Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows a Darwin street and the people who used it in the 1920s. It opens with a panned view of the street, followed by a scene of people, almost all men, walking on the footpaths under wide, covered verandas. The following scene shows men sitting on benches or standing outside shops, watching passers-by. In the fourth scene a group of Chinese children walk up to a woman and they all go into a shop. An older Chinese man with a pipe also enters the shop. The last shot is a close-up of a small, seated Chinese boy.

Educational value points

• As shown here, Darwin, Northern Territory, was a relatively small town around 1926. Originally named Palmerston, it was established in 1869 and administered by South Australia until it was transferred to the Commonwealth in 1911 and renamed. The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in the 1880s boosted the town’s development, but after the gold rush Darwin’s growth slowed, due to the harsh tropical climate, isolation and poor communications with other Australian cities.

• The clip illustrates something of the population mix and the gender imbalance in Darwin at the time. The town’s 'official’ population was only around 1,400, and included Europeans, Japanese and about 400 Chinese. Local Indigenous Australians were not counted in the census and did not appear on the streets, being forced to live in compounds. While a large number of men are shown in the clip there is only one woman, indicative of a substantial gender imbalance.

• Darwin had a significant Chinese community in the 1920s, ranging from wealthy merchants and storekeepers to poor labourers. Chinese people were originally contracted to work the goldfields and later to build the railway line from Palmerston to Pine Creek. Large numbers left during the 1890s economic depression and the White Australia campaign of the early 1900s, but many of those who stayed had become economically powerful by the 1920s, especially in Darwin.

• Numbers of men are depicted passing the time under shop verandas, implying that not all men in Darwin at the time were employed. Those not employed permanently by government or engaged in business and commerce may have followed seasonal work or sought temporary jobs. Darwin is known to have had a substantial floating population in the 1920s.

• The street shown is probably Cavenagh Street, the business and retail centre of Darwin. Chinatown in Cavenagh Street was a busy and important focus of the street and of life in the town. In Chinatown there was a bootmaker, a tailor, a baker, a hairdresser, and a seed and plant shop, as well as several washerwomen, gardeners and restaurants.

• The opening pan reveals much about transport in Darwin at the time. The street is very wide, built to accommodate the turning circles of bullock, camel and donkey trains. No horses or horse-drawn vehicles are shown, although one may be glimpsed in the distance, but the presence of droppings in the street probably indicates that horses were a major form of transport in the 1920s. There are no motor vehicles or bicycles parked in the street.

• The clip provides examples of what was worn in Darwin’s Chinatown in the 1920s. Clothing was generally more adapted to the tropical environment than clothing seen elsewhere in the film footage, with dresses, trousers and jackets worn loose. Most men have their sleeves rolled up and have dispensed with ties. The adult Chinese male population appears less inclined to follow the prevailing custom of wearing hats when outside than the rest of the people shown.

• This clip is an example of actuality footage, which is unscripted film taken as events occurred and usually intended to be used in a documentary or newsreel. Although the footage has been edited, it is not known if it was ever used.