U3A Sessions at NFSA 2024

Part of a series of free U3A events exploring audiovisual history, presented by NFSA Owls (formerly NFSA Alumni) at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Session includes a tea break.

U3A at NFSA: What a goal! Sixty years of Australian women in sport

Friday 30 August, 10:00am – 12:30pm
Presented by Marilyn Dooley

This presentation offers an historical perspective on Australian women in sport and physical activities, from 1896 to 1956.

In 2023, the Matildas achieved a much-deserved national focus on women in sport and Australian identity. Now, in an Olympic year, what better time to adopt an historical perspective and consider the track taken by Australian girls and women in the decades from 1896, when our earliest film of sporting events is dated, to the extraordinary achievements of our women's team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics?  

There is much to consider: costume as an inhibiter to women’s physical activities, laws against mixed bathing, and a distinct lack of acknowledgment of women’s sporting prowess. 

There is surviving film footage of Annette Kellerman, a pioneer advocate for physical fitness. There are galloping girls of the bush. There are newsreels of women rowers, footballers and athletes, hampered by sexist commentary. However, there are also images that reveal the ongoing endeavours and achievements of our women in sport and physical activities, earning them a much-deserved place in Australia’s social history. 

This session will be accompanied by a screening of selected images that illustrate and celebrate the topic.

Part of a series of free U3A events exploring audiovisual history, presented by NFSA Owls at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (formerly NFSA Alumni). Session includes a tea break. 

NFSA Owls comprise former staff and associates of the NFSA. Their activities include research, storytelling, writing, lectures, conferences, colloquiums and community activities.

Image: detail from Annette Kellerman poster 'The Diving Venus'

Past events

U3A at NFSA: What a goal! Sixty years of Australian women in sport
Friday 30 August, 10:00am – 12:30pm
Presented by Marilyn Dooley

This presentation offers an historical perspective on Australian women in sport and physical activities, from 1896 to 1956.

In 2023, the Matildas achieved a much-deserved national focus on women in sport and Australian identity. Now, in an Olympic year, what better time to adopt an historical perspective and consider the track taken by Australian girls and women in the decades from 1896, when our earliest film of sporting events is dated, to the extraordinary achievements of our women's team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics?  

There is much to consider: costume as an inhibiter to women’s physical activities, laws against mixed bathing, and a distinct lack of acknowledgment of women’s sporting prowess. 

There is surviving film footage of Annette Kellerman, a pioneer advocate for physical fitness. There are galloping girls of the bush. There are newsreels of women rowers, footballers and athletes, hampered by sexist commentary. However, there are also images that reveal the ongoing endeavours and achievements of our women in sport and physical activities, earning them a much-deserved place in Australia’s social history. 

U3A at NFSA: Anzac Cove to Hollywood
Friday 23 August, 10:00am – 12:30pm
Presented by Dr Jeff Brownrigg

This presentation will explore the fascinating yet little-known story of soldier-poet Tom Skeyhill. 

Drawing on his extensive research, and his book of the same title, Dr Jeff Brownrigg will explore the life and antics of Tom Skeyhill, a would-be hero and creative conman whose story is worthy of elevation in the annals of Aussie characters. This talk will be illustrated.

U3A at NFSA: Tuning in the Wireless
Friday 19 April, 10:00am – 12:30pm
Presented by Marilyn Dooley

Australian radio celebrated its centenary on 23 November 2023 and continues to play an integral role in Australian media. 

The radio was a significant and much-loved community and household feature for the generations of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. As well as its news and entertainment, radio from these decades offers us a social history of Australia: from wartime declarations to nuclear tests, from Quiz Kids to quiz shows, from long-running soaps to now iconic programs such as Blue Hills and Dad and Dave from Snake Gully. They were joined by Argonauts, The Muddle-Headed Wombat, Australia’s Amateur Hour and a cavalcade of radio dramas. 

Historic radio programs are not out of date, nor should they be merely relegated to dusty shelves. This session explores the cultural significance of radio, which continues to be an integral part of Australia’s media. The presentation will be enriched by the playing of selected historic radio broadcasts. 

U3A at NFSA: Carrying their Voices Home
Friday 12 April, 10:00am – 12:30pm
Presented by Dr Jeff Brownrigg

This presentation will examine the careers of some of the most successful Australian vaudevillians, at home and abroad, lavishly illustrated with their records.

Australia produced many international stars who built significant overseas careers in vaudeville and variety. Artists often started out on the amateur stage in Bendigo or Toowoomba (or elsewhere) before finding their way into professional entertainment, especially in Melbourne or Sydney. Sometimes they were discovered by visiting performers who suggested that going to London or San Francisco might provide opportunities to be heard by much larger audiences. 

From English and North American stages, many launched recording careers in England, the USA and Germany; recordings that carried their voices home. Many of the great pioneering names of Australian recorded performances have left substantial numbers of discs and cylinders, such as Leonard Nelson (‘Goodbye Melbourne Town’), Hamilton Hill (‘Goodbye, Dolly Gray’ which became ‘Good Old Collingwood, Forever’), Florrie Forde (too many ‘great’ hits to mention), Billy Williams (‘When Father Papered the Parlour’) and many more. Where would Canberra Reps’ Old Time Music Hall and other evocative evocations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries have been without them?

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