Australian
Screen

Clip description

Damien Parer was the youngest child of a Spanish-born publican father and an Irish mother. He followed the faith of his parents and grew up a deeply religious Catholic. His faith never wavered throughout his life and his fascination for the camera, which began at school under the tutelage of one of the Brothers, would become the other defining passion of his life.

Curator’s notes

Beautifully lit and shot, and elegantly directed, this early sequence from the film expertly but succinctly sets up everything that is to come, and its main themes – Parer’s devotion to the camera, religion and love of country. The religious sequences are particularly striking, and effectively communicate the power of Catholicism over the young man, while the strength of the images presage his own striking camerawork.

If the child is father to the man, then Damien Parer was always true to his beginnings. His faith as a practising Catholic came from his deeply religious parents and his devotion to country was in evidence from his early days at school in Bathurst. This passion was never more evident than when his camera work extolled the men on the front-line who were prepared to fight and die for their country, as indeed was he.

Damien Parer was married in 1944 to the girl he’d first met in 1936 through their local church. As was often the case in those days, the couple waited until he had his first permanent job before marrying. He was killed in action just six months later. His son, the producer Damien Parer, was born after his father’s death.

This documentary of Parer’s life and work was made by the ABC just 20 years after his death, with interviews from those who had known and loved him. Gil Brealey interviewed Damien’s widow, Elizabeth; Elsa Chauvel, one of the earliest pioneers of the Australian film industry with her husband Charles; Maslyn Williams, a great friend and filmmaker; and Max Dupain, with whom Damien had worked as a stills photographer when the Australian movie industry was in the doldrums. The documentary’s director was Gil Brealey, the ABC’s very first film director, who also spoke to some of the servicemen who had known Damien Parer on the battlefield. The Legend of Damien Parer won a silver medal for the ABC in the AFI Awards of 1964. Gil Brealey introduced the documentary at the Sydney Film Festival in the same year.

Gil Brealey recalls that the editor Rod Adamson did an amazing job of researching and finding Damien Parer’s footage from the wartime archive.