This clip shows a group of men posing for the camera at the 1896 Melbourne Cup. Unfamiliar with moving image, the men remain still as if posing for a photograph.

This clip shows the end of the 1896 Melbourne Cup horse race through the onlooking crowd. Newhaven wins.

Summary by Elizabeth Taggart-Speers

Football, meatpies, kangaroos and Thomson cars?

Herbert Thomson was the first person to design, build and market a wholly Australian-made car, 50 years before the first Holden.

Mary Narelle, was born Mary Ryan at the Combaning Sheep Station near Temora, NSW, to parents of Irish descent.

The J W. ' Excursion to London’ is a panoramic theatrical toy made from simple materials: cardboard, paper, wood, string, wax and paint.

Syria Lamonte (1869-1935) is the earliest known Australian performer to make a commercial recording. Lamonte was born Sarah Cohen in Sydney and arrived in London in 1896.

This actuality footage from 1899 shows the unloading of timber spars from the SS Katoomba at a busy wharf in Brisbane.