Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white narrated and dramatised clip from a 1956 documentary commissioned by the Building Workers Industrial Union details the post-Second World War home building boom and the market force changes in the building industry, through the lives and dreams of a young married couple. Dramatised footage with narration, music and sound effects shows the couple leaving the church, and husband Bill working on a building site. A public meeting, the narration and newspaper headlines reveal that the building industry’s priorities had changed from home to commercial building.

Educational value points

• The experiences and aspirations of a typical Australian working-class couple in the immediate post-Second World War period are portrayed in the fictional story of Marg and Bill Smith. Many demobilised servicemen such as Bill returned home to marry, get a job, save for a home and start a family. After the deprivations of the War years, including a shortage of accommodation, most young couples aspired to own their own homes and federal government policy encouraged this.

• The post-War housing boom that provides Bill with a job in this clip arose from a housing shortage estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000 homes. The shortage was caused by the cessation of home building during the War due to of a lack of labour and building materials. Boosted by the demand for new houses and access to materials, the building industry responded to the 1945 Commonwealth State Housing Agreement and was building 80,000 homes a year by 1950–51.

• Building market changes in mid-1950s Australia resulted from growing investment in the manufacturing and commercial sectors. The federal government responded by encouraging state governments to allow factory development in the outer capital city suburbs, and high-rise commercial construction in the central business districts. A consequence of this development was a rapid shift of building resources from the housing sector and a need for new construction laws.

• The film’s bias in favour of the working man is revealed in the contrasting aspirations of the workers and those representing economic power. Bill and his fellow workers have known hard times, including wartime service, and are dealing with immediate needs and concerns including changes in the building construction industry. The public meeting seen in this clip portrays people who direct economic change demanding a priority of commerce before houses.

• The fictional narrative and cinematic techniques are used to set the scene for a message concerning workplace safety. The optimism of the young couple on their wedding day is shown as bells ring and the bridal march is heard. Uplifting music underlines Bill’s hopes for his new job. Close-ups draw the viewer into Bill’s life. Headlines, discordant music and the mechanical sounds from a high-rise building site represent the threat to his future security.

• This clip is from the film The Bones of the Building, commissioned by the Building Workers Industrial Union from the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF) Film Unit. It was hoped to emulate the success of the Unit’s early films as educational and political tools. This was the first film made by the Unit for another union. The foreman who appears in the clip is Jock Levy, one of the founding members of the WWF Film Unit.