Old film projector shining light onto a rectangular white screen in a dark room

Home movies

This collection includes highlights of some of the almost 6,000 unique home movie titles held by the NFSA.

Home movies capture candid moments of family life, holidays and special events. They can also record history as it happens and the unguarded moments of celebrities.

The earliest footage in this collection is of a Higgins family picnic in Hobart, in 1909. There are scenes of The Beatles and Winston Churchill, the Melbourne Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

Also featured are behind-the-scenes glimpses of film sets, artists, circus performers, designers, dancers, sportspeople, hairdressers and holidaymakers.

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

Maori carvings of two figures under an arch

South Pacific Wanderings: Rotorua, New Zealand

Exploring the North Island of New Zealand, this footage focuses on Whakarewarewa – the living Maori village and the geothermal attractions of Te Puia, Rotorua.

Dawn Swane with The Beatles

Never-before-seen footage of The Beatles, getting ready for the special The Music of Lennon & McCartney on 1 November 1965. This clip is silent.

Bush Critics by Don Featherstone

With Bush Critics (1961), Don Featherstone elevates home movies by combining crowd-pleasing shots of koalas with a genuine story arc.

Cricket tour of India

Jon Human was selected for the Australian Schoolboys Cricket Team of 1966–67.

Annette Kellerman as an older woman wearing a bathing suit and swimming cap. She is swimming on her back in a pool and looking at the camera.

Annette Kellerman: Home Movie

Annette Kellerman was 70 years old when this silent home movie footage was filmed.

Don Bradman walking onto the cricket pitch

Don Bradman in Colour

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 firs

It is night time. A young David Gulpilil wears traditional bodypaint and holds a clap stick above his head as he dances. Two men are in the background, also wearing bodypaint.

Rare footage of David Gulpilil dancing, 1979

This exquisite home movie featuring David Gulpilil,

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

A busy street scene in 1950s San Francisco.

Buckley Family Collection: Anthony Buckley in San Francisco

This film contains footage shot by Anthony Buckley of his visit to San Francisco in 1958–59.

Actors Emil Minty and Mel Gibson in costume on the set of Mad Max 2. They are seated on the back of trailer in between takes and Minty is holding a silver boomerang while Gibson is laughing

Mad Max 2 Home Movie: Life on Set

This home movie by Peter Kamen gives us a fascinating glimpse of life on set during the shooting of Mad Max 2 on location in June 1981.

Melbourne art scene in the 1950s

This clip features home movie footage taken by Gerty Anschel (c.1954-1955) with audio commentary by filmmaker and artist Philippe Mora.

Tex Glanville's amazing vaudeville performers

Strongman Paul Anderson, a.k.a.

Singapore Synopsis

Alan Bresnahan filmed a Singapore in transition, with skyscrapers and cars mingling with smaller buildings, building sites – often with bamboo scaffolding – and rickshaws.

Society Wedding, 1914

This rare example of amateur or home movie footage provides a glimpse of a society wedding about 1914, probably in an eastern suburb of Sydney.

1956 Melbourne Olympics: Bruce Beresford

Bruce Beresford is one of Australia’s most successful and internationally recognised film directors. But at 16 years of age Bruce was only just discovering what he could do with a movie camera.

Japanese people walking among blossom trees

Cherry Blossoms in Japan

The British Commonwealth Occupation Force was in Japan from 1946–52, with two squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force based at Iwakuni near the village of Bofu (now Hofu).

Futuristic styles at hairdressing convention

A futuristic cone-head hairstyle is a popular style at this convention, as well as multi-coloured hair dyes ranging from dusty green to bright pink.

Queen Elizabeth II at her Coronation with members of the Church around her

Menzies RG: Our Coronation Tour - Coronation and procession

This clip from a home movie, filmed by Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, shows Queen Elizabeth II arriving at Westminster Abbey in a horse-drawn carriage.

Still from a home movie showing a family playing on the beach

Frederick Simpson Dyer: First day at the beach

This home movie was filmed in spring 1941.

Colourful sculptures of figures on a Thai temple

Sightseeing in Thailand

This home movie is unadulterated sightseeing, with R Minter recording the local sites and temples as he and his family travelled along the streets and canals around Bangkok and beyond.

A family celebrate the birthdays of their two girls in the 1950s. Brother, mother and father watch on as the girls sit in front of their cakes.

Birthday party for two

The Gerakiteys family celebrate their daughters’ birthday in their family garden. Their younger son watches on as the girls sit with their birthday cakes.

Close up of a woman's face wearing an exotic beaded headress

Wirth's Circus: Behind the Big Top

The film begins with Wirth's famous circus elephants being dressed in their costume rugs. This is followed by a menagerie of animals: horses, ponies, zebras, more elephants and a caged lion.

WARNING: This clip may contain animal suffering

Bobo the clown on set with a man and a large teddy bear

Hal Turner as Bobo the Clown

This clip from Hal Turner's home movies includes footage of him performing as Bobo the Clown with his daughter Gayle as Lenny the Lion.

A panoramic view of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA.

Buckley Family Collection: Anthony Buckley at the Grand Canyon

This film contains footage shot by Anthony Buckley of the Grand Canyon in 1958–59. He recalled of the experience:

One man teeing off playing golf while others watch

Golf in China

Wander among the stunning landscape of a golf course that was established in 1916, later becoming the Shanghai Zoo in 1954.

