A man working on the beach with a mobile phone and laptop and a surfboard on the sand next to him

Australians at Work

20th Century Jobs in Australia

Selected from the Film Australia Collection, the clips in this collection show everyday Australians at work in a variety of contexts.

From dusty outback cattle stations to suburban factories and isolated islands, Australians have been captured on film going about their work for more than a century.

Included here are nurses, canecutters, lighthouse keepers, scientists, artists and more.

These clips are an important historical record of Australia's changing cultural, economic and industrial landscapes from 1910 to the present day.

Main image: iStock.com/MarkPiovesan

A technician takes notes in front of a console of switches and dials.

Testing Rockets At Woomera Rocket Range

Rocket-making and launching tests the limits of science and technology at Woomera in South Australia, the longest rocket range in the western world.

Wildlife Ranger

Australia’s Arnhem Land is patrolled by the wildlife ranger. In a remote and vast area of pristine natural beauty, the work ranges from tracking wildlife to rescuing baby turtles.

A young Greek woman seated in her kitchen.

An Australian-Greek Wife

This clip is an excerpt from the film George and Toula, an episode of Our Multicultural Society Series 1, produced in 1978.

Two lifesavers look out to sea next to a swimming flag

Surf Beach: Sydney Lifesavers

An early summer morning on an almost empty Bondi Beach in Sydney.

View looking down at a lighthouse, ocean and rocks.

Lighthouse Keepers And Their Families

Three lighthouse keepers and their families are the only residents on remote and windswept Maatsuyker Island, off the south-west coast of Tasmania.

Is Squeezing Nursing Healthy?

Nurses are frantic as they rush from patient to patient, working under increased patient-to-nurse ratios.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge partially finished

Sydney’s Harbour Bridge

Officially opened on 19 March 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a massive engineering undertaking that transformed the city.

The Yugal Cattle Company

The Yugal Cattle Company was given a grant of $336,000 to go into business running a cattle station.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons

Two men holding electric guitars in a rehearsal room. Amplifiers in the background.

Working To Play In A Rock Band

In order to earn a living, the members of this rock'n'roll band must work in mundane jobs during the day. At night they pursue their dreams of musical success.

The Postwar Wool Boom

With 125 million sheep spread across the country, and 90 thousand tons of lamb and 3 million tons of wool exported annually, Australia truly rode to prosperity on the sheep’s back.

Men serving food with T shirts reading 'The End of the Line'.

Closing Day At BHP's Newcastle Steelworks

Two-thousand steelworkers collect their final paycheques and walk out of Newcastle’s BHP steelworks for the last time. Men break down and cry. Many have laboured here all their working lives.

A man carries a pile of cut cane on his shoulder.

Cane Cutters

This short film takes a look at the life of Queensland sugarcane cutters.

A flock of sheep by an outback waterhole, from which two of the sheep are drinking

A Farmer's Life In Drought

It hasn’t rained for 18 months and 5,000 sheep have already perished. Farmer Max Russell is desperate to save his remaining flock and hands them over to a drover.

WARNING: This clip may contain animal suffering

Close up of a woman's hands working a sewing machine.

Repetitious Work Affects Migrant Women

Female migrant workers discuss the pain in their hands after long hours of sewing and repetitive factory work.

Portrait of Peter Sculthorpe with piano behind him.

Peter Sculthorpe Composes

Peter Sculthorpe wants to create a perfect work of art.

A group of pensioners packing boxes in a warehouse.

Pensioners Working Part-Time At A Co-Op

Some people experience retiring like hitting a brick wall, finding it hard to live on such a dramatically reduced income.

A woman in a factory operates a steam press.

Competing With Asian Clothing Tigers

The manager of a clothing factory explains how, in Australia, his shirt costs 42 cents a minute to manufacture while in China it costs 1 cent a minute.