This hand-coloured glass slide would have been shown in cinemas aimed at patrons who aspired to look like a Hollywood movie star.

In this newsreel excerpt, Annette Kellerman is training her troupe of performers in Sydney for a 'musical marine fantasy' hospital benefit – complete with piano accordion accompaniment.

It is a year after the end of the Second World War and Australians are hungry for the romance and elegance of French fashion.

An excerpt from a radio tour around the women's fashion department at McKinlay's Store in Launceston, Tasmania in 1946.

3AW Melbourne radio comperes Peter Ellis and Judy Willing gush over a 'superb' Paris frock worn by Helen Wiseman at The Stork Club in Melbourne in 1947.

French mannequins (models) Lydia Leplat, Janine Lequievre, Suzanne Combe and Maggy Sarragne arrive by sea plane at Rose Bay before performing a runway show at Mark Foy’s department store in 1947.

A series of brides and bridesmaids enter this Mark Foy's fashion parade as if stepping out of a gilt-edge picture frame, before smiling for the camera.

The Australian Woman's Weekly magazine brings together top French and Australian models ('mannequins') with the latest Paris fashions at Sydney's Trocadero nightclub in 1948.

In a huge moment for Australian fashion, this was the first time original fashions designed by Christian Dior were seen outside Paris.

This ABC recording features the Victory in Europe (VE Day) Federal Parliamentary announcement of the end of Second World War hostilities in Europe.