Titles tagged with ‘mining’
41 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
1920s
Opal Mining Lightning Ridge documentary – c1925
Davidson collected over a million feet of footage over 40 years including the miracle of a man pulled from a mine shaft, never once hindered by the pipe in his mouth.
Australian Cement in the Making documentary – c1926
Everything you wanted to know about cement making — in the 1920s — but were afraid to ask.
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.
1930s
White, AR: Tin Mining in Malaya home movie – c1930
Australians have engaged with the Asia-Pacific region through travel and enterprise for many decades, but moving image records like this one from the first half of the 20th century are not common.
Silver City sponsored film – 1936
This film is narrated with Frank Hurley’s typical flamboyance and presents mining as instrumental to maintaining the livelihood of over 100,000 Australians.
1940s
Through the Centre sponsored film – 1940
The Indian camel trader and the Japanese pearl diver become part of the film’s projection of the exotic within the expansive space of the Australian outback.
Power to Win documentary – 1942
Having been determined medically unfit for the army, Charles Chauvel saw his film work as a contribution to the war effort.
Morris, DG: Royal Agricultural Show, Adelaide home movie – c1943
This home movie shows two contrasting glimpses into the role of women during and after the Second World War.
Around a Gum Tree documentary – 1949
This documentary cleverly uses gum trees as a device to explore the broad range of industries that Australia supports.
The Inlanders documentary – 1949
The Inlanders comes from a tradition of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking that presents the outback as a harsh and hostile terrain to be overcome.
1950s
Banners Held High documentary – 1956
The narrator, former wharfie Jock Levy, is one of the founders of the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit.
Hewers of Coal sponsored film – 1957
This union-sponsored documentary dramatises the history of mining in Australia since the early 1900s, including the friction between miners and mine owners.
Australian Walkabout television program – 1958
The Chauvels, on a filmmaking safari of Australia, travel through the Northern Territory to Rum Jungle for a privileged look inside a uranium mine.
1960s
Australia’s Land of Tomorrow sponsored film – 1962
An Australian Inland Mission patrol witnesses a prospering region where industry and agriculture have grown and the population has greatly increased since the last visit.
Dig A Million, Make A Million television program – 1968
Lang Hancock, nicknamed ‘the flying prospector’ for aerial prospecting with his naked eye, and Peter Wright find Australia’s richest iron ore deposit.
1970s
Wake in Fright feature film – 1971
A young schoolteacher loses all his money in an outback two-up game, while en route to Sydney. In the next two days he loses a lot more – self-respect, inhibitions, almost his life.
In the Wild with Harry Butler – Lake Argyle television program – 1976
Harry Butler CBE, naturalist and environmentalist, explains how man-made Lake Argyle has changed the ecology of the Kimberley region forever.
In the Wild with Harry Butler – Scars on the Landscape television program – 1976
Harry Butler seems the archetypal bushie, with his khaki shorts and battered bushman’s hat. He doesn’t work to a script, but moves around the bush with a keen eye.
1980s
Winner Take All – Downside Risk television program – 1982
An ABC TV series about the fast-paced world of big business, Winner Take All is an early ‘80s time capsule.
Buddies feature film – 1983
Buddies is a comedy, dressed up as a frontier romance, and it is relatively unknown and underrated.
Peach’s Gold – Eureka television program – 1983
This series exploits a range of first-hand sources for its vibrant retelling of the history, while Bill Peach appears from time to time to explain and analyse.
Strikebound feature film – 1983
A docudrama based on the memories of Wattie and Agnes Doig, a miner and his wife involved in the Gippsland coal workers’ strike of 1937.
Couldn’t Be Fairer documentary – 1984
This film, to some degree, is a tribute to Mick Miller, who was committed to fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples.
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.
Four Corners – Blue Death television program – 1988
A chilling program about Australia’s greatest industrial disaster: years after the mine closed, Wittenoom residents are dying of asbestos-related illnesses.
1990s
The Daylight Moon: A Portrait of the Poet Les Murray documentary – 1991
World-renowned Australian poet Les Murray reflects on his life and work.
Land of the Apocalypse documentary – 1991
The traditional custodians of Kakadu National Park battle to protect an important sacred site from mining exploitation.
Jabiluka documentary – 1997
This film offers Indigenous, scientific and economic perspectives on the issue of mining uranium at Jabiluka.
Walking Through a Minefield documentary – 1999
Jabiluka 2, the world’s richest uranium deposit, has been dogged by conflict between mining interests and environmental and Indigenous groups.
2000s
An Evergreen Island documentary – 2000
Arson and sabotage were eventually used to stop the shocking environmental degradation being caused by copper mining in Bougainville.
Alyawarre Country documentary – 2001
For decades there was awful conflict between pastoralists and Indigenous people; two elders share their perspective, in their language.
Japanese Story feature film – 2003
An unexpected plot development in the middle of Japanese Story left audiences stunned and disbelieving — and occasionally hostile.
Four Corners – The Kilwa Incident television program – 2005
A massacre, cover-up and UN report that implicates an Australian mining company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Old Man and the Inland Sea documentary – 2005
Warwick Thornton’s documentary about a 'noodler’ on the mining fields of Coober Pedy and the sense of community he shared with Indigenous people whilst doing this work.
Plains Empty short film – 2005
Plains Empty functions as a metaphor for the whole Australian landscape, where the living characters are beset by the spirits of the past, and at no time is the past truly absent.
Riot or Revolution documentary – 2005
Three things struck filmmaker Don Parham about the Eureka story – it was a 'ripper yarn’, with a great cast of characters and fascinating politics.
Bit of Black Business – Done Dirt Cheap short film – 2007
A tourist overhears two miners talking with Amos, a gold prospector. He buys a nugget from Amos that’s worth a lot less than he bargained for.
End of the Rainbow documentary – 2007
This documentary traces the impact on the communities of moving a gold mine operation from Indonesia to West Africa.
First Australians – Episode 7, We Are No Longer Shadows documentary – 2008
The final episode of First Australians covers the period 1967–93 and Eddie Mabo’s fight for land rights.
2010s
Beneath Hill 60 feature film – 2010
During the First World War, a Queensland miner learns the true cost of war when he leads Australians in a project to tunnel beneath enemy lines to plant explosives.
