Australian
Screen

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Peach Growing and Canning in Australia (c.1926)

Synopsis

This is a silent 15-minute industrial documentary which shows the fruit growing and canning industry at Leeton in the centre of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. It illustrates various stages of the fruit preparation process including irrigating the area, cultivating the land, harvesting the crop and processing it at the Leeton State Canning Factory, where factory workers sort, stone, peel and package the peaches. The documentary also includes scenes of the workers at leisure picnicking and swimming in the Murrumbidgee River.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

This film was probably a sponsored documentary promoting Australia’s high quality fruit production or the canning industry of the area. In style it is similar to other films about Australian industry such as those produced by the Made in Australia Council to promote locally manufactured products, or the Commonwealth series of Know Your Own Country films made in the 1920s.

Peach Growing and Canning in Australia was shot on 35mm nitrate film and, due to the relatively heavy cameras, camera movement is confined mainly to slow panning shots. These give a good overview of the factory floor (see clip one) and, together with intertitles and more closely framed shots detailing specific parts of the process, present a comprehensive view of the work that takes place in the factory. At the time the film was made, the Leeton State Canning Factory was one of 22 such factories across Australia. It employed approximately 250 people (many of whom were housed in the company’s own accommodation – see clip two) and processed 120 tonnes of fruit a day.

In this documentary it is the women who sort, stone and pack the fruit, while the men work the machinery and oversee the mechanised processes. This division of labour according to gender was accepted as the norm at the time and can also be seen in A Day in a Biscuit Factory (1932) and A Visit to Ernest Hillier’s Factory (c1926).