Page 27 - CR31R.pdf

The Archive again commissioned Chris Long to research material of this rarity and national significance warranted
and script the new production — Living Ballarat 1901-1941. release on video to the public in its own right. It also repre-
Working on this project helped him unearth some remarkable sented, arguably, Chris Long’s most challenging research pro-
footage — much of which had survived only through the inter- ject for the Archive. Apart from seeking out complementary
est and dedication of collectors (including CATHS members) photographs and illustrations and reassembling the various
and amateur historians. For example, a segment of documen- film components of the Inauguration proceedings, he was
tary material from Eureka Stockade, part of Australia’s second faced with the unenviable task of identifying the vast array of
feature film, shot on 28 September 1907 was made available public figures, carriages and troop contingents featured in the
for copying and use in the Ballarat compilation. Procession, signing ceremony, and Military Review footage.
Of more recent vintage but of equal historical interest were Eventually, and with assistance from a number of sources,
the films of Ballarat produced in the this video compilation was released as
1930s by amateur cine enthusiasts — Federation Films in 1992. It also includ-
notably those made by CATHS member ed segments shot in Queensland by F C
Graham Smythe — using the new Wills for the Greater Britain Exhibition
Kodachrome film stock, barely out of the in 1899 — precious records of colonial
experimental stage, and also generously Australia, for which so little survives on
made available for copying. These motion picture film. In addition, the
sequences are excellent examples of the video shows the operation of the French
earliest surviving colour film records of Lumiere cameras, first used in Australia
an Australian city. in 1896, and acknowledges and details
The Living Ballarat project also high- Filming of the 1896 Melbourne Cup the work of the Salvation Army’s film-
lighted for the Archive the value of local – some of the oldest surviving film makers who used them. The release of
networking. With the encouragement and images in Australia – as featured in Federation Films coincided with the cen-
assistance of the Gold Museum, the Living Melbourne 1896-1910. tenary of the Salvation Army’s Limelight
Ballarat Historical Society, Town Hall, Department, responsible for so much of
Mechanics Institute, City Library, and a number of local resi- the footage surviving from that era. Given its content, this
dents, Chris Long was able to locate Ballarat’s earliest surviv- video is also likely to enjoy a resurgence of public interest dur-
ing films and determine their place in Australia’s film history. ing 2001 — the centenary of Australia’s Federation.
With the launch and release of the completed production in The next video production to be coordinated by the
December 1990, the Archive could, in turn, return something Archive’s Melbourne Office was Riverboats Remembered
tangible to the Ballarat community which had provided such (1995). Several years in the making, this project originated in
valuable support to the regional video project. 1990 as a proposal received from Sharps Magic Movie House
While work on the Ballarat video project was proceeding, and Penny Arcade, a tourist attraction in Echuca and an exist-
Chris Long had also accepted an additional Archive brief — to ing retail outlet for Archive video products. From this loca-
initiate research on a video to complement the Living tion, the proprietors — Norm and Robyn Sharp — had quick-
Melbourne release — this time on Sydney, as recorded on film ly become aware of the public interest in river boats, the lack
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from the turn of the twentieth century. It was envisaged that of a comprehensive record on film of the river trade in the
surviving film coverage of the historic Australian Federation Murray and Darling Basins, and the need to draw on and pre-
Procession, and the signing of the Federation documents at serve aspects of this history while they were still accessible.
Centennial Park in Sydney on 1 January 1901, would feature Lacking both the funds and the technical expertise to
prominently in such a project. undertake such a project themselves, the
16mm footage of Federation film Sharps suggested to the Archive that a
sequences had been circulating for many video composed entirely of archival seg-
years under the title The Inauguration of ments featuring riverboats would be
the Commonwealth. The discovery of hugely popular, especially in the three
additional footage of the Commonwealth states bordering the Murray. From the
Inauguration coverage from different time that this proposal was accepted by
print sources enabled Chris to combine the Archive, the project continued to
and re-sequence all of this material, using evolve. The initial research phase
the facilities of the Archive’s video labo- PS ADELAIDE being rebuilt after 20 revealed that, far from being poorly doc-
ratory, according to the original shot list years (1983). From the Riverboats umented, the topic had been extensively
published in the Australasian Remembered video. covered in a variety of publications,
Photographic Review. In turn, the museum displays, and popular television
Archive videolab staff were able to match the different for- series such as All The Rivers Run and The River Kings.
mats; copy from original materials wherever possible to max- So what could the Archive’s video production offer that
imise visual quality; adjust film running speeds to facilitate hadn’t been done already? The answer lay in the quantity —
‘natural’ looking movement; and transfer entire image area and quality — of available footage. By the time that
irrespective of original source material for consistency of Australia’s early cinematographers turned their attention to
image. the river systems and their traffic, the ‘golden age’ of the pad-
After the completion of this editing process, only a couple dle steamers had long since passed. But what happened to
of brief sections of the original 1500 feet (25 minutes) of the these boats in the years between the declining cargo trade and
Inauguration coverage were found to be absent, quite remark- the revived tourist interest in the 1960s and 1970s?
able for a film of this age. As a consequence it was felt that It was this question which formed the basic framework for

CINEMARECORD Autumn 2001 27