Australasian Gazette: HMAS Brisbane Launched at Cockatoo Island
1915
Australasian Gazette: HMAS Brisbane Launched at Cockatoo Island
1915
- NFSA ID0XWJ24E1
- TypeFilm
- MediumMoving Image
- FormNewsreel
- Year1915
Crowds gather at the docks at Cockatoo Island for the launching of the HMAS Brisbane on 30 September 1915. Mrs Fisher, wife of the then Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, breaks a bottle of champagne over the ship’s bow. The ship is then launched to the witness of thousands of onlookers – some of them from small boats bobbing in the harbour. Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers.
Crowds gather at the docks at Cockatoo Island for the launching of the HMAS Brisbane on 30 September 1915. Mrs Fisher, wife of the then Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, breaks a bottle of champagne over the ship’s bow. The ship is then launched to the witness of thousands of onlookers – some of them from small boats bobbing in the harbour. Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers.
- NFSA ID0XWJ24E1
- TypeFilm
- MediumMoving Image
- FormNewsreel
- Year1915
Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour, was the site of a major dockyard in Australia. At the time of this newsreel, it was the largest shipping dock of its kind in the world. Built by convicts, it was the first dry dock in Australia and became the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard in 1913.
During the period of the First World War, a series of naval ships were built at Cockatoo Island including the HMAS Brisbane which we see launched in this newsreel. People flocked to see the spectacle of this Town class cruiser begin its maiden voyage.
Newsreels were an integral part of cinema programming in Australia before the advent of television in 1956. Issued on a weekly basis, newsreels enabled people to further engage with local and national political stories and events.
Notes by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers
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