Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh are 3 of Australia's all-time great cricketers. Their careers spanned the 1970s and early 1980s.

In this news report we see each player reaching a career milestone in their last test match together playing for Australia against Pakistan on the second day of the fifth test on 3 January 1984.

The Centenary Test was played in 1977 to commemorate 100 years of men's test match cricket between England and Australia.

Many past and current players were present at the game which, interestingly, Australia won by 45 runs – the same winning margin as in 1877.

Highlight footage shows some memorable moments during Australia's second innings (14  to 16 March 1977), including debutant David Hookes famously hitting Tony Greig for 5 consecutive boundaries.

Injured Australian player Rick McCosker batted with a broken jaw and his head covered in bandages to ensure wicketkeeper Rod Marsh could became the first Australian wicketkeeper to score a Test century against England and to build what would be a match-winning total.

At 2:48pm on Saturday 26 February 1949, with the score at 1-111 in the AF Kippax and WA Oldfield testimonial match, Sir Donald Bradman strode onto the Sydney Cricket Ground for his penultimate first-class innings.

This 16mm colour footage is assumed to have been shot by George Hobbs, who had worked as a cameraperson for the Department of Information during the Second World War and later for ABC TV.

His son Adrian donated the film in a can marked ‘Manly and Bondi Beach, Sydney @1949’. So it was a big surprise to find what appeared to be images of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Don Bradman. While the ground was clearly the SCG, it was necessary to confirm the match as 1949.

While most cricket fans would know that Bradman's last test series was in England in 1948, he also played in three testimonial matches after that tour: his own testimonial match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 1948 (a tied match in which Bradman scored his last first-class century), the Kippax-Oldfield testimonial match at the SCG in February 1949 and his final first-class match in a Sheffield Shield game in Adelaide for South Australia against Victoria. The SCG match assisted us in identifying the footage by narrowing the field of locations where the game may have been played.

When we examined the colour film it showed a second cameraperson filming Bradman walking out to bat. A Movietone newsreel in the NFSA collection covered the SCG match and included near-identical images of Bradman and the surrounding crowd from a different angle. By comparing the two we were able to confirm the date, match and time of the colour film as indeed being from 1949.

The colour footage gives a great impression of the crowd and is a wonderful snapshot in time. Although the footage is silent it captures the atmosphere at the ground and the 41,000 people in attendance.

The Sunday Herald (Sydney, 27 February 1949) reported that among the clapping and cheering there were also cries of 'Good luck Bradman', 'Leave it to Don', 'Garn, he aint too old' and 'Have a go, Bradman!'.

Despite having turned 40 and not having played any cricket for three months, Bradman scored briskly to reach 53 off 66 balls. The crowd was anticipating another Bradman century when a slower ball from Miller was mistimed and he was caught out.

In this clip, a young Donald Bradman demonstrates the innovative methods he used to develop his reflexes, hand-eye coordination and concentration when he was an aspiring cricketer growing up in Bowral.

Bradman is shown hitting a golf ball against a water tank with a cricket stump, and demonstrates taking some classic catches from a paling fence.

The excerpt is from a short documentary, How I Play Cricket, directed by Paulette McDonagh in 1932. McDonagh was one of three sisters who made history in 1926 by becoming the first Australian women to own and run a film production company.

Professionally known as the 'McDonagh Sisters', they were among the first to produce a 'talkie' in Australia. Their collaborations led to both feature-length dramas and documentaries, with Paulette working as the director and writer, Phyllis as a producer and Isabel acting under the name 'Marie Lorraine'.

 Then Australian Captain, Ian Chappell, discusses just what makes Australia's way of playing the game so distinctive - from the schoolboy variety to International standard.

Fair Play (1988) is a Film Australia documentary looking back over the the last 50 years of women's test cricket.

In this excerpt, the touring Australian women's cricket team finally get to fulfil their dream of playing cricket on the hallowed turf of Lords after a morning of disappointing weather.

Team manager Ann Mitchell talks about how Australia's opening batswomen were handling their nerves. 

The clip features footage from UK Channel 4's television coverage of the series. Their use of multiple cameras around the ground make for a slick and professional production that the women's game was not always afforded in the 1980s.

The commentary effectively captures the anticipation, excitement and energy of the players as they finally take the field after the lengthy rain delay, while the sounds from the ground announcer in the background helps put the viewer in the moment.

One of the most controversial events in cricket history was the 'underarm incident' between Australia and New Zealand.

On 1 February 1981, during a One-Day International Cricket match against New Zealand, Australian bowler Trevor Chappell delivered the final ball of the match underarm – effectively rolling the ball along the ground.

