Film & Television with Indigenous content
192 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 next
Film and television titles written and/or directed by a non-Indigenous person.
1890s
Torres Strait Islanders historical – 1898
A national treasure: the oldest film made of Torres Strait Islanders and of Aboriginal people. This film deserves national and international cultural icon status.
Darnley Islanders Pay Tribute historical – 1899
Early footage documenting a visit to the Torres Strait by the Queensland Home Secretary, the Hon. Justin FG Foxton, and his wife.
1910s
Chez les Sauvages Australiens historical – 1917
An engaging and respectful insight into Aboriginal people’s culture and their interaction with the filmmaking process, made in 1917.
The Enemy Within feature film – 1918
Snowy Baker stars as a secret agent who smashes a ring of German spies in Sydney during the First World War.
The Man from Kangaroo feature film – 1919
John Harland, a bush parson, is dismissed from his job for teaching children how to box. Harland moves to another town, where he combats ruffians and rescues his girlfriend from a forced marriage.
1920s
Pearls and Savages documentary – 1921
This 1979 reconstruction of Frank Hurley’s 1921 adventure film Pearls and Savages showcases the peoples and cultures of the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea.
Sunshine Sally feature film – 1922
The working-class Sally falls in love with the adopted son of wealthy parents from whom she was kidnapped as a child.
Thursday Island and Merauke, Dutch New Guinea historical – c1925
The cast and crew of Frank Hurley’s feature-length dramas, The Hound of the Deep (1926) and The Jungle Woman (1926), explore the culture and environment of their island locations.
Australasian Gazette – 10,000 Miles around Australia newsreel – c1926
In this Australasian Gazette newsreel from approximately 1926, Mr and Mrs F Dean arrive in Melbourne after their Shell-sponsored trip around Australia by touring car.
An AIM Patrol documentary – 1927
This film documented outback life in the 1920s and may have been made to accompany a written report.
The Birth of White Australia feature film – 1928
This early feature depicts racial tension in NSW in 1861. Despite its offensive representation of Aboriginality, the film has cultural and historic value.
1930s
Farey: Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge home movie – 1932
Lesley Francis Farey captured what it would have been like to be in the crowd at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The Squatter’s Daughter feature film – 1933
Flammable nitrate film fed the fires in the spectacular bushfire finale to Ken G Hall’s The Squatter’s Daughter. The fires rapidly got out of control during filming but no one was hurt.
Heritage feature film – 1935
Heritage is a thunderous piece of endorsement for the pioneer mythology of Australia, made by the prolific Charles Chauvel.
Uncivilised feature film – 1936
Uncivilised is basically an Australian Tarzan, but with an English singer, Dennis Hoey, playing the king of the jungle.
1940s
The Golden West documentary – 1940
This film was made by William George Alma, a member of the Victorian Amateur Cine Society who was predominantly a magician and collector of material about magic.
Through the Centre sponsored film – 1940
The Indian camel trader and the Japanese pearl diver become part of the film’s projection of the exotic within the expansive space of the Australian outback.
The Overlanders feature film – 1946
As the Japanese threaten northern Australia in 1942, a drover takes a mob of prime beef cattle across 2,600 kms of hazardous country to Queensland.
Beyond the Furthest Fences sponsored film – 1947
This is an abridged version of the feature-length documentary The Inlanders. Both follow the Australian Inland Mission through central Australia in 1947.
Bush Christmas feature film – 1947
In a rare villainous role, Chips Rafferty plays a horse thief, Long Bill. He is tracked by five kids spending Christmas in the Blue Mountains.
Aborigines of the Sea Coast documentary – 1948
A valuable ethnographic record of a 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land.
Eureka Stockade feature film – 1949
In 1854, miners in the Ballarat goldfields take up arms against government troops in a defining moment of Australian history.
The Inlanders documentary – 1949
The Inlanders comes from a tradition of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking that presents the outback as a harsh and hostile terrain to be overcome.
1950s
Bitter Springs feature film – 1950
A family of white farmers fight to take possession of land and water that is home to a well-established Aboriginal clan.
Fighting Blood documentary – 1951
This Cinesound documentary highlights the talents of Australian fighters, including Aboriginal boxers Alfie Clay, Elley Bennett and Dave Sands.
