Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This silent black-and-white clip taken from a sponsored film shows the Reverend Robert Williams from the South Melbourne Methodist Mission distributing weekly rations of firewood to needy families as part of the Mission’s work. The Reverend fills wheelbarrows, prams and firewood carts with firewood for women and children who then cart them away. An intertitle reads: ‘Rev. Robt. Williams hands out loads of warmth and happiness’.

Educational value points

• The clip reveals evidence of poverty among families in the inner-city suburb of South Melbourne during the 1920s. South Melbourne is 2 km south of Melbourne on the southern bank of the Yarra River. In the 1920s it was predominantly an industrial area, and had manufacturing industries as well as textile mills and lumber stores. At the time, Australia’s unemployment rate was 11 per cent; it would rise to nearly 30 per cent during the Great Depression.

• As can be seen in the clip firewood was still a major source of heat and fuel in the 1920s; many homes relied on wood stoves for cooking and most homes had open fireplaces. Briquettes made from charcoal or coal dust were also used. By 1927 a third of all homes in Australia were electrically wired; however, the families shown here clearly could not afford electricity for heating and cooking.

• The clip illustrates the important charity work undertaken by the churches in Australia, particularly for the poor and underprivileged. The South Melbourne Methodist Mission was one of a number of charitable groups providing welfare assistance for the local community. In the 1920s churches and charities in the area opened orphan asylums, primary schools, kindergartens and a baby welfare and child hygiene centre.

• The clip is an example of how in the 1920s charity organisations successfully used film as a tool to raise funds and awareness about important mission work. This example was made to be screened to the Methodist Mission’s support base throughout Victoria. Film was found to be a powerful medium for conveying messages because of its ability to bring the outside world to the audience and to provoke emotional reactions such as empathy and pity.

• Firewood is used in the clip as a symbol of hope and warmth to promote the Mission’s charitable purpose. The intertitle ‘Rev. Robt. Williams hands out warmth and happiness’ alludes to firewood providing spiritual sustenance and hope in addition to physical warmth for heating and cooking. As well as ministering to the physical needs of the poor, charitable missions were used as missionary tools.

• The clip shows women’s domestic roles in the 1920s and the expectation that children would help out with chores. Women performed most of the domestic duties including cooking, washing and childcare. Children at that time were expected to help out by collecting wood, lighting fires, feeding animals and stock and running errands. Child labour in paid work was quite common.