On 12 March 2004, and three years into his term as the 26th Governor of Victoria, John Landy visited the NFSA’s Melbourne office (then under our shortlived ScreenSound Australia re-branding) to personally view our footage from his running career. Somewhat bemused to find many of his best races (both in Australia and abroad) had not been captured by the newsreel cameras, on his behalf, a request was made if film of his famous 21 June 1954 world record run in Turku, Finland could be located, for screening at a forthcoming 50th anniversary commemorative dinner. While film of a 1954 1000 metre race in Helsinki was located by our Finnish Film Archive colleagues, moving images of the momentous Turku run would remain elusive.

A very appreciative Governor would be presented by the NFSA with a five minute edited compilation of choice images from the NFSA collection interspersed with photos of the Turku race from the Governor’s own collection, in time for the evening.