A Trip Along the River Murray (1925)
Synopsis
Surveying the settlements, townships and arable lands along the path of the Murray River, this silent documentary emphasises the river’s significance in Australia’s agricultural and natural history.
Curator’s notes
Made at a time when reservoirs, pumping plants, weirs, and channels were still being constructed to harness the Murray River’s water supply for irrigation and agriculture, this documentary is both a record of construction and also evidence of how irrigation has transformed the lands surrounding the Murray. Harnessing the Murray’s water flow allowed thousands of acres of formerly useless land to be reclaimed for cultivation. Detailed title cards at the beginning of A Trip Along the Murray provide a contextual background to the images that follow, noting that 2 reservoirs and 35 weirs and locks were being constructed along the Murray at the time of filming.
There is no information as to the film’s provenance in its opening intertitles, or from its original acquisition record. As is the case with many early silent era documentaries, these details remain unknown.
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