All documentaries
428 titles - sorted alphabetically / by year
A wealth of 'true stories’.
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The 1930s Golden Era of Australian Movies: A Tribute to Ken G Hall AO OBE (1988)
Australian producer-director Ken G Hall talks to camera about five of his films – On Our Selection (1932), The Squatter’s Daughter (1933), Tall Timbers (1937), ...
250 Million Years Ago (c1940)
A general overview of ancient geological features found in Australia. Sediments in the rock formations of cliff faces and exposed rock reveal fossilised life forms ...
40,000 Years of Dreaming: A Century of Australian Cinema (1996)
George Miller presents a personal view of the historical and cultural influences that have shaped the development of Australian cinema since its beginning in 1896.
5 Seasons (2004)
A documentary narrated by Tom E Lewis about a region that western society says has two seasons, the wet and the dry. The Numurindi people ...
A 5000 Mile Tour Through Central Australia (1930)
This documentary-style footage follows a 1930 expedition by a group of men through central Australia and up to the Northern Territory. Shot by CJ Stanley ...
900 Neighbours (2006)
Northcott is a multi-storey public housing estate in Surry Hills, Sydney. It was built in the 1960s. It houses 900 residents and has attracted negative ...
A
Across Bass Strait (1974)
A record of the 1974 Bass Strait Yacht Race, featuring the action on board a yacht from start to finish, 30 hours later. The documentary ...
Across the Trans-continental Railway: From Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta (c1917)
This documentary details part of the building of the trans-continental railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie.
Addison Road Drop-In (1977)
A ‘process video’ by Tom Zubrycki that looks at some of the marginalised young people who come to the Addison Road Drop-In Centre in Marrickville. ...
Advertising Missionaries (1996)
Wokabout Marketing is a troupe of performers who visit remote villages in Papua New Guinea and perform vignettes to promote the sale of Western products ...
After Mabo (1997)
After Mabo gives an overview to the native title legislation, focusing on the amendments made to the Native Title Act 1993 by the Howard Government ...
Age Before Beauty (1980)
Designed to provoke thought and discussion, Age Before Beauty examines the issues around ageing, as it relates to women. The film combines interviews with women ...
An AIM Patrol (1927)
During the winter of 1927, Australian Inland Mission (AIM) patrolling officer Reverend Andrew Barber and AIM medical adviser Dr George Simpson travelled over 12,800 kilometres ...
Al Daff (1975)
Filmed in 1975, Al Daff talks about his career and offers advice for Australian filmmakers. Al Daff was born in Melbourne before the First World ...
Alicia (1996)
Alicia Liley was a promising 18-year-old drama student when she sustained brain damage in a near fatal car accident. The documentary traces her recovery and ...
All About Olive (2004)
Filmmaker Mike Rubbo takes 105-year-old Olive Riley back to her childhood home in Broken Hill, western NSW, to talk about her life. Rubbo enlists Olive’s ...
Allies (1983)
The documentary looks at diplomatic relations between Australia and the USA since the Second World War. Using interviews and archival footage, