Australia is a big place. It’s just as well we love our transport! Whether travelling by runway, railway or road, these films from our collection have you covered. Board a freight train, go behind the wheel of a Holden Monaro, take a spin in a 1920s racing car, or ride the long-gone supersonic Concorde and Sydney Monorail. They might even inspire your next cross-country adventure. Take a spin through Australian automotive history.
Out to drive you wild
If you were an Australian in the late 1960s, you may have dreamt about taking to the highway in a brand-new Monaro, Holden’s answer to Chevrolet’s sporty coupés. This ad from 1968 offers the Monaro as a key to a life of Bond-style glamour. The couple riding in ‘Australia’s first sports machine’ seem dressed more for the Riviera than for a rally, their celebrity vibe reinforced by the cameras that crowd around them when they stop.
These rainy night scenes are filmed impressionistically, with the car appearing to float in a void. With a segue from the flashlights of the cameras to morning sunlight, we’re out on the road, the car biting gravel from the corners as it demonstrates it’s not just a show pony but a serious racehorse.
The psychedelic jingle assures us that 1968 is ‘going to be very Monaro’ – and it was. Monaros dominated the Bathurst 500 that year, and the car punched above its weight in the market. Today, it’s a beloved classic. This ad shows how the image of the car has changed over the decades – from an upmarket sexiness (‘out to drive you wild’) to the quintessential muscle car, prized for its shark-like lines and V8 grunt.
General Motors Holden Monaro TV advertisement, 1968. NFSA title: 412109
A race through the Rockys
This rediscovered 35mm film, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2024, stars legendary racing-car driver 'Smiling' Ralph Mulford, who raced in the very first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. While ostensibly a marketing piece for the Cleveland Six motor car, affectionately known as 'My Pal' within the narrative, the film transcends its promotional origins.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, the film features Mulford and his team as they transport a doctor to the hospital to treat a critical patient, a journey fraught with roadblocks, snowstorms and a series of unforeseen mishaps. This clip demonstrates Mulford’s superior driving skill and daring. He was one of the most accomplished race car drivers until his retirement in 1923. He came second in the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500, though some historians actually believe he won the race.
The entire film, which runs for just under 15 minutes, can be viewed in full on our YouTube channel. Its survival is a remarkable achievement considering that an estimated 75% of all silent films have already been lost to time.
Excerpt from the short film My Pal (1924), featuring American racing-car champion Ralph Mulford. Please note this clip is silent. NFSA title: 1490474
Speed and luxury defined the Concorde
Developed in the 1970s through a groundbreaking partnership between French and British engineers, the Concorde promised a new era of supersonic travel. Flying faster than the speed of sound cut travel times by more than half, but the iconic jet faced limits. Sonic booms restricted it to transoceanic routes, and rising costs, noise issues and accidents eventually led to its retirement after 27 years of service.
The Concorde made its final transatlantic flight in 2003, coming to rest at an airfield near Bristol, where it had been built three decades earlier. This charming 1972 home movie captures a Concorde on the runway at Sydney International Airport in Mascot, alongside retro Qantas and Pan Am jets on the tarmac.
Home movie of Concorde at Sydney Airport, June 1972. Please note this clip is silent. Courtesy: Nathan Cohen. NFSA title: 307422
From people mover to meeting room
‘There's nothing on Earth like a genuine, bona fide electrified, six-car monorail!’
Five years before ‘The Monorail Song’ was immortalised on The Simpsons, Sydneysiders were anticipating the arrival of a single-loop monorail to run from Darling Harbour through Chinatown to the CBD.
This news clip covers the opening to great fanfare of the Sydney Monorail on 21 July 1988. Reporter Steve Barnes shared that many were excited to be amongst the first to experience the 12-minute round trip, while others protested that it would eventually be removed – foreshadowing the controversies that plagued the Monorail throughout its existence.
During its heyday, the Monorail featured in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) and Two Hands (1999), starring Heath Ledger. While the naysayers were eventually proved right, it wasn’t until 30 June 2013 that the monorail closed forever, after 25 years in operation.
Two carriages and 10 metres of Monorail track are now preserved in the Powerhouse Museum. Google bought two of the remaining carriages and converted them to meeting rooms for their nearby Pyrmont offices, an outcome that would have been inconceivable to anyone at the Monorail’s opening in 1988.
Seven Nightly News, 21 July 1988. Courtesy Seven Network. NFSA title: 803129
Keeping Australia on track
From South Australia’s diesel Red Hen to the Puffing Billy steam engine in the lower Dandenong Ranges, trains across Australia come in all shapes and sizes and serve various purposes.
The Commonwealth Film Unit developed this short documentary in 1964 for classroom viewing. It showcases the wide variety of locomotives around the country, from underground passenger trains in Sydney to the huge freight services that cross the outback. It is part of the NFSA’s extensive train collection, which includes film, sound and images of trains dating back to the late 19th Century.
Transport in Australia: Railways At Work, 1964. Made by the Commonwealth Film Unit. NFSA title: 19183
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Main image: Loaded ore train leaving Mount Whaleback mine site, Newman, WA, iStock. Credit: CaptureThisPhotography, 2014
This collection of General Motors Holden cinema and TV ads spans 1955–76.
This diverse collection spans 100 years and shows the relationship between Australia's growing population and evolving public transport systems.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.
