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National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Tagged: swimming

Exhibition
Annette Kellerman: Australia's Fearless Mermaid
The NFSA celebrates Australia's own Million Dollar Mermaid - silent movie star Annette Kellerman.
Collection
Annette Kellerman – Australian silent movie star
The list of Annette Kellerman's achievements is extraordinary: champion swimmer and diver, vaudeville performer, international silent film star, stunt performer and entrepreneur. Born in Sydney in...
Article
The golden era of Australian swimming
Two of Australia’s greatest swimmers, Olympic champions Jon Henricks and Lorraine Thurlow (nee Crapp), recently donated a never-before-seen film to the NFSA.
Video
From Sand to Celluloid - Two Bob Mermaid: ‘Swimmin’… that’s for white fellas’
Aboriginal kids cling to the fence that keeps them out of the pool area. In the pool, Koorine (Carrie Prosser) races a young girl (Megan Drury). They talk about being like Dawn Fraser and Esther...
Video
From Sand to Celluloid - Two Bob Mermaid: Crossing the street
A small hut nestled in the hills. Koorine (Carrie Prosser) is sitting and writing by the light of a lamp. Her brother teases her as he walks past. Koorine fantasises about being a glamorous swimmer....
Video
2006: The Perfect finale
This Nine Network news story from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne reports on the women's 4 x 100 metres relay team smashing its own world record by more than a second. The team set the...
Video
Annette Kellerman's underwater ballet
Kellerman was 52 years old when her husband and manager Jimmie Sullivan filmed this rare footage of her performing the underwater adagio - a slow ballet dance. It was filmed in the crystal clear...
Video
Annette Kellerman's 'musical marine fantasy'
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. Almost 20...
Video
The Perfectly Formed Woman: Annette Kellerman
‘After making examinations of ten thousand girls, Annette Kellerman is the closest to physical perfection of any’ declared Dr Dudley Sargent, director of the Harvard University Gymnasium in 1912....
Video
Annette Kellerman: Home Movie
Annette Kellerman was 70 years old when this silent home movie footage was filmed. Her athleticism is very much in evidence - particularly as she strikes synchronised swimming poses in the ocean in...
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Acknowledgement of Country

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.

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