Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows lifesaving practices on a busy Sydney beach in the 1930s, and includes an intertitle describing sharks as the ‘silent terror of the deep’. Footage of lifesaving equipment on the beach is shown as the narrator describes the beach, lifesaving practices and the dangers of the surf. Towards the end of the clip the beach patrons are warned of danger and, as people flee from the water, a wooden lifeboat is paddled out across the waves to ‘meet the approaching danger’. The black-and-white clip is from an item in the newsreel series Australia Today.

Educational value points

• The clip shows lifesavers patrolling a beach in Sydney, New South Wales, in the 1930s. The surf lifesaving movement began in Australia in response to drownings on the beaches of Sydney in 1905. Australia’s first official surf lifesaving club was established in Bondi, NSW, in 1906. In 2006 volunteer male and female surf lifesavers from 303 surf lifesaving clubs were active on more than 400 Australian beaches on weekends and public holidays, with some popular tourist beaches patrolled all week in summer months.

• An example of the dangers faced by swimmers on ocean beaches and referred to in the clip occurred on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on 6 February 1938, which became known as ‘Black Sunday’. Thousands were at the Beach when a succession of large waves rolled in and swept hundreds of swimmers out to sea. The many volunteer lifesavers on duty rescued more than 200 people, although five people drowned.

• Since the newsreel from which this clip is taken was produced in 1939, the safety equipment provided on Australian beaches has improved. In the 1970s a rescue board and reel were introduced to replace the traditional surf reel and line, jet skis and inflatable rescue boats have now replaced wooden lifeboats, and helicopters and light aircraft are used to search for swimmers and sharks. Swimmers are urged to swim between safety flags that are moved to indicate safe areas. Warning signs and sirens are used on Australia’s beaches as they were in the 1930s.

• This clip depicts sharks as terrors of the ocean but according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) there are only about 50–70 shark attacks worldwide each year, resulting in about 5–15 deaths. There is an average of one fatal shark attack each year in Australian waters, mostly on isolated, unpatrolled beaches. Only three of the 360 species of sharks, the bull, the tiger and the great white, are recognised as primarily attackers of humans.

• The clip includes footage of people swimming on a Sydney beach in the 1930s. Before 1902, federal laws based on morality and modesty were implemented that banned swimming on Australian beaches in daylight hours. Swimming was only permitted in the early morning or late evening, with men and women being required to bathe separately. Swimming at beaches became popular after a male broke the rules and swam on a Sydney beach during daylight hours in 1902. The man was arrested but no charges were laid.

• The clip shows beach patrons dressed in swimming costumes of the 1930s. In the early 20th century swimmers began to wear swimming costumes on beaches. These consisted of neck-to-knee woollen or cotton suits for men and women, which shocked some conservatives. Swimwear became more revealing over the following decades, culminating in the introduction of the bikini in the 1950s. Although nude bathing is popular on some beaches, many people today, especially children, are wearing more protective swimming costumes due to concerns about the harmful effects of the sun’s rays on the skin.

• The narrator employs a dramatic tone to explain that ‘the surfing public is assured of ample protection at all times’. The narrator not only describes the events on screen, but also sometimes makes a pretence of becoming personally involved in the drama in real time, with interjections such as ‘Action, there’s danger in sight!’ This style of commentary provides a sense of immediacy and engagement with the action.

• This clip is taken from a newsreel item made in 1939, 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 important sport and entertainment events and major items of interest such as disasters and discoveries. They were usually shown in cinemas before the main feature but in some small cinemas newsreels ran exclusively.

• The newsreel series Australia Today was produced and directed by Rupert Kathner (1904–54). During his career Kathner completed five feature films, the most famous of which was The Glenrowan Affair (1951), and he made several short films and newsreels throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He died in March 1954 and the movie Hunt Angels (2006) documents his life and adventures.