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 ...

In Australia, children live in the Outback, too far from others to travel to any school. The Australian government has a school with no student only teachers that correspond with their pupils and teach those children at their own pace....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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 ...

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....

Much of the romance associated with the development of the gold industry is to be found at Kalgoorlie on the golden mile, that rich strip of Western Australian territory. This film illustrates life in the town and the work of the miners: the school o...

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....

On piloting ships into Sydney harbour....

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...

In Australia with its rapid development there is a need for insistence upon town planning. This film illustrates what has already taken place in our leading capital cities, where planning has been haphazard....

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. ...

Made by the National Film Board 1949. Directed by Bern Gandy. The expanding activities of the Post Office to cater for communications in an ever growing nation. This film also deals with the rapid expansion to cater for post-war demands, especially i...

Instructional film for children, teaching them how to properly ride a bicycle....

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...

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...