Off the record

Uncovering the 1970s you didn’t learn in school

The 1970s were a decade of rupture and reinvention – but not always the version we’ve seen in textbooks or commemorative specials. These are the outtakes of national memory: government-funded films with an unexpected bite, community voices captured on grainy reels, and docos that held up a mirror to the cracks forming beneath Australia’s sunburnt self-image.

Australia: An Unofficial History, hosted by Jacki Weaver and featuring a chorus of cultural commentators and original participants, reintroduces these long-forgotten films with fresh perspective and biting wit. Many of these works have never screened publicly before. Others were intended for internal use only – produced by Film Australia, a government agency whose brief was to promote a cohesive vision of the country, but whose archive now exposes the fault lines of identity, ideology and inclusion.

The NFSA's curated capsule, Off the Record, extends this conversation. It includes:

• Jenny(1978): one of the first Australian films to depict a teenage lesbian relationship, told in her own words.
• George and Toula(1978): a candid snapshot of love, tradition and culture clash in a Greek-Australian marriage.
• Do I Have to Kill My Child...?(1976): a devastating drama on post-natal depression starring Jacki Weaver, based on real cases.
• The Australia Game(1976): part quiz show, part cultural Rorschach test.
• Good Afternoon(1971): Phillip Noyce’s chaotic two-screen documentary of the Aquarius Festival.

These and other titles reflect the questions people were asking – sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly – about belonging, gender roles, mental health, migration and what it means to be ‘Australian’.

What makes the series and this capsule so compelling is the texture: the thick glasses, the deadpan narrators, the daggy music cues – yes – but also the clarity of the questions being asked. You’ll see emerging feminists, early LGBTI activists, young migrants and everyday people grappling with change in real time.

The NFSA’s collaboration with Stranger Than Fiction Films, along with broadcaster SBS, unlocks a powerful and unvarnished record of a decade we thought we knew. With Off the Record, we invite you to dive deeper – to sit with the contradictions, the progress and the moments where nothing quite resolved.

Watch the series on SBS On Demand.

Then dive deeper with Off the Record. Rent feature titles on NFSA Player, or watch shorter works for free on YouTube.

Main image: Elevated view of crew members on the set of The Australia Game, 1978. A Film Australia Production. NFSA title: 1119