City in the Sun

Shows metropolitan life in and around Sydney as well as some shots of other cities.

This film is not presented as a documentary about a particular Australian city, seeking to reflect the mood of Australian metropolitan life. Never the less, much of it is filmed in Sydney and includes sights and sounds of Sydney in the 1940s: trams in the centre of the city on Elizabeth, King and George streets, Luna Park, Pyrmont Bridge. The art deco T&G building, the AWA building and tower, Farmers store, Grace Brothers, David Jones. Plus railway memories: Wynyard, Museum and St James stations, and the old departure board at Central.

The framing of the invasion of the Sydney area (known as the Eora nation by Aboriginal custodians) as a 'rising from a state of wilderness' and the reference to 'instincts for civilisation' are based on outdated cultural assumptions from the time. Such beliefs gave rise to the fiction of terra nullius.

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by Alasdair Loch Productions 1947.

Notes by Beth Taylor