Shell Company of Australia (c1920 - current)
Mixed type series
Series synopsis:
The Shell series is not so much a collection as a range of audiovisual material sponsored by the Shell Company of Australia or made by the Shell Film Unit over a 90-year involvement with film and video production.
The material includes hundreds of documentaries (some openly promotional, others less so), educational series, informational and training films and advertisements ranging in duration from under ten minutes to over an hour.
In addition to film and video material, hundreds of associated publicity booklets, scripts, production stills, posters and film notes have also been collected and preserved.
Curator’s Notes:
The Shell Company of Australia has taken an active interest in the power of the moving image to convey a message since the 1920s when it began sponsoring short documentaries and producing cinema advertisements. These include The Origin of Oil (c1923)and 10,000 Miles Around Australia (c1926).
During the Second World War, Shell also sponsored films to raise morale and support the war effort including They Serve (1940), about the Red Cross, and Cavalcade of Empire (1939).
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the Shell Company of Australia was one of the principal private companies sponsoring and making documentary films. In 1948 the company formed its own film production unit – The Shell Film Unit – a self-contained 16 mm production, distribution and exhibition network that made trade and educational films, documentaries and corporate training films. It was derived from the Shell Film Unit in Britain which had been operating since 1934. This allowed the company to build its own film library and exhibit its films around the country through their own theatrettes in the capital cities and in other venues including town halls and schools.
The Shell Film Unit engaged some of Australia’s most accomplished filmmakers, including director and producer John Heyer, cameraman Ross Wood and producer Bernard Gandy. The Unit’s 1954 romantic documentary The Back of Beyond (1954) won the Grand Prix Absolute at the Venice Film Festival and was reported to have been seen by around ten percent of the population within the first two years of its release.
Shell’s sophisticated use of the medium has documented the company’s own complex and changing relationship with Australia’s environment over that time. The films sponsored and made by the Shell Company of Australia provide a record of Australia’s natural resources, the mining industry, roads and infrastructure, the motoring and sporting industries and the associated activities and interests which surround these sectors. Embedded in these films are the contrasting forces of original intention and broader significance. While these films are sponsored by a private company, this does not diminish their significance as a cultural, historical or creative record.
Recognising the value of moving image and associated materials as cultural and historical artefacts, the Shell Company of Australia has deposited a significant amount of its own film library holdings with the National Film and Sound Archive for preservation. Along with film and video material, the collection includes hundreds of associated publicity booklets, scripts, production stills, posters and film notes.
Titles in this collection
Around a Gum Tree (1949)
Using Australia’s many species of gum trees as an analogy, this black-and-white documentary looks at the wide range of industries, employment sectors and lifestyles which emerge ‘around a gum tree’ in different parts of the country. Like the people of ...
The Back of Beyond (1954)
Battling heat, dust, flood and sand, Royal Mail driver and everyman Tom Kruse completes the fortnightly run in his battered Leyland Badger, delivering mail, stores and supplies to the people along the 517 kilometre Birdsville Track in central Australia’s isolated ...
Championship Chase (1970)
On the eve of champion driver Norm Beechey’s final race in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), this documentary by the Shell Film Unit looks back at how Beechey won the Championship.
The Changing Face of Australia (1970)
This documentary made by the Shell Company of Australia provides a geological view of Australia’s natural history and development.
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 was first settled in 1836.
The Forerunner (1957)
Made by the Shell Film Unit within the first decade of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme’s construction, this documentary positions the ambitious scheme as the country’s ‘first major step towards the final solution of Australia’s water problem’.
Hoyts and Studebaker Cinema Advertisement: Touring Talkie Show (c1929)
This silent advertisement promotes the new ‘Touring Talkie Show’ truck operated by Hoyts – with sponsorship from Studebaker Car Corporation and the Shell Oil Company.
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 of the Shell Touring Service throughout the country and their nationwide network ...
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 of Geelong, Victoria.
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, packaging and transport and finally as petroleum which modern city dwellers increasingly ...
Shell Animated Commercial: Poster Man (1960)
In this animated advertisement for Shell Motor Oil, a cartoon ‘poster man’ comically attempts to secure a Shell poster on the side of a building.
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 abroad’. The film presents a number of vital Red Cross services to ...
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 to Darwin, then south through Central Australia to Adelaide. Along the way, ...
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 rail. It was made by Herschells Films and sponsored by the Shell ...
Two Men of Fiji (1959)
This documentary, made by the Shell Film Unit, follows the story of two young Fijian men who leave their native village on one of the Lau group of islands for the city of Suva on Fiji’s main island. For one ...
What Makes a Champion (1959)
This sporting documentary made by the Shell Film Unit Australia answers the question ‘What makes a champion?’ by analysing championship performance and investigating the qualities in elite athletes that give them the ability to win. It focuses on six key ...