Trevor was acting on the orders of Australia's team captain, and his older brother, Greg Chappell. This tactic was to ensure that the New Zealand batsman, Brian McKechnie, would be unable to score 6 runs from the final ball to tie the match.

As well as showing the event itself, this news report conveys the mood at the time regarding the incident and the response from New Zealand captain Geoff Howarth.

While bowling underarm was not against the laws of cricket, it was perceived as being against the spirit of the game and was subsequently outlawed.

The 'underarm incident' is remembered as one of the all-time low moments in Australian sporting history.

In this excerpt we are introduced to the 1987 Australian Women's Cricket Team who are about to tour England.

A reporter speaks to captain Lyn Larsen about their form going into the series. Team manager Ann Mitchell talks about their preparation.

Fair Play (1988) is a Film Australia documentary looking back over the the last 50 years of women's test cricket.

Controversially, World Series Cricket (WSC) split the cricket world in late 1977 into establishment and rebel players.

Kerry Packer formed a breakaway competition which had signed 60 of the world's best cricketers, including from South Africa, to participate in a 3-way competition (Australia, the West Indies and the World) playing one-day and traditional 5-day (Supertest) cricket  games.

Despite a number of obstacles, WSC grew in popularity using innovations such as drop-in pitches, multiple camera angles and day-night games.

This clip from The Don Lane Show captures 10 classic catches from the second season of WSC in 1978-79.  

This chart-topping single was originally written as a 60-second jingle by Mojo advertising executives to promote the second season of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket for the Nine Television Network. Written by Mojo directors Alan Morris (‘Mo’) and Allan Johnston (‘Jo’) and other creative staff in 1978, it eulogises prominent cricket players of the period. The popularity of the jingle led Mojo to recut the track, which was performed by the Mojo Singers (Mojo staff and recording studio personnel). It went on to top the charts for two weeks in February 1979.

Following an agreement between Kerry Packer and the Australian Cricket Board in mid-1979, World Series Cricket players were once again able to be selected for the 'official' Australian cricket team.

This particular ad for the World Series Cup competition promotes the excitement generated by one-day cricket and highlights its difference from the traditional game.

It also spotlights many of world cricket's most dynamic and popular players from the time.

This advertisement, created by Sydney ad agency Mojo Partners, is part of a campaign that illustrates the impact 'The Packer Revolution' had on official cricket.

Prominent throughout the campaign is the use of the successful Mojo Singers 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' tune.

Following an agreement between Kerry Packer and the Australian Cricket Board in mid-1979, World Series Cricket players were once again able to be selected for the 'official' Australian cricket team.

This particular ad was designed to downplay the concept of having 'rebel' and 'establishment' players and promote  the players coming together to compete for the coveted 11 spots in the Australian team.

It also teases a little bit of rivalry between the older players and the newcomers. 

This advertisement, created by Sydney ad agency Mojo Partners, is part of a campaign that illustrates the impact 'The Packer Revolution' had on official cricket.

Prominent throughout the campaign is the use of the successful Mojo Singers 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' tune. 

This ad features players from the popular West Indian cricket team and shows how valuable they were at the time in terms of entertainment and promotion of cricket in Australia.

The West Indian team had dominated world cricket throughout the 1970s and were a big drawcard for spectators.

Following an agreement between Kerry Packer and the Australian Cricket Board in mid-1979, World Series Cricket players were once again able to be selected for the 'official' Australian cricket team.

This advertisement, created by Sydney ad agency Mojo Partners, is part of a campaign that illustrates the impact 'The Packer Revolution' had on official cricket.

Prominent throughout the campaign is the use of the successful Mojo Singers 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' tune.

The revised lyrics to 'C'mon Aussie C'mon' in this clip playfully reference the rivalry between the 2 teams and present the improved Australian side as a challenger to the superior West Indies team.

While the identity of the vocalists is unknown, if the Caribbean accent was imitated this ad could be considered offensive today. The style of the ad is reflective of the period in which it was produced, in 1979–80.

The Film Australia documentary Fair Play (1988) looks back over the the last 50 years of women's test cricket between Australia and England.

In this clip we meet some of the players from the 1934 and 1937 teams who recall their playing days.

This excerpt from the documentary also features clips from British Movietone films from 1934 and 1937. The camerawork in these clips expertly captures the women's elegant batting and running between wickets, but also highlights their skills in the field by using sweeping shots of the ground to follow the players and the ball.

Interestingly, the large crowds that can be seen in the background prove what a popular spectator sport the women's game was at the time.

And while the intent of the voice-over is well-meaning, the commentary comes across as somewhat condescending – pointing out that women's cricket has been viewed as a joke and expressing surprise that the women show a lot of talent. 

The interviews with the two older women in this clip prove how seriously they took their sport and also how events like 'Bodyline', that concerned the men's game, had a positive impact on public interest in the women's tests at the time. 

