All sponsored films
75 titles - sorted by title / by year
Many government agencies have produced films to record their activities – for science, for posterity, to persuade or educate. Private organisations have also commissioned films and videos as a tool to get a message across.
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Action Loop (1978)
Produced by the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Authority, this documentary promotes the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop as a way of meeting Melbourne’s growing public transport needs. It includes ...
Australia Post – 200 Years (1988)
This is a short programme produced to mark Australia Post’s commemoration of the 26 January 1988 Australian Bicentennial.
Australia Post – Australia Post Inc (1990)
This in-house program, directed at controlling postal managers (CPMs) and postal managers (PMs), discussed what the Australian Postal Corporation Act (the APC Act) meant for individual post offices.
Australia Post – Joint Stamp Issue (1988)
This program records Australia Post’s release of a special joint Australian and United States bicentennial stamp and a commemorative bicentenary book of stamps.
Australia Post – Meeting the Challenge (1988)
This in-house program was produced for Australia Post management and employees to inform them of what the Australian Postal Corporation Act (the APC Act) will mean for the ...
Australia Post – News Release E-Post Electronic Mail (1985)
This 1985 video press release explains E-Post, a new service offered by Australia Post.
Australia Post – Olympic Post Script (1956)
This black-and-white film was produced to celebrate the communications achievements of the PMG (Postmaster-General’s Department) during the summer Olympic Games, held in Melbourne from 22 November to 8 ...
Australia Post – Onward Speed (1970)
Produced by The Film House for the Australian Post Office, this is an amusing instructional film on maximising the effectiveness of business mail procedures.
Australia Post – Post Office Film (1942)
This is an unedited mute, black-and-white film record of the dismantling of the Sydney General Post Office (GPO) clock tower, as well as street scenes near and around ...
Australia Post – Post Office Speeds the Mail (1970)
This is a short program produced by Bennett Honda for the Australian Post Office to introduce and promote the new use of motorcycles by postal delivery officers.
Australia Post – Post Office Spruce Up (1987)
This program, produced for in-house use aimed at individual post office managers, details the Australia Post ‘Spruce Up’ campaign.
Australia Post – Recruitment (1989)
This is a collection of short videos produced by Australia Post, each entitled ‘Australia Post Career Employment’. The collection profiles eight different career opportunities for individuals considering working ...
Australia Post – Royal Tour (1954)
This program was produced by the Public Relations Division of the Postmaster-General’s Department (PMG) to celebrate its role in the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Australia. ...
Australia Post – Security (1989)
This program, produced for in-house training use, outlines the operations of Australia Post’s Security and Investigation Service and alerts personnel to the range of potential mail crime.
Australia Post – The Last of the TPOs (1985)
This program was produced to mark the closure of the last remaining TPO (Travelling Post Office) service in Australia.
Australia Post – This is the Mail (1966)
This is a black-and-white film, showcasing what was then the newly opened Redfern Mail Exchange. It looks at Redfern’s centralised system of mail collection and distribution. While detailing ...
Australia’s Land of Tomorrow (1962)
Australian Inland Mission (AIM) superintendent Reverend Fred McKay conducts his patrol through the north of Australia. Along the way he witnesses a prospering region where industry and agriculture ...
An Australian Invention: Falkiner Cane Harvester in Operation (c1925)
This promotional documentary for the mechanical Falkiner Cane Harvester incorporates animated sketches, intertitles and live-action examples to demonstrate how the harvester operates in the cane fields of Bundaberg, ...
The Australian Steel Works (c1920)
This promotional documentary presented by the Made in Australia Council looks at the workings of an Australian steel works factory in Newcastle.
Beautiful Melbourne (1947)
This footage, put together by the Brotherhood of St Lawrence in 1947, illustrates the conditions of inner-city housing in Melbourne, Victoria. It shows inner suburban housing in poor ...
Beyond the Furthest Fences (1947)
A silent documentary that shows scenes from a journey made by Australian Inland Mission patrolling minister, the Reverend KF ‘Skipper’ Partridge, through central Australia in 1947. He travels ...
Birth of a Car (c1948)
This documentary, most likely produced by or commissioned by Holden, proudly details the planning, testing and production of the first locally manufactured Holden model sedan developed to suit ...
Boots and Shoes (c1924)
A promotional film presented by the Made in Australia Council that shows the manufacture and assembly of Australian-made footwear in a factory. It ends with the slogan ‘wherever ...
A Brief Survey of the Activities of the Brisbane City Mission (c1939)
This promotional documentary made by the Brisbane City Mission surveys the Mission’s activities and services during the late 1930s and the relief they provide for thousands of the ...
Carnival of Flowers, Toowoomba (1953)
Every spring, in the heart of Queensland’s Darling Downs, Toowoomba celebrates the Carnival of Flowers, complete with floral street parade, garden competitions and the crowning of the floral ...
