Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘celebrations’

30 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

1900s

Higgins, Bryce: Family and Holiday Scenes: 1909-1924 home movie – c1909

This beautifully filmed home movie contains some of the earliest examples of home movie footage held by the National Film and Sound Archive.

1910s

Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South documentary – c1910

Spencer believed cinema patrons wanted to see their own people and country. He went on to produce feature films, some with director Raymond Longford.

Society Wedding home movie – c1914

This silent footage of a society wedding, beautifully framed and shot on 35mm nitrate film, is a rare example of a home movie from the 1910s.

Empire Day Pageant historical – c1915

This is a silent actuality fragment from around 1915 and shows people celebrating 'Empire Day’ in full costume, apparently in a small country town. The estimated date of the footage comes from the stock dates marked on the film fragments – one method used to date audiovisual material held at the National Film and Sound Archive.

Richmond Carnival in Aid of Blind Soldiers, May 1918 newsreel – 1918

Parades, carnivals and marches were commonly covered by newsreels. They were held to raise money and increase support for Australian troops and their families.

1920s

Albion, Douglas: Children’s Party home movie – c1921

This beautiful example of early movie making in 1920s Australia was rediscovered by Douglas Albion decades after it was filmed.

Albion, Douglas: Children’s Birthday Party home movie – c1925

This short segment is one of three reels of nitrate film chronicling significant events and celebrations in the Albion family during the early 1920s.

Australasian Gazette – Annual Christmas Treat newsreel – c1925

This segment from an old cinema newsreel shows Christmas celebrations for children at the Victoria Barracks in Sydney, including a live puppet show and Father Christmas handing out presents.

Children’s Party, Boys Wrestling and Outdoor Performances home movie – c1925

Cameras were relatively expensive in the 1920s and mostly confined to families who could afford the new technology.

Australasian Gazette – Shopping Week, Sydney newsreel – c1926

This 1926 Australasian Gazette newsreel segment features a 'monster procession’ as part of Shopping Week in Bondi Junction, Sydney.

1930s

Efftee Film Productions Congratulates Miss Dorothy Fricke newsreel – 1931

This silent newsreel item shows the debutante celebration of Miss Dorothy Fricke, held at Chelsea Memorial Hall in Melbourne on 24 August 1931.

Centenary Celebrations of Melbourne, Victoria newsreel – 1934

This unedited newsreel footage includes a speech given by the Duke of Gloucester opening Melbourne’s centenary celebrations.

Tatler Social Newsreel: Social Party in South Yarra newsreel – c1934

Only a few Efftee newsreels have survived and this one is a vivid record of Melbourne society at play in the 1930s, complete with a society party in South Yarra.

Australia’s 150th Anniversary Celebrations, Sydney home movie – 1938

Interestingly, the 26 January 1938 parade celebrating 150 years since the arrival of the First Fleet does not reflect Australia’s convict history.

Murray-Will, Ewan: Ballets Russes, Hélène Kirsova’s Wedding home movie – 1938

Dr Murray-Will befriended dancers from the touring Ballets Russes in the 1930s and filmed the wedding of ballerina Hélène Kirsova to the Danish Vice-Consul.

1940s

Dyer, Frederick Simpson: Children’s Party and Beach home movie – 1941

Amateur home movie maker Frederick Simpson Dyer made a number of movies covering family events such as outings, holidays and birthdays.

Roberts, John: Anzac Day march Adelaide, South Australia and other segments home movie – c1941

This is a compilation of film segments from the John Roberts Home Movie Collection that have been spliced together.

Christmas Crackers home movie – 1945

This amateur film from 1945 shows the joy of a family reuniting at the end of the Second World War after the men return from overseas service.

Movietone Special: Peace: Australia Celebrates newsreel – 1945

This Movietone News special edition newsreel marking the nationwide celebrations at the end of the Second World War includes the iconic image of the 'dancing man’.

1950s

Gerakiteys: Greek Community Picnics home movie – 1950

This beautiful colour footage captures how the Greek community in Canberra lived at the time, and the ways they contributed to community life.

Carnival of Flowers, Toowoomba sponsored film – 1953

This short sponsored film about the 1953 Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba captures the floral street parade and the colours of spring.

Banners Held High documentary – 1956

The narrator, former wharfie Jock Levy, is one of the founders of the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit.

Syme, Ken: Melbourne Olympic Games home movie – 1956

This silent, colour home movie, shot by Ken Syme, provides a snapshot of both the 1956 Olympic Games, and the city that hosted it.

1960s

Dimpel, Konrad: German Christmas celebrations, Lutheran Sunday School picnic home movie – c1966

In this 1960s home movie, a curious baby kangaroo joins a Lutheran Sunday School picnic at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve outside Canberra.

1980s

Wings to Victory documentary – 1984

Celebrating the win by 12-metre yacht Australia II, this was the first time that America had lost the America’s Cup in 132 years.

Cyclone Tracy television program – 1986

A fictional account of one of Australia’s worst natural disasters – a major turning point in the history of Darwin.

Strangers in Paradise documentary – 1989

On the eve of bicentennial celebrations, Strangers in Paradise looks at Australian culture through the eyes of tourists on a ‘Dreamtime’ tour.

1990s

Man Without Pigs documentary – 1990

The first Papua New Guinea man to become a professor returns to his small village to celebrate, but inadvertently creates antagonism when rituals aren’t adhered to.

2000s

Message Stick – Bill’s Wake television program – 2001

Bill Neidjie, a traditional owner of Kakadu, had a wake while he was alive, rather than waiting until his death, to hear what people wanted to say about him.

Night documentary – 2007

The real time and time-lapse images in Night are edited seamlessly and, in combination with the music, become very meditative.