Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘role of women’

30 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

B

Blue Heelers – A Woman’s Place television program – 1993

This first episode of Blue Heelers combines police drama with soap elements and introduces us to the show’s key country locations and the central 'family’ of contrasting characters.

C

Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate – ‘For All the Different Women You Are’ advertisement – c1970

The light-hearted, romantic style of earlier Cadbury’s chocolates advertisements stands in marked contrast to the sexy and seductive tone adopted here.

Certain Women – Episode 166 television program – 1976

The final episode of this long-running serial about a family of strong-minded women who take on a changing world in the 1970s.

Cheap Blonde short film – 1998

A humorous experimental word game which examines gender representation and authorship in the cinema.

Chequerboard Revisited – Episode 3: I Reckon I’m an Average Australian television program – 2000

Kevin and Margaret, filmed three times over a 30-year period, show how attitudes towards marriage have changed in Australia between the 1960s and 2000.

D

Dame Enid Lyons: Maiden Speech radio – 1943

Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in Australia’s federal parliament, reads her maiden speech for radio broadcast.

F

The Fast Lane - Episode 7: The Sound of One Hand Counting television program – 1986

A private detective agency run by a couple of incompetents feature in a social satire on life 'in the fast lane’ written by John Clarke and Andrew Knight.

H

Heritage feature film – 1935

Heritage is a thunderous piece of endorsement for the pioneer mythology of Australia, made by the prolific Charles Chauvel.

Hunt Angels documentary – 2006

This dramatised documentary is about the life of 1930s filmmakers Rupert Kathner and Alma Brooks who were passionate about bringing Australian stories to the cinema.

M

Maverick Mother documentary – 2007

When filmmaker Janet Merewether could no longer ignore her loudly ticking biological clock, she chose to have a child on her own.

McLeod’s Daughters television program – 1996

The McLeod’s Daughters telemovie about independent women running a rural Australian property inspired the later successful TV series.

McLeod’s Daughters – Welcome Home television program – 2001

Self-reliant women working the land, romantic rural vistas and horseriding and farming montages make up the signature style of McLeod’s Daughters.

Moodeitj Yorgas documentary – 1988

Moffatt’s work, influenced by cinema and pop culture, probes misconceptions about Aboriginality and explores gender, sexuality and identity.

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.

My Brilliant Career feature film – 1979

This feminist warrior and role model came to life on film in the same year as the road warrior in the masculine fantasy Mad Max.

My Name’s McGooley, What’s Yours? – End of the Line television program – 1967

McGooley, starring Gordon Chater and set in Balmain in the ’60s, was Australia’s first homegrown sitcom success.

O

The Overlanders feature film – 1946

As the Japanese threaten northern Australia in 1942, a drover takes a mob of prime beef cattle across 2,600 kms of hazardous country to Queensland.

P

Police Rescue – By the Book television program – 1990

Police Rescue was an immensely popular series during the 1990s, starting as a telemovie then spawning a weekly series for five years and even a feature film.

R

Rinso Laundry Powder : Hilda and Hugh Jones advertisement – c1940

Mrs Hilda Jones overcomes the drudgery of housework with the discovery of Rinso. Her husband Hugh is very relieved that he no longer has to suffer her bad moods.

Rinso Soap Powder: Then Came Happiness advertisement – 1931

Helen, worn out by the drudge of washing day, is introduced to Rinso by a girlfriend during a bridge night.

Rinso Washing Powder: A Bachelor Grey advertisement – c1943

Bachelor Henry is a ‘natty dresser’ but rubbing and scrubbing wears out his clothes until finally his temper wears out too! Henry’s ‘lady help’ to brings him a packet of Rinso washing powder and shows him how to get things clean.

Rinso Washing Powder: Fairy Story Comes True advertisement – c1935

A young girl helps grant her mother’s wish to have a washing day that does not require long hours of scrubbing.

S

Senator Dorothy Tangney: Maiden Speech radio – 1944

A recording of the first woman elected to the Australian Senate reading her maiden speech.

Size 10 documentary – 1978

Size 10 is about how four young women break free of the pressure to conform to beauty and fashion norms.

Small Treasures short film – 1995

In this animated short, a pregnant woman imagines the worst domestic disasters befalling her unborn child.

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.

T

Tandaco Prepared Stuffing: Don’t Cry Dear Lady advertisement – c1942

A classic example of the stereotypical image we have of the Australian housewife.

W

Waiting feature film – 1990

A surrogate mother’s home birth turns out more complicated than expected.

White River of Life sponsored film – c1950

A short government film made in the early 1950s to promote the health qualities of milk and milk-based foods.

Women in the Surf documentary – 1986

Documentary on the battle for women to take to the waves, from Isabel Letham in 1914 to Pam Burridge in the 1980s.