Movies: Australian National Film Board

Two Aboriginal families live like their ancestors have for centuries in this anthropological documentary. The gathering of food is the main focus as women harvest grass seeds to make a primitive flour for bread. Grubs, lizards, and fruit are also on ...

A road safety lesson using puppets and animation kindergarten age children....

Original archival synopsis: The Japanese bombed Darwin many times during World War II because it was strategically important target number one in their attack on the Australian mainland. Before the war, Darwin was little known except to the crews of ...

Canberra, the National Capital of Australia, is a city which has been planned; a place where modern living is enriched by a lovely setting. But the hustling young city of today is expanding and developing, and there is emerging the pattern of the pro...

This film makes clear for the layperson the whole pattern of building construction for a brick home, from the moment that the architect prepares working plans to the completion of the house itself. It was originally intended as an instructional film ...

The film examines the organisation of civil aviation in Australia, from passenger flights to freight and utility aircraft. It includes planning and control procedures before and during each flight, safety measures established by the Department of Civ...

Radio is one of the most important communication technologies ever invented and has been a vital tool in helping Australians overcome the tyranny of distance both nationally and internationally....

This film about Library services in Australia shows some of the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the National Library with its varied resources and examples of State, University, special and public services suggesting their value in me...

Beautifully filmed in black and white, this classic short film looks at pearling in the late 1940s. It goes on board the boats that work off the coast of Broome, Western Australia, from March to December each year. Crewed mainly by Aboriginal, Malay ...

This year the Musica Viva Festival will feature content from the NFSA's Film Australia Collection to be screened in the Bang & Olufsen Salon throughout the festival in Sydney. This film Music Camp is one of those films. Directed by R. Maslyn William...

In the estuaries and lagoons of the Northern Territory, freshwater and saltwater crocodile are hunted for their hides by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunters. This film shows Aboriginal people using age-old hunting techniques to land crocs eith...

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 f...

Shows new methods in treating those afflicted with mental health issues. Contrasts past treatment regimes where people were locked away out of sight with the new, 1960s, psychiatric ideas of "group therapy" and talking therapy. Also shows practical b...

The way of life for people living along the tropic of Capricorn in Queensland 1965. Farming and mining are the main industries in this area of Australia and the only way to get around is by road train, train or plane. The hard way of life for these p...

Can't find what you are looking for? All you have to do is ask. Such advice is not so straightforward when you can't speak the language. By 1951, Australian postwar migration programmes were geared to receiving large numbers of non-British migrants. ...

The coast of Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory has been the home of Aboriginal people for many many centuries. Some still live a traditional lifestyle. This film is a record of a 1948 expedition to Arnhem Land led by anthropologist Charle...

There was dancing in the street and tea on the river front when the Jacaranda Festival sprung to life in the last week of October in 1949. The Jacaranda Queen was the "most popular and prettiest girl in town" and the whole of the Clarence Valley desc...

Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the South Australian regional town of Mount Gambier in the mid 1960s....

Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the New South Wales regional town of Wagga Wagga in the mid 1960s....

Produced by The National Film Board 1945. Directed by Maslyn Williams. When this film was made, Canberra was one of the world's youngest planned cities. This film briefly outlines how the Australian colonies became one nation in 1901 and how the need...