Australian
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an NFSA website

With Gentle Majesty (1962)

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The one day of the year education content clip 1, 2

Original classification rating: G. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

The high point of the Melbourne Royal Agricultural Show each day is the Grand Parade. For this great moment each year, the workhorses are brushed, combed and groomed to take their place in the parade.

Curator’s notes

by Janet Bell

With Gentle Majesty is a well made, very early “essay” television documentary. The initial languid pace of the filming and editing nicely underscores the images of the huge, slow-moving workhorses. The pace of the camerawork picks up to effectively capture the ritual of the horses performing at the Royal Agricultural Show.

This priceless black-and-white record of the Royal Show, at a time when Australia still lived off the sheep’s back, shows the one day of the year when city people could see rural Australia on show, while bush people could come to the city to catch up with old friends and compare their animals and produce. The Royal Agricultural Shows still exist but, after years of drought with less people living in the bush and the modern world less dependent on the wool trade, the Royal Show these days is only a shadow of its former glory.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This black-and-white clip shows a horse at work followed by working horses being prepared for and taking part in the Royal Agricultural Show in Melbourne. The clip opens with leisurely shots of a man with his horse and cart working on the road accompanied by quiet slow music. Visuals of horses being groomed for the show precede an aerial shot of showgrounds, and martial music accompanies a police horse display. The clip concludes with fairground music accompanying draught and cart horses taking part in the Grand Parade.

Educational value points

  • The working horse, such as that shown at the beginning of the clip, was a familiar sight in Australian cities until the 1960s, hauling carts for a range of council-funded services. Horse-drawn carts were used for street cleaning and night soil collection, where the night cart would collect sewage from backyard toilets. Other services included the bottle cart that collected bottles for recycling and those that delivered ice and wood.
  • The central place of the horse at Royal Agricultural Shows celebrates the role working horses had in Australia’s history. Horses in earlier times conveyed mail, transported people and goods, drew water from wells, helped to make roads, dig dams and plough fields. Superseded by machinery in the 1950s the horse’s traditional role is remembered and honoured in every state during the annual agricultural shows.
  • The Mounted Police Musical Ride features prominently in the clip, a series of precision drill movements performed by horses and riders in time to music of a police band. This popular event promotes the skill of the horses and riders in the Mounted Police, a force that maintains a key role in policing for ceremonial functions as well as for operational duties such as crowd control at major events. Their appearance at shows is important for police public relations.
  • The draught horse, or workhorse, celebrated in this clip, is a large horse bred for its strength, stamina, patience and docile temperament in order to perform hard, heavy tasks on the farm and in the city. Recognisable for their tall stature, heavy musculature and feathering on their lower legs, the most common breeds in Australia are the Clydesdale and the Irish Draught.
  • The horses’ ‘one day of the year’ refers to the Royal Agricultural Show, which is a yearly event in cities and regional centres all over Australia, bringing together country and city people to celebrate the achievement of Australia’s rural industries. At these shows the Grand Parade and entertainment held in the central arena still provide a focal point, showcasing the judging of livestock and displays of riding and driving prowess.
  • The clip reveals a carefully constructed narrative in three parts. The clip’s opening proceeds in leisurely time with quiet calm music to show the traditional role of the workhorse. Then the middle section creates the tension the horses presumably feel awaiting their ‘hour of triumph’ by using a steady drum beat and birdsong to accompany the scenes of grooming and waiting horses. Finally, martial music heralds the excitement of the show starting with an aerial shot.