for Commonwealth filmmaking from 1908 to mid-1911.
Industrial documentaries showed the progress that Australia had made since European settlement and were screened both in Australia and overseas.
Intertitles are used to tell us what we’re about to see and give a methodological sequence to the documentary, a tool particularly useful when demonstrating a process such as the printing and distribution of a newspaper.
Established in 1831, the Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s longest running newspaper.
Reports suggest The Sydney Morning Herald was one of the first Australian documentaries to be shot at night with artificial light using electric arcs. The documentary was produced on 35-mm cellulose nitrate film that has deteriorated over time. You can see scratches, frameline shifts and perforation damage.
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