Australian
Screen

Clip description

An intertitle introducing the work of the South Melbourne Methodist Mission is followed by an exterior shot of its church in Cecil Street, South Melbourne. A Sister from the mission walks through the streets with poor and orphaned children. Others are cared for by trained kindergarten teachers at the mission while their parents work. After their meal the children clear away the cups and dishes and scrub the tables.

Curator’s notes

The film was made both to screen to the mission’s support base throughout the state and to raise funds for the mission’s work. This clip is a good example of the way that a careful choice of shots and persuasive intertitles are used to emphasise the importance of continuing the mission’s activities. By focusing on the way it supports the city’s needy and orphaned children, the mission is aligned with protecting the vulnerable. The intertitle which opens the clip presents the mission’s South Melbourne premises as a 'haven of refuge’, immediately framing them as performing an important social service. The shot of three children led by one of the Sisters down a 'humble street’ in a slum area pulls at the heartstrings (and most probably the purse strings) of the intended audience.

After establishing their role as a protector of the vulnerable, the remaining scenes in the clip show the mission as a provider for the children. It does this by presenting the children in a nurturing environment which supports their physical needs (supplying them with food) as well as one which engages them in productive group activities (such as clearing and washing the tables after the meal). Overall it is a persuasive clip, and a significant record of social conditions in pre-Depression Melbourne.