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Clip description
On a stage set, a man dressed as a pirate standing on the deck of the Jolly Roger sings about a beautiful haven while his shipmates listen. As the song continues, a montage of images of Sydney Harbour and Port Jackson are shown. A couple of the men, dressed in pirate costume, overlook the harbour as a narrator talks about the beauty of Sydney’s harbour and port areas.
Curator’s notes
This curious sequence begins as a staged musical variety performance and then morphs into the sort of travelogue montage for which Hurley was well known. The pirates in the travelogue section seem a little incongruous with the landscape and scenic style, but this clip plays to the novelty factor common in many variety compilations of the time (see the strange stand-up routine of Athol Tier as Napoleon, 1931, in one of Frank Thring’s Efftee Entertainers titles).
The segment continues for another five minutes after this clip ends. The action moves back to the Jolly Roger, this time approaching an island of women in grass skirts. The finale is a dance number performed by the women and the pirates.
