
On Australia's Rooftops is a home movie travelogue made in 1956 by amateur filmmaker Ernest Singer. It is a family travelogue to the snowfields of Charlotte Pass in Mount Kosciuszko National Park that compares favourably to similar professional productions of the day thanks to a thoughtful script (narrated by Ernest's wife Cora), tight editing and a strong visual aesthetic.
Ernest Singer (1905-1981) was born in Vienna but relocated to Melbourne in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. He was a keen amateur filmmaker and an active member of the Victorian Amateur Cine Society throughout the late 1950s. Filming on his favoured 16mm colour film stock, Singer's films are a mixture of travelogue, social commentary and humour, revealing aspects of Australian life that have long since vanished.
This film is from a collection of approximately 20 of Ernest Singer's 16mm and Super 8mm home movies donated to the NFSA by Ernest's children Joan and Peter.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.