Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘labour’

17 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

1890s

Building Construction historical – 1899

The official photographer of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Frederick Charles Wills, films a building construction site in 1899.

South Sea Islanders Cutting Cane historical – 1899

Photographer Frederick Charles Wills and his assistant, Henry William Mobsby, capture Melanesian labourers cutting cane in Queensland in 1899.

SS Katoomba Unloading historical – 1899

This actuality footage from 1899 shows the unloading of timber spars from the SS Katoomba at a busy wharf in Brisbane.

Threshing at Allora historical – 1899

This 1899 actuality footage shows workers tossing wheat sheaves into a threshing machine on a Queensland farm.

1920s

For the Term of His Natural Life feature film – 1927

The use of locations, particularly Port Arthur, is probably the film’s strongest asset, lending both veracity and visual impact. The other real strength of the film is its confident use of special effects.

Buckley, Anthony: Buckley Family Collection: Tarn Shan Tin Mine, Thailand home movie – c1928

This footage is rare because Australians travelled infrequently to South-East Asia in the 1920s.

1940s

ALP Cinema Advertisement: In the Wake of the Storm advertisement – 1946

This cinema ad for the 1946 federal election encourages Australians to stay with the Labor Party, which has successfully led the country through the end of the Second World War.

Liberal Party Cinema Advertisement: The Golden Age advertisement – 1946

This Liberal Party cinema advertisement for the 1946 federal election proposes that life for ordinary people under the incumbent Labor government is by no means as good as it should be.

1950s

Snowy Hydro – Conquest of the Rivers sponsored film – 1957

This is essentially a recruitment film, targeting the types of workers whose adaptability and skills base would well serve the Snowy Hydro scheme’s requirements.

1960s

Snowy Hydro - Where Men and Mountains Meet sponsored film – 1963

This film is a fascinating depiction of the national ideal of postwar masculinity, looking at the spectrum of workers involved in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

1980s

A Big Country – Gulf Battlers television program – 1982

Vintage A Big Country featuring Elton and Maude beating the odds to run a small cattle station in the Gulf country of northern Australia.

For Love or Money documentary – 1983

Using almost totally historical material, For Love or Money encompasses the role of Australian women in both paid and unpaid work, over a 200 year period.

Kemira: Diary of a Strike documentary – 1984

Tom Zubrycki made the documentary on the run, following events as they happened and creating a 'diary’ of each passing day as the story unfolded.

Rocking the Foundations documentary – 1985

Rocking The Foundations is more than a film about a union: it’s a film about social change and how ordinary people can make that happen.

Friends and Enemies documentary – 1987

The story of a machiavellian plan to destroy union power, Friends and Enemies follows the bitter fight between Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland government and the ACTU.

1990s

Black Harvest documentary – 1992

When coffee prices plunged, it sparked drama of epic proportions in this, the third film in a celebrated trilogy set in PNG.

2000s

Delivery Day short film – 2000

A girl is caught between competing demands of family and school. Uncle Le needs help in his garment shop but it’s parent-teacher night.