All titles in the ‘Historical’ genre
180 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 next
1970s (continued)
The Picture Show Man feature film – 1977
The comic performances from John Meillon and John Ewart as the last of the itinerant vaudevillians are superb.
Black Beauty television program – 1978
Poignantly told from the horse’s point of view, this 1978 animated film from the classic novel tells of the heartbreaking consequences of unrestricted exploitation of animals.
Maidens documentary – 1978
Almost four years in the making, Maidens sparked impassioned debate and became compulsory viewing in women and film courses around the country.
Newsfront feature film – 1978
Some believe that Newsfront, set in the late 1940s and incorporating extensive newsreel footage, is Australia’s best film.
Breaker Morant feature film – 1979
Much of the film is about youth versus experience, honesty versus cynicism and political expediency – an interesting ethical domain given that it’s a film about war crimes.
My Brilliant Career feature film – 1979
This feminist warrior and role model came to life on film in the same year as the road warrior in the masculine fantasy Mad Max.
The Odd Angry Shot feature film – 1979
Australia’s role in Vietnam was still a raw issue when this film emerged and some criticised it for not condemning that involvement.
Ride On Stranger television program – 1979
Bookworm Shannon Jones heads for the Harbour City to learn about life, love and politics in the 1930s.
1980s
All the Green Year – Episode 2 television program – 1980
This mini-series about growing up in the years between the world wars recalls a type of small-town society which is now fading into the past.
Australia in World War 1 documentary – c1980
Hubert Wilkins, official Australian war photographer, would have shot most of this footage, some of which is recreated.
Lucinda Brayford television program – 1980
Wendy Hughes, Sam Neill, Carol Burns and Barry Quin feature in the saga of an Australian heiress who marries into British aristocracy.
Manganinnie feature film – 1980
Tasmania, 1830. Joanna, a little white girl, is adopted by Manganinnie, an Aborigine who has survived a slaughter.
Rusty Bugles television program – 1980
Based on a banned 1948 stage play, this telemovie follows a group of soldiers posted to a remote base in the Northern Territory during the Second World War.
A Town Like Alice television program – 1980
This mini-series, based on the novel by Nevil Shute, tells an epic love story that begins in Malaya during the Japanese occupation of 1941–45.
Backs to the Blast, an Australian Nuclear Story documentary – 1981
Made 25 years after nuclear tests were conducted in SA in the 1950s, this documentary stirred up a political hornet’s nest.
1915 television program – 1982
The television series 1915 cleverly uses First World War historical footage and successfully moves between the action at the front and events at home in Australia.
The Blainey View – Footprints television program – 1982
Geoffrey Blainey, one of Australia’s foremost and most controversial historians, later coined the term 'black armband view of history’.
The Bradman Era documentary – 1982
The documentary intercuts archival footage with former test cricketer Bill O’Reilly’s recollections of Don Bradman and notable 1930s test matches.
A Shifting Dreaming documentary – 1982
Ray Barrett stars in this story of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations spanning from the 1928 Coniston massacre to Land Rights hearings in 1982.
Women of the Sun television program – 1982
The colonisation of Aboriginal peoples, and their lands and resources, as seen through the eyes of four generations of Aboriginal women.
All the Rivers Run television program – 1983
This program won a swag of awards and has arguably been watched by more people, more often, than any other Australian mini-series of the prolific ’80s.
The Dismissal television program – 1983
On 11 November 1975, the Labor Prime Minister was dismissed. Great Australian drama based on actual events, produced less than a decade after they took place.
For Love or Money documentary – 1983
Using almost totally historical material, For Love or Money encompasses the role of Australian women in both paid and unpaid work, over a 200 year period.
Frame Up. Who Bombed the Hilton, Who Didn’t? documentary – 1983
Produced in 1982, an example of the power of the media in the controversial trial of three Ananda Marga members – the men were acquitted two years later.
Lousy Little Sixpence documentary – 1983
Lousy Little Sixpence highlights the injustice of withheld wages, and the fight for rightful payment to be made to Indigenous peoples.
Peach’s Gold – Eureka television program – 1983
This series exploits a range of first-hand sources for its vibrant retelling of the history, while Bill Peach appears from time to time to explain and analyse.
Peach’s Gold – Finders Keepers television program – 1983
This series is a lively way to learn about history, skilfully blending actors, re-creations, paintings, songs and newspaper headlines to bring the era alive.
Peach’s Gold – Land of Gold television program – 1983
This Bill Peach documentary is full of events, larger-than-life characters and all the madness and colour of this most extraordinary chapter in Australia’s history.
The Rocks: Sydney, Australia documentary – 1983
The Rocks was considered a slum until it was restored in the 1970s. This sponsored documentary traces its redevelopment as a tourist precinct.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Belsen For Example documentary – 1985
The recollections of concentration camp survivors, now living in Australia, and rescuers, are extraordinary.
Burke & Wills feature film – 1985
The epic and tragic story of the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, in 1860–61.
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.
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.
Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age documentary – 1985
O’Rourke presents the case that the US government used the Marshall Islands as a testing ground for atomic weapons to document the long-term effects of radiation.
Palace of Dreams television program – 1985
In this acclaimed drama series, an aspiring writer arrives in Sydney from the country during the turbulent and desperate times of the Great Depression.
Playing Beatie Bow feature film – 1985
Playing Beatie Bow has the sumptuous look and feel of a period film, thanks to its award-winning cinematography and production design.
Red Matildas documentary – 1985
Told through the lives of three women, Red Matildas explores the social and political conditions in Australia during the Great Depression.
Robbery Under Arms television program – 1985
Before this 1985 version there had been five attempts to tell this story, the best known being the Australian–British feature film of 1957 starring Peter Finch as Captain Starlight.
Winners – The Paper Boy television program – 1985
The Paper Boy is a beautifully shot period film that captures the era and gives a realistic insight into the lives of struggling people in the Depression.
