Factory to Farm: Making Agricultural Implements in Australia (c.1925)
Synopsis
One of a series of promotional films made by the Melbourne-based Made in Australia Council, Factory to Farm supports the production of agricultural implements in Australian factories. It provides a visual record of the inner workings of an agricultural implements factory as well as the work of sheet metal workers and fitters and turners. The film also shows the resulting machinery – harvesters, disc ploughs, tractors – being used by local farmers in the wheat fields. According to the documentary, the implements made within Australian factories assist in the harvesting of 160 million bushels of wheat and oats annually and provide wages and good homes for local workers.
Curator’s notes
The Made in Australia Council was formed in the early 1920s as part of a campaign to raise public awareness about the importance of local production and to promote Australian-made goods. Emerging out of a growing movement in support of local manufacture and production, the Made in Australia Council drew support from the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures, Australian Industries Protection League, Australian Natives’ Association (now Australian Unity), the Education Department and Railway Commissioners (Australian Natives’ Association, Annual Conference Report, 1924). It promoted support for Australian-made goods through the distribution of posters, leaflets, pamphlets and the production of ‘moving pictures’. The Council’s slogan was ‘wherever you trade, buy Australian Made’.
Other examples of the Made in Australia Council’s films include Boots and Shoes, Piano Making, A Day at an Engineering Works and Sheep to Shop. Together these films provide an insight to the Made in Australia movement and local industries that were producing Australian-made goods in the 1920s.
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