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clip 1Clip description
The young congregation takes the lead in reading from the Bible and singing catchy songs accompanied by guitar. Please note there are some intermittent audio and visual glitches in this clip.
Curator’s notes
The quiet simplicity of the people and the presentation of the material are noteworthy. There are just three static shots in this clip and no added narration in two minutes of program time. Even the most sedate of today’s television programming is unlikely to stay in one location for two minutes, and would have dozens of edits between moving camera shots.
Divine Service was first broadcast from St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in 1956, the year of the Melbourne Olympics when television began in Australia. Regular weekly broadcasts of the program from churches all over Australia began in 1964, when featured churches were selected on the basis of the most commonly practised religions, as reflected in the census figures.
