Welcome home committee for Sir John Monash at St Kilda Pier
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/collection/hero_image09-2016/cc_ausgazette_hero03.jpg

Newsreels - Australasian Gazette

Newsreels - Australasian Gazette

The Australasian Gazette newsreels held at the NFSA span over three decades and capture political and national events, sport and entertainment.

Newsreels were an integral part of cinema programming in Australia before the advent of television in 1956. Issued on a weekly basis, the newsreels enabled people to further engage with local and national political stories and events.

From 1913 until the advent of the talkie newsreels in the early 1930s, Australasian Gazette produced over 1,000 weekly issues covering the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York in 1927, the 'Bodyline’ cricket series as well as footage of Dame Nellie Melba in her home.

Australasian Gazette: Dame Nellie Melba
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
33064
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This newsreel footage shows soprano Dame Nellie Melba, having arrived in Sydney from Vancouver on the passenger liner RMS Niagara after a world tour.

Australasian Gazette: Mermaids Swim Well
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
45542
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This Australasian Gazette newsreel from approximately 1931 shows highlights of the Bondi Ladies’ Annual Carnival at the local Bondi baths, at the south end of Bondi Beach. Edna Davey is shown well in front in the mile championship. The Bondi Club wins the relay, the start of the 100 yards Intermediate State Title Race is shown and Jean Cocks is featured as the winner of the Australian and State Title Races for that season. The clip ends with a close-up of Jean Cocks.

Australasian Gazette: Annual Christmas Treat
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
50134
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This segment from an old cinema newsreel shows Christmas celebrations for children at the Victoria Barracks in Sydney, including a live puppet show and Father Christmas handing out presents.

Australasian Gazette: 1924 Melbourne Cup
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
10443
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This newsreel features highlights of the 1924 Melbourne Cup, including the horses entering the racetrack, crowds in the grandstand and the race, won by Backwood.

Australasian Gazette: The Duke and Duchess of York arrive in Sydney
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
1108
Courtesy:
Australasian Films
Year:
Year

This 1927 newsreel shows the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York for the official opening of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra.

The HMS Renown, carrying the royal passengers, arrives through the heads of Sydney Harbour. The Royal Australian Air Force gives an aerial greeting.

Australasian Gazette: 70,000 Pounds Production Nears Completion
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
1163
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This newsreel clip from 1926 shows a scene from the film For the Term of His Natural Life in production at the Australasian Films’ Bondi studio, Sydney NSW. A cameraman on a moving platform, or dolly, shoots the scene as Sarah Purfoy (Jessica Harcourt) talks to Captain Frere (Dunstan Webb) in a sitting room and a kangaroo jumps onto set.

Australasian Gazette: The Charlie Chaplin and Beauty Girl Competitions
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
804143
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This silent black-and-white Australasian Gazette newsreel contains footage of the children’s afternoon at the Australian Horse Carnival held at the Sydney Showground on Saturday 12 February, 1921.

Events include the 'Charlie Chaplin and Beauty Girl Competitions', and young women dressed as 'America's sweetheart' Mary Pickford.

Australasian Gazette: 10,000 Miles around Australia
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
27001
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

In this Australasian Gazette newsreel from approximately 1926, Mr and Mrs F Dean arrive in Melbourne after their Shell-sponsored trip around Australia by touring car.

The Ups and Downs of Cricket
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
34971
Year:
Year

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

Australasian Gazette: Mimic Warfare
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
1112
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

In this 1917 newsreel, troops from the Engineers’ Depot rehearse a raid on enemy trenches and are instructed by their commanding officers over the telephone.

Australasian Gazette: Prickly Pear Infested Areas of Australia
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
14021
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This silent newsreel from approximately 1926 shows bushland in eastern Australia infected with the noxious prickly pear cactus and the efforts of the scientists trying to combat the problem using cochineal insects. These insects are shown crawling over a piece of prickly pear and a Cactoblastis moth is shown emerging from a chrysalis. The newsreel closes with cattle grazing in bushland free of the prickly pear.

Today the German monster threatens the world
NFSA-ID:
NFSA ID
107654
Courtesy:
Australasian Gazette
Year:
Year

This cartoon begins with a caption that reads, ‘the German monster threatens the world with bloodshed, slavery and death’. An animated King Kong-like monster wreaks havoc on the world, destroying villages, women and children. At the end of the clip, an intertitle says ‘your help is needed and needed now’, accompanied by an illustration of a soldier to encourage young men to enlist in the armed forces.

Summary by Poppy de Souza