Hugh McInnes

Olympic Games 1956

A documentary covering the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and Stockholm.

Tasmanian Tapestry

A travel film with a poetic narration and orchestral soundtrack on Tasmania: '...set like a scenic tapestry in the Southern Ocean'.

Inland with Sturt

Inland with Sturt is a 1951 documentary from Film Australia consisting of the 1950-51 re-enactment of Captain Charles Sturt's 1829-30 expedition down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers. The re-enactment was part of Australia's 1951 Commonwealth Jubilee Celebrations, commemorating 50 years of Federation.

The Cane Cutters

This short black and white film takes a look at the daily life and work of North Queensland sugarcane cutters. Five million tons of sugarcane (1016 kg) have to be cut by hand, in backbreaking conditions. Itinerant workers contract with a cane grower and work in gangs to cut the cane and load it for transport to the sugar mills. They start early in the morning, then break for a hearty lunch and a mid-afternoon nap in the tropical heat, before heading back out into the fields again to work another shift until dusk. Cane cutting is hard work and you've got to be tough, but the pay is good and the industry itself means much to the thriving state of Queensland.

Christmas Under the Sun

Made by The National Film Board 1947. Directed by Catherine Duncan. Christmas in Australia is a mid summer festival, with temperatures rising high. Over the years many of the traditional northern hemisphere Christmas customs have been modified to fit the climate. Cool drinks have taken the place of hot refreshments and much time is spent out of doors but the spirit of Christmas is unchanged and Santa Clause still arrives with snow glistening in his beard!