Boys marching on Anzac Day 1946 carrying a Union Jack flag and an Australian Air League banner

Anzac Day March, 1946: Home Movie

This is a clip from a 1940s home movie with footage of a street parade through Sydney for Anzac Day in 1946.

Ernest Singer: On Australia's Rooftops

On Australia's Rooftops is a home movie travelogue made in 1956 by amateur filmmaker Ernest Singer.

Sir Winston Churchill walking arm in arm with Dame Pattie Menzies

Menzies RG: Our Coronation Tour - Winston Churchill

This clip from a Sir Robert Menzies home movie begins with a close-up of Sir Winston Churchill. It then shows him sitting on a rock beside a small waterfall, playing fetch with a dog.

Dancer Dawn Swane on touring Europe with London Festival Ballet

Australian dancer and make up artist Dawn Swane talks about her years touring with the London Festival Ballet in the 1950s.

The Fiji Islands

The opening sequence and intertitles suggest this film was intended for family and friends to enjoy at a home movie night.

Black and white still people sitting around a swimming pool with their legs dipping in. Two dogs sit by the pool too.

Archibald family: relaxing by the pool

This clip shows the Archibald family enjoying themselves in a backyard swimming pool in the early 1930s. This film was donated to the National Film and Sound Archive by Helen Phillips, the daughter

Richards Home Movies: Holiday Time

From the Film Australia Collection. The Richards Home Movie Collection was donated to Film Australia in 2006 where the collection of 16mm films were restored and digitised.

1956 Melbourne Olympics: Mike Leyland

As one half of the 'Leyland Brothers’, Mike Leyland traveled through the Australian outback when it was still something of a remote frontier and largely unknown to most Australians living in urban

Peter Finch seated outdoors in The Shiralee

Rare colour home movie of The Shiralee

This clip is from a colour 8mm home movie showing behind-the-scenes footage of the popular black-and-white UK-Australian film The Shiralee (1957), starring Peter Finch and directed by Lesl

A fashion model in white bandage dress wearing elaborate dark eye make-up and hair covering

Norma Moriceau: home movie

Costume designer Norma Moriceau (1944–2016) drew upon her background as part of the London punk and fashion scene to create the memorable costumes in

A man stands looking at the camera as a woman combs her hair looking in a mirror by the riverbank

Farey: family picnic

The Farey family enjoy a picnic on a river bank in the 1930s. They drink tea and throw stones into the river.

The Gordon Innes Collection

This silent footage is only a small part of a personal collection donated to Film Australia in 2006 and now part of the NFSA FAC Library collection.

Mornington Island mission, 1940s

This is an excerpt from colour home movies made between 1944 and 1948 by Reverend James McCarthy, the Superintendent of the Presbyterian Mission on Mornington Island.

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

Black and white still of a man dressed as Santa and a young boy dressed in white, with a white hat on, standing beside a cake

Santa on a see-saw

This clip includes five-year-old Wally being picked up and hugged by his parents; an older man dressed as Santa Claus; children on a seesaw and playing ring-a-rosie; Wally being pushed on a swing b

Soldiers in uniform marching on Anzac Day in Strathalbyn

Anzac Day March, 1933: Home Movie

This is a clip of an Anzac Day march in 1933 at Strathalbyn, South Australia. It is taken from a home movie shot by K Loader.

A group of young men and boys are building a backyard BBQ using cement besser blocks

Sid Bennetts Home Movie: Building a Backyard Barbecue

In this short excerpt from a home movie donated to the NFSA by amateur filmmaker Sid Bennetts, we see a group of young men and boys building a barbecue in their backyard.

Bryce Higgins home movies – Picnic at Mount Wellington, Hobart

This footage opens with scenes of a family picnic at Mt Wellington, Hobart, in 1909, and then documents family events such as Christmas (1922), childrens' birthday parties, toy cars, picnics, ho

A young girl climbs into the back seat of the family's green Holden while her grandmother exits the door of the caravan.

Gold Coast holiday: home movie

The NFSA has a number of home movies of Gold Coast holidays. This clip from the 1970s is an excerpt from home movies shot by Eileen Smith.

Ballet Russes dancer Tamara Toumanova posing on the sand at Bungan Beach, circa 1939.

Ballet Russes in Australia: Tamara Toumanova (c.1939)

Filmed in slow motion, Tamara Toumanova, wearing a green and black swimsuit, performs a series of leaps and poses on the sand at Bungan Beach. Summary by Poppy de Souza.

Surfing in Bali

Beautiful blues and vibrant greens fly by as Tim Bonython navigates Bali in search of the ideal waves to glide along.

Three women laugh after crashing their toboggan

Home movie: Holiday Scenes at Mount Buffalo

A couple ski in tandem down a small incline before the woman jumps off and the man falls over. Another couple toboggan down the incline by sitting on their skis.

Eleven boats of differing sizes and types on the water.

Home movie: Sydney Opera House Opening

Amateur cinematographer George Browne shot this silent home movie at the opening of the Sydney Opera House on 20 October 1973.

A man and woman in 1920s bathing suits standing by a swimming pool. The man has its arms out to his sides, about to jump in

The Fairfax Family at Fairwater

This is an extract from a 16mm home movie from the JO Fairfax Estate, filmed between 1928 and 1933.

Close up of Warren Brown wearing gloves and looking through the lens of an older style movie camera.

Robert Menzies’ Camera

When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared Australia was also at war.

home movies