This is the introduction to a 60 Minutes profile by reporter Allison Langdon on Australian Women's Cricket team member Ellyse Perry in the lead-up to the 2015 Women's Ashes series. 

The profile highlights Perry's talents both on the cricket pitch and soccer field, and also shines a spotlight on her status as one of the most popular and marketable athletes in the country at the time.

A news report from the last day's play from only the second tied test in cricket history.

Playing in the first test of a series between Australia and India in Madras (now Chennai), Dean Jones famously scored 210 in extremely hot conditions.

The Indian side collapsed on the final day from 6-331 to be all out for 347 with Greg Matthews dramatically taking the final wicket with the scores even. 

This is the earliest known surviving film of Test cricket action filmed in Australia. Sourced from an incomplete 35mm Pathé Animated Gazette Australian newsreel from December 1910, this half minute silent film has been speed corrected and includes the opening intertitle, now stretched and viewable in its original orange tinting.

This is the only known surviving film of Australian batting great Victor Trumper at the crease, in a career that spanned 255 first class matches over two decades. Trumper is run out for 27, the victim of a direct hit from the left arm of Charlie Llewellyn, the brilliant South African fieldsman stationed at point and just left of frame. Within 5 years of this film, Trumper would be dead at 37, the victim of Bright's disease.

A brief news report from January 2014 on the Women's Ashes series against the touring English team.

By the mid-2010s, women's cricket in Australia was finally getting the recognition it deserved and was pulling large crowds.

Prime-time news bulletins also featured regular reports on matches and profiles of players.

Although this is only a short clip, it's refreshing to see a report on women's cricket that doesn't compare the game to that of the men's.

It's also a good example how a very short news item – less that 40 seconds – can pack in a lot of essential information. The footage of the winning moment in the women's match is seamlessly edited into the report.

The report also notes the format of the women's Ashes series – a combination of T-20 and One-Day fixtures.  

Rare ‘Kinora’ reel featuring 1901 footage of legendary cricketers KS Ranjitsinhji and CB Fry.

NFSA experts photographed all 465 frames in the reel to create this 19-second film, showing the famous cricketers (who played for Sussex and England in the early 1900s) in action for the first time in more than 100 years.

The footage was taken in Hove, England, and the reel was donated to the NFSA by cricket historian Glenn Gibson.

Don Bradman is interviewed in 1930 while on tour in England. It is an informal interview, with Bradman talking casually as he puts on his cricket jumper and jacket.

Bradman discusses the dull light in England, his cricket ambitions, Jack Hobbs and his wish to return to England after the tour.

We gain insights into Bradman’s abilities such as his extraordinary stamina, which he attributes to abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol, rather than an innate ability.

Bradman also demonstrates his batting techniques, offering verbal tips.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggert - Speers

Donald Bradman’s status as an Australian icon is without question. But can just one of the bats he used to enter the record books sum up his unparalleled cricketing career?

Warren Brown pulls on the gloves and picks up the willow at the State Library of South Australia for his choice among the treasured Bradman bats on display in the Adelaide collection.

Investigating National Treasures with Warren Brown is also available for purchase from the NFSA Online Shop.

A news report about the touring English Women's cricket team playing a Women's Cricket Council President's XI Australian team in Canberra. 

Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a great fan of the game, is a keen spectator and then meets the players after the match. 

Don Bradman demonstrates his batting technique, executing a 'pull shot’, an 'off drive’ and a 'leg glance’. He is filmed from a number of different angles both in front of and behind the wicket, in slow motion and at standard speed. Bradman speaks about the importance of teamwork in his success, the uncertainty and interesting aspects of cricket and his love of the game. The clip concludes with footage of a child playing on the grass with a miniature cricket set as the narrator says that cricket is 'in the blood of Britishers’ and its bond of sporting friendship 'helps unite an Empire’.

Summary by Poppy de Souza

This newsreel footage shows part of the funeral procession of Australian cricketer Victor Trumper. A large group of men march in front of a horse-drawn vehicle carrying the casket of Victor Trumper as it approaches a Sydney cemetery.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart - Speers

This is a segment of home movie footage believed to have been filmed in 1933 by Arthur Thomas Sullivan, a merchant and amateur photographer, who was a resident of Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.

The footage appears to be an organised women's cricket match with a good number of spectators sitting around the oval. 

It was a long summer for Australia against the West Indies in 1984-1985.

Having been outplayed for the season and trailing 3-0, both teams headed to Sydney for the fifth and final test.

Banking on the spin of 38-year-old Bob 'Dutchy' Holland and Murray Bennett, Australia spun its way to a rare victory, winning by an innings and 55 runs.

