The title of this Australasian Gazette newsreel, 'Defying Death', indicates just how life-threatening parachuting was in the 1920s.

Wing Commander Stanley Goble and Flying Officer Ivor McIntyre completed the first flight around Australia when they landed their Fairey IIID seaplane at St Kilda on 19 May 1924.

Singing a song that Nellie Melba made famous, Violet Mount, who used the stage name L’Incognita, is paired with the New Zealand born flautist, John Amadio.

In this recording, Florence Austral sings the hymn commonly known as 'There is a green hill far away'.

Frances Alda became a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York in the early 20th century.

Una Bourne, pianist and composer, was born in Mudgee NSW in 1882. She was a child prodigy, who was performing publicly by the 1890s, playing at a benefit concert for Amy Castles in 1899.

Florence Austral was born in Richmond, Melbourne in 1892. Famed as a Wagnerian soprano, she received great acclaim for her performances as Brunhilde and Isolde at Covent Garden in London.

In 1921, performing for the theatrical organisation JC Williamson’s, Gladys Moncrieff played the role of Teresa in The Maid of the Mountains, a role that established her as a major star –

A sequined dress bought in Paris by Kathleen Coen in 1925 became part of Australia’s film history through association with Isabel, Paulette and Phyllis McDonagh - the first Australian women to own

Dame Nellie Melba sings the national anthem, God Save the King, on the steps of Parliament House (now Old Parliament House), in Canberra at the official opening in 1927.