The City of Geelong (1957)
This part travelogue, part promotional documentary, made by the Shell Film Unit Australia, illustrates how the city of Geelong has developed into a great industrial centre since it ...
Commonwealth Bank – The School Bank (1951)
Produced for the Commonwealth Savings Bank by the Australian National Film Board, the film, aimed at primary school children, explains the place of the School Banking program in ...
Commonwealth Bank – Willie Wombat: Waste Not Want Not (c1939)
In this Eric Porter animation of ‘the grasshopper and the ant’ fable, Willie Wombat lazes and plays all summer. He laughs at his animal mates devoting time to ...
CSIRO – Rabbits in Confined Populations Management Techniques (c1955)
A 16mm training film, produced c1955 by the CSIRO Film Unit for the Wildlife Survey Section, detailing procedures in field experimentation in rabbit population control.
A Day at an Engineering Works (c1926)
A silent documentary produced by the Made in Australia Council that details the work inside the Perry engineering works in Adelaide in order to promote and support Australian ...
A Day in a Biscuit Factory (1932)
This sponsored film takes the viewer inside Swallow & Ariell’s Port Melbourne biscuit factory. It shows the quality testing of ingredients, biscuit, wafer and cake making and tin ...
Eventide and Westbrook Farm Home: Brisbane City Mission (1950)
Operated through the Queensland State Government Department of Health and Home Affairs, the Eventide aged care facility is situated in the seaside suburb of Sandgate in Brisbane. In ...
The Evolution of a Chocolate (1925)
Presented by the Made in Australia Council, this documentary details the processes used in the making of confectionery at an Australian chocolate making factory.
Factory to Farm: Making Agricultural Implements in Australia (c1925)
One of a series of promotional films made by the Melbourne-based Made in Australia Council, Factory to Farm supports the production of agricultural implements in Australian factories. It ...
The Flying Doctor (1941)
Far from medical facilities on an outback station, a station worker is struck down with an attack of acute appendicitis. In a re-enactment of an actual event, the ...
Green Heritage (c1948)
This agricultural documentary sponsored by the Rural Bank of New South Wales presents itself as a story of ‘grassland improvement’. It surveys the various methods for the improvement ...
Holt – Film Re-enactment of the Circumstances Surrounding the Disappearance of the PM (1967)
This is unedited silent black-and-white footage, shot by the Victorian Police, re-enacting the movements of those who witnessed the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Edward Holt on 17 ...
Home (c1936)
Dedicated to ‘home builders and home lovers everywhere’, and presented by the Rural Bank of New South Wales, Home looks at the changing landscape in home building over ...
A Home of their Own (1949)
A promotional documentary made for the Housing Commission of Victoria that examines the importance of home and the ‘dignity of daily life’. It shows post-Second World War housing ...
Ikara the Weapon Thrower (1963)
This film details the Australian military trials of the Ikara missile, a ship-launched anti submarine missile.
Jungle Road (c1963)
This film looks at the roles of Australian military personnel in Papua New Guinea – at the time known the Territory of Papua and New Guinea – in ...
Let’s Go (c1956)
This promotional documentary made by the Shell Film Unit advertises the Shell Company of Australia’s extensive knowledge of motoring and Australian motorists’ needs. It focuses on the qualities ...
On Stream (1954)
This industrial documentary made between 1951 and 1954 by the Shell Film Unit Australia retraces the development, construction and opening of the Shell Oil Refinery on the outskirts ...
Operation Blowdown (1963)
Produced by the Department of Supply Film Unit at Movietone, this is the official film of Operation Blowdown, the classified project that aimed to replicate the effects of ...
Operation Buffalo – Colour Record (1956)
Operation Buffalo was the testing of four nuclear fission bombs at Maralinga in South Australia on 27 September 1956. This film is the official recording of the operation. ...
The Origin of Oil (c1923)
Made by Herschells Films for the Shell Company of Australia, this industrial documentary traces the path of oil from its initial extraction from the ground to its refining, ...
A Place to Live (1950)
This dramatised documentary, made by the Realist Film Unit for the Brotherhood of St Laurence, contrasts the living conditions of the urban poor with the ‘owners of industry’ ...
Sheep to Shop: Hosiery and Knitted Goods (1924)
Produced by Herschells Films for the Made in Australia Council, this documentary promotes Australia’s wool industry and the production of high-grade woollen garments.
Sheep to Shop: Woollen Goods (1924)
Produced by Herschells Films for the Made in Australia Council, this promotional documentary shows the various stages involved in the manufacture of wool blankets, flannel and woollen fabric ...
