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Clip description
At a picnic Skinny Smith (Dinks Paterson) attacks Spud Murphy (John Cosgrove) when he sees Spud kissing Sally (Yvonne Pavis), who has recently rejected Skinny’s hand in marriage. Separated by bystanders, Skinny and Spud agree to settle their differences with a boxing match at the Sydney Stadium.
Curator’s notes
Skinny’s and Spud’s confrontation over Sally was filmed at the Fairyland Pleasure Grounds on the edge of Lane Cove River at North Ryde in suburban Sydney. Fairyland was one of a number of ‘pleasure gardens’ developed as social and recreational venues on settled Sydney’s fringes between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A former market garden site, it opened as a picnic ground circa 1920 and continued to operate until the 1970s. This segment provides a vivid documentary record of picnickers’ relaxation routines at Fairyland, along with implied criticism of the type of father who rounds on his wife for not keeping a child quiet while he’s trying to pick a horserace winner.