England Captain Douglas Jardine speaks after winning the first Ashes test in Sydney in the infamous 1932-33 'Bodyline' test cricket series. 

In this rarely sighted interview from Cinesound Review No. 58 (December 1932), the English skipper praises the Australians’ efforts following the visitors’ victory in the first Test.

Known for his determination, tactical ability and desire to succeed, Douglas Jardine had previously toured Australia in 1928.

Now captaining the English team on the 1932-33 tour, the decidedly aristocratic skipper – who wore his Oxford University Harlequin cap while playing – was perceived by Australian crowds as being cold and aloof.

Players would comment that, while pleasant off the field, Jardine was single-minded on the field of play with his extremely competitive attitude setting high standards for his team to aspire to.

Amusingly, the director needs to remind Jardine to smile towards the camera at the end of the interview.

See rare highlights from the fourth and fifth Ashes tests here.

Summary by Jeff Wray

Islanders play cricket as the narrator (Jerry W Leach) explains the local customs of the game. One team gets an opposing player out then performs the 'PK’ chant, then an exit dance.

Summary by Pat Fiske

In 1932, The Australians In Toronto, a forgotten 13-minute black and white silent documentary featuring Australia's most famous cricketer of all time, Sir Donald Bradman, in action, was quietly released to the Canadian non-theatrical market.The film depicts the visit of the Australian Cricket Team to Toronto, Canada, in June-July 1932. The visit was part of a wider tour in North America. The whole team is shown posing for the camera. Among the Australian players shown in action are Arthur Mailey (the 'Googley King'), Don Bradman, Stan McCabe, V.Y. Richardson and Alan Kippax.

This black-and-white Australasian Gazette newsreel shows highlights of the 1932–1933 England versus Australia cricket series. It starts with footage of the packed stadium, and then to the Australian cricket team walking out onto the field. It includes clips of the first Test in Sydney.

Summary Elizabeth Taggert - Speers

This newsreel shows highlights of the second Test in the 1932–1933 series, which was won by Australia. It includes England’s Harold Larwood bowling to Jack Fingleton; Don Bradman batting as well as being bowled out; ‘Tiger’ Bill O’Reilly who was Australia’s newest bowler; and Herbert Sutcliffe batting.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggert-Speers

A Ten News report on the form of the Australian Women's Cricket team in November 1988, as they prepare to begin their World Cup campaign. 

Ten's reporter speaks to captain Lyn Larsen, who seems confident going into the series.

Larsen talks about the spearhead of the Australian bowling attack and the youngest player in the team, Zoe Goss. 

This newsreel shows highlights of the third Test cricket Series, often referred to as the 'Bodyline’ series, between England and Australia in Adelaide in January 1933.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggert - Speers

A child sits on the grass next to a miniature cricket kit with stumps, bat and ball, as the narrator explains that a love of cricket is inherent to 'every Australian’. Children play the game in Sydney’s backstreets, followed by footage of the Australian cricket team in action. The narrator describes a 'reversal’ on the cricket field as almost as serious as a 'national calamity’, and how easily a team’s fortunes can change in each match. Seven of the players from the successful 1930 Australian team walk onto a small oval. The captain, Bill Woodfull, addresses the camera to promote the game through the medium of talking pictures which, he says, can 'so lucidly demonstrate and explain most things’.

Summary by Poppy de Souza

The importance of observing and concentration in driving, featuring cricketer Keith Miller.

As a contribution to the cause of road safety Sir Donald Bradman world famous cricketer, played the lead in this film for children. The theme is cricket played in casual suburban small boy fashion, with a narrow street for the oval and a petrol tin for the wicket. Sir Donald comes on the scene and demonstrates the virtues of safety first as a must for those who aspire to play a test cricket for Australia.

Members of Sydney’s French Community gathered after a cricket match

A Ten News report from 1983 on a women's cricket state fixture. The reporter talks to NSW Captain Lyn Larsen about the differences between the women's and men's games. 

In the early 1980s it was uncommon to see women's cricket updates in prime-time news, so this report is somewhat unusual.

However, despite featuring in the news bulletin as a standalone item, the players can't avoid having their game and their talent compared to that of their male counterparts.

An iconic Depression-era popular song, ‘Our Don Bradman’ pays tribute to one of Australia’s greatest cricketers, Sir Donald Bradman.

The song was recorded by radio announcer and singer Len Maurice, using his performance name Art Leonard. Written by Jack O'Hagan just in time for the broadcasting of the 1930 Ashes Test Series between England and Australia, it was an immediate hit, selling 40,000 copies of sheet music within a week.

The song was subsequently recorded by various Australian artists, including Maurie Fields, Jim Haynes and Greg Champion.