Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This narrated clip from a black-and-white newsreel shows a dramatised sequence set in Larkinville, Western Australia. Jack Hogan, a dispirited gold prospector at the end of a fruitless day’s prospecting, throws a stick for his dog Spot to fetch. When the dog fails to return, Jack investigates and finds Spot digging up a nugget of gold. Jack takes the nugget back to camp to show his friend Jimmy Eastwood. The men are thrilled with the find as it brings the hope of 'rest and reasonable comfort’. The clip ends with the men sitting down to smoke a pipe and 'dream of more gold’.

Educational value points

• Mass unemployment during the Great Depression (1929–32) forced some people to try their luck on the gold fields. Life on the gold fields was extremely difficult as money for food and provisions was scarce or non-existent. Illnesses were common and spread quickly. Living conditions were basic and unhygienic, and the environment was harsh, unforgiving and isolated. The prospect of finding gold during these uncertain times would have meant 'money, real money’ and 'the hope of rest and riches’.

• In WA, gold was first discovered in 1885 at Hall’s Creek. The state’s largest gold nugget was found in Larkinville in 1931, when James Larcombe and his 16-year-old son Jim discovered 'The Golden Eagle’, a nugget weighing 35.5 kg (1,135 ounces). The find triggered a gold rush in and around Larkinville, and the discovery of gold in the region marked one of Australia’s few high points during the Great Depression years.

• The clip presents a dramatised re-creation of gold prospecting in Larkinville during the Great Depression. It combines fact and fiction and uses gentle humour to tell the story of two gold diggers striking it rich; Spot the dog gives the story a sense of light-heartedness and warmth.

• The narrator not only describes the events on screen but also seems to be personally involved in the action in real time, with comments such as 'what’s this?’ and 'the pick, get the pick ready!’. This style of commentary provides a sense of immediacy and engagement with the action, as well as offering context.

• Dry-blowing, mentioned in the clip, was a gold-prospecting technique developed in WA, where water was scarce and the usual technique of water sifting was impractical. Dry-blowing usually involved using the wind to sift out sand and other lighter material. There were also dry-blowing machines, which blew air through the dirt to separate the different particles.

• The clip is taken from a newsreel made in 1938, when newsreels were a major source of information for Australians. Before the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, newsreels were the only audiovisual medium available to report major events such as sport, entertainment, disasters and discoveries. They were usually shown in cinemas before feature films, but some small cinemas ran newsreels exclusively.

• The newsreel was produced and directed by Rupert Kathner, who made short films, newsreels and feature films throughout the 1930s, 40s and early 50s often in collaboration with his filmmaking partner Alma Brooks (c1910–88). The most famous of the feature films was The Glenrowan Affair (1951). Kathner died in 1954, aged 50, and his life and adventures are the subject of the 2006 movie Hunt Angels.