A Shining Example (c1920)
Produced by Herschells films for the Made in Australia Council, this is a promotional documentary that highlights Australia’s capacity to produce the ‘highest grade’ electroplate silverware. The film ...
Snowy Hydro – Conquest of the Rivers (1957)
Produced in 1957 by the SMHEA photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film promotes the Snowy Mountains Scheme as a source of employment for local Australian recruits.
Snowy Hydro – Conservation in the Snowy Mountains (1955)
Produced in 1955 by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electricity Authority (SMHEA) photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film traces the history of soil erosion in the Snowy ...
Snowy Hydro – Gardens of the Snowy Mountains (1967)
Produced around 1967 by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority (SMHEA) photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film promotes the establishment and maintenance of gardens, for the ...
Snowy Hydro – Operation Adaminaby (1958)
Produced in 1958 by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electricity Authority (SMHEA) photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film tells the story of moving the old town of ...
Snowy Hydro – Safety on the Snowy Scheme (1964)
Produced in 1964 by the SMHEA photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al. with narration by James Dibble), it’s one of the many films made for the Snowy Mountains ...
Snowy Hydro – Snowy 69 (1969)
In 1969 the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electricity Authority (SMHEA) was entering the final stages of its twenty five year construction period. Produced by the Scheme’s own photographic unit ...
Snowy Hydro – Sound and Safe (1963)
Produced in 1963 by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electricity Authority (SMHEA) photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film lays out safety procedures for hard rock tunnelling.
Snowy Hydro – The Best of the Years (1974)
A documentary record of the construction and completion of the Snowy Mountains Scheme from 1949 to 1974. The film examines the multicultural work force and its achievement in ...
Snowy Hydro – The Construction of Geehi Dam (1967)
Produced in 1967 by the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority (SMHEA) photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al. with narration by James Dibble), the film is a fairly technical ...
Snowy Hydro – The Jindabyne Story (c1965)
Produced in 1964–5 by the SMHEA photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film tells the story of the moving of the town of Jindabyne to make way ...
Snowy Hydro – The Snowy Flows Inland (1954)
Produced in 1954 by the Australian National Film Board, the film presents the aims and objectives of the Snowy Mountains Scheme and looks at the preliminary phase operations.
Snowy Hydro – The Snowy Mountains Scheme (1952)
Completed somewhere around 1952, the film celebrates the achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, now three years into its endeavour.
Snowy Hydro – The Snowy–Murray Development (1969)
Produced in 1969 by the SMHEA photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al. with narration by James Dibble), the film marks the completion of the Snowy-Murray Development – the ...
Snowy Hydro – Where Giants Meet (1948)
Produced in 1948 by Cambridge Film Productions for Industrial Sales and Service (ISAS) and the SMHEA, the film is both a domestic recruitment promotion for the Snowy Mountains ...
Snowy Hydro – Where Men and Mountains Meet (1963)
Produced in 1963 by the SMHEA photographic unit (Harry Malcolm et al.), the film looks at the spectrum of male work involved in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
The Tasmanian Tiger (1960)
This partly dramatised documentary is a brief look at Tasmania’s animals and birds. A young couple go looking for the elusive Tasmanian tiger. They interview experts and look ...
Terrain in South East Asia (1964)
This is an army training film containing a detailed study of the terrain of Thailand and Malaysia (then called Malaya).
Terrain Study of Phuoc Tuy Province South Vietnam (1967)
This Army training film looks at the terrain of what was known as South Vietnam, principally in the province of Phuoc Tuy.
These Are Our Children (1948)
This silent dramatised documentary, commissioned by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and made by the Realist Film Unit, centres around the fate of two teenage siblings who live ...
They Serve (1940)
Made with the assistance of Shell Australia, and produced by Herschells Films, They Serve promotes the work of the Red Cross for the ‘Australian soldier at home and ...
Through the Centre (1940)
Made by Herschells Films for the Shell Company of Australia, Through the Centre follows a Shell expedition to map a tourist route from Perth, through northern Western Australia ...
Timber (1947)
This documentary about the timber industry in Victoria features several ways of hauling logs from the forest – by bullock teams, with wire pulleys, by tractor and by ...
A Visit to Ernest Hillier’s Factory (c1926)
This promotional documentary enters Australian chocolatier Ernest Hillier’s factory in Sydney. It shows men and women working in the chocolate mixing, dipping, packing and mailing rooms. It also ...
Weapons Research Establishment Project WRESAT (1967)
Produced by the Weapons Research Establishment (WRE) Film Unit, Department of Supply, this is a documentary record of the WRESAT Project – the launch of the first Australian ...
The 8th Wonder of the World (1973)
A documentary looking at the newly completed Sydney Opera House, produced at the time of the official opening in 1973. The film looks at the architecture, art and ...