The Phantom Stockman feature film – 1953
A bushman known as ‘the Sundowner’ helps cattle station heiress Kim Marsden investigate the death of her father.
The Back of Beyond documentary – 1954
Battling heat, dust and flood, Tom Kruse delivers mail, stores and supplies along the 517 kilometre Birdsville Track in central Australia.
King of the Coral Sea feature film – 1954
A pearler in the Torres Strait uncovers an illegal people smuggling operation.
The Queen in Australia documentary – 1954
The first colour feature made in Australia, documenting the first visit of a reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1954.
Jedda feature film – 1955
Jedda (1955) is probably Charles Chauvel’s best film, as well as his last. It is historic both for being the first colour feature film made in Australia, but more importantly, because it is arguably the first Australian film to take the emotional lives of Aboriginal people seriously.
Smiley feature film – 1956
A mischievous boy in a small town tries to reform himself, in order to earn a bicycle.
The Shiralee feature film – 1957
Arguably there are two major themes in Australian cinema – the problem of the landscape, and the related problem of masculinity – and both are the subject of The Shiralee.
1960s
The Sundowners feature film – 1960
The Sundowners is remarkable for the number of Australian actors it showcases. Chips Rafferty plays Quinlan, the contractor at an outback shearing station.
Australia’s Land of Tomorrow sponsored film – 1962
An Australian Inland Mission patrol witnesses a prospering region where industry and agriculture have grown and the population has greatly increased since the last visit.
The Big Boomerang documentary – 1962
This promotional film about Qantas has information about the company’s only foray into aircraft construction, which was in 1926.
Wambidgee television program – 1962
An early children’s animated puppet series about the adventures of a young Aboriginal boy living in the bush.
Ikara the Weapon Thrower sponsored film – 1963
This black-and-white film, classified 'confidential’ at the time, shows the lead up to the Ikara weapons trials and the trials that began in April 1963.
A Changing Race documentary – 1964
An insightful portrait of Aboriginal people in Central Australia in the 1960s, highlighting their experience of racial discrimination and their integration in non-Aboriginal society.
The Magic Boomerang – The Discovery television program – 1965
Tom uses a magic boomerang to find treasure, foil his greedy cousin’s plans and save the family farm.
Wandjina! – Episode 5 television program – 1966
Strange events occur when people search for two boys missing in the bush.
Journey Out of Darkness feature film – 1967
In 1901 Constable Peterson arrives in Central Australia to arrest an Arrernte man who has committed a ritual killing.
A Big Country – Peninsula People television program – 1968
An early episode of this iconic series. A Big Country aimed to bring country Australia into the lives of urban Australians.
Skippy – Be Our Guest television program – 1968
Clancy wants to make a good impression on her visiting mother. Instead, she gets lost in the bush where she is rescued by a group of Aboriginal men (played by visiting members of the Aboriginal Theatre from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land).
1970s
Chequerboard – My Brown Skin Baby, They Take ‘im Away television program – 1970
This powerful film documents the impact of the government’s policy of removing light-skinned children from their Aboriginal mothers to be raised in Christian missions.
Walkabout feature film – 1970
A 16-year-old English girl and her 8-year-old brother are stranded in the desert, after their father shoots himself. They are rescued by a young tribal Aborigine.
Australian Movie Magazine No 7201 newsreel – 1971
This 'year in review’ edition is not a typical example of the newsreel’s format. It presents some of the significant events of 1971 and includes a range of story types.
Wake in Fright feature film – 1971
A young schoolteacher loses all his money in an outback two-up game, while en route to Sydney. In the next two days he loses a lot more – self-respect, inhibitions, almost his life.
Ningla A-Na documentary – 1972
Ningla A-Na documents the activism of the Black movement in south-east Australia in the 1970s and shows how the activists changed the direction of the movement both nationally and internationally.
The Office Picnic feature film – 1972
Bored employees in a mindless bureaucracy are barely more than automatons until released by alcohol at the office picnic, during which sexual and generational differences explode.
The Man from Hong Kong feature film – 1975
The film has great energy and a series of superb action sequences, including quite possibly the best car chase in Australian cinema before Mad Max.
