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All newsreels

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1920s (continued)

Australasian Gazette – Miss Australia, Beryl Mills, Leaves for the US on the Sonoma 1926

This newsreel clip shows a large crowd farewelling the first Miss Australia, Miss Beryl Mills, as she leaves for the USA on the ocean liner Sonoma in 1926.

Australasian Gazette – Prickly Pear Infested Areas of Australia 1926

By 1925, the prickly pear infested over 25 million hectares in New South Wales and Queensland. Caterpillar larvae were introduced in 1926 to combat the problem.

Australasian Gazette – Shopping Week, Sydney c1926

This 1926 Australasian Gazette newsreel segment features a 'monster procession’ as part of Shopping Week in Bondi Junction, Sydney.

Australasian Gazette – Test Cricketers c1926

Filmed at Headingley Oval, this newsreel from approximately 1926 features the Australian cricket team on tour in England. Also included are highlights from a match.

Picturesque Portsea Provides Perfect Pageant c1926

This clip of the popular beach and pier at Portsea in Victoria vividly captures the beach fashions and social customs of the 1920s.

Traffic Chaos Caused by Fusing of Electric Tram Wires c1926

This newsreel covers a traffic jam caused by the fusing of electric tram wires in Melbourne in the 1920s. We also see the chaos that follows the event.

Australasian Gazette – Arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York 1927

This 1927 newsreel shows the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York for the official opening of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra.

Official Opening of Canberra by His Royal Highness the Duke of York 1927

The Duke of York (later King George VI) officially opens Parliament House in Canberra on 19 May 1927. Dame Nellie Melba sings the national anthem, 'God save the King’.

Christmas Hustle and Bustle: Crowds Leave for Well-deserved Holiday on 22 December 1928

This Christmas 1928 newsreel includes a hint of the economic hardships of the time by contrasting well-dressed women with two homeless swagmen.

Delegates to the Australian Labor Party’s Easter Conference at the Trades Hall Melbourne 1928

This is rare footage of key historical figures of the ALP and trade union movement at a 1928 conference at Melbourne Trades Hall.

Your Daily and Weekly News: The Making of Two Great Papers 1928

This newsreel shows the 'organised haste’ involved in preparing a daily newspaper, in this case Melbourne’s The Argus.

Australasian Gazette – Spectacular Surf Club Parade at Bondi Championships Carnival c1929

This 1929 newsreel includes a lifesaving demonstration and a Scottish pipe band leading the opening parade of a surf carnival at Bondi Beach.

Travelogue of Eastern States c1929

This travelogue, made around 1929, shows the major cities of eastern Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the new national capital.

1930s

The Arrival of Miss Amy Johnson in Brisbane 1930

In this silent newsreel footage, British aviator Amy Johnson arrives in Brisbane on the final leg of her solo flight between England and Australia in 1930.

Don Bradman in England 1930

Don Bradman is interviewed in 1930. This informal interview also gives him the chance to effectively demonstrate his batting technique.

Australasian Gazette – Mermaids Swim Well c1931

This newsreel from approximately 1931 shows highlights of the Bondi Ladies’ Annual Carnival at the local Bondi Baths, including excerpts from various races.

Efftee Film Productions Congratulates Miss Dorothy Fricke 1931

This silent newsreel item shows the debutante celebration of Miss Dorothy Fricke, held at Chelsea Memorial Hall in Melbourne on 24 August 1931.

The Kinema News Reel 1932

This newsreel offers a glimpse of the English cricket team that went on to play the famous 'Bodyline’ series against Australia later in the 1932-33 season.

The Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge 1932

This newsreel footage with on-the-spot commentary contains unique coverage of the official opening ceremony of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Saturday 19 March 1932.

Welcome to the English Cricket Team 1932

At the start of what would become the infamous Bodyline series, there is no hint of hostility as Australian cricket captain Bill Woodfull welcomes the English squad to Australia.

Australasian Gazette – Highlights of the Cricket Series England vs Australia 1933

This Australasian Gazette newsreel footage features highlights of the first test in the 1932–1933 England versus Australia cricket series.

Australasian Gazette – Historic Cricket 1933

This newsreel shows highlights of the second Test in the 1932–1933 series, which was won by Australia.

Australasian Gazette – The Ups and Downs of Cricket 1933

This newsreel shows highlights of the third Test cricket series – the notorious 'Bodyline’ series – between England and Australia in Adelaide in January 1933.

Centenary Celebrations of Melbourne, Victoria 1934

This unedited newsreel footage includes a speech given by the Duke of Gloucester opening Melbourne’s centenary celebrations.

Tatler News No 2, Dr Maloney MLA c1934

Dr Maloney expresses concerns about social injustice and poverty, addresses women’s voting rights and approves removing the word 'illegitimate’ from the birth registry.

Tatler Social Newsreel: Social Party in South Yarra c1934

Only a few Efftee newsreels have survived and this one is a vivid record of Melbourne society at play in the 1930s, complete with a society party in South Yarra.

Australia Today – Customs Officers Fight Against Drugs 1938

Stories in this Australia Today newsreel cover topics like illegal drug importation and crime syndicates; and SP bookmaking and gambling.

Australia Today – Lucky Strike at Larkinville, WA and other segments 1938

Segments in this newsreel cover gold prospecting in Western Australia; deadly Australian snakes; and proposals for the extension of pub drinking hours.

Australia Today – Fort Denison: [Pinchgut]: A Relic of Early Sydney 1939

This newsreel looks nostalgically at the history of Fort Denison, a fortified island in Sydney Harbour, and its place in Sydney’s military and cultural heritage.

Australia Today – Man-Eater 1939

Shark attacks on populated beaches are statistically not that common in Australia, but they attract sensational media coverage of the type seen in this newsreel.

Australia Today – Men of Tomorrow 1939

Depicting the family life of a young boy in the poorer suburbs of Sydney, this newsreel touches on society’s responsibility to offer its youth a better future.

Australia Today – The ‘Pyjama Girl’ Murder Case 1939

This newsreel reconstructs the coronial inquest into the Pyjama Girl mystery, one of the most baffling unsolved murder cases in Australian criminal history.

1940s

Australia Today – Australia’s 5th Column 1941

According to this newsreel, Australia is at war with the '5th Column’, threatened by a ruthless enemy whose objective is the 'downfall of the British Empire’.

Kokoda Front Line! 1942

This iconic and Academy Award-winning newsreel shot by Damien Parer contains some of the most recognised images of Australian troops in the Second World War.

Road to Kokoda 1942

What’s remarkable about Damien Parer’s Kokoda footage is that there is no actual combat, and the Japanese presence is felt most keenly through its absence.

Jungle Patrol 1944

The story of eight Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese on Shaggy Ridge in New Guinea, in 1943.

Movietone Special: Peace: Australia Celebrates 1945

This Movietone News special edition newsreel marking the nationwide celebrations at the end of the Second World War includes the iconic image of the 'dancing man’.

ALP: Frank Forde, Election 1946 1946

Labor Deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde appeals to his Capricornia electorate to vote for him and Prime Minister Chifley in the September 1946 federal election.

1960s

All Quiet on the Surfie-Rocker Front 1963

A short newsreel item from 1963, outlining police efforts to curb gang violence between outer suburban ‘rockers’ and surfers at Manly beach.

Cinesound Review: That Mersey Sound: Beatles at the Stadium 1964

This newsreel special of the 1964 Beatles tour captures footage of the band in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand, concert excerpts and the attendant 'Beatlemania’.

1970s

Australian Movie Magazine No 7201 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.

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