Australian
Screen

This is the second of two films made inside an Australian wool mill, and follows on from From Sheep to Shop: Hosiery and Knitted Goods which looked at the manufacture of knitted garments and clothing. This film looks at the manufacture of woollen blankets, rugs and flannel. It covers the process of making the yarn, weaving the fabrics, washing, drying and pressing the finished goods, and packaging them for distribution nationwide. As with all other promotional films made by the Made in Australia Council, it ends with the Council’s slogan ‘wherever you trade, buy Australian Made’.

The Melbourne-based 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 the support for Australian-made goods through the distribution of posters, printed matter for public attention, leaflets, pamphlets and the production of ‘moving pictures’.

From Sheep to Shop: Woollen Goods was produced by the Melbourne-based production company, Herschells Films, which had been making newsreels and documentaries since 1913 and also made Sheep to Shop: Hosiery and Knitted Goods as part of the same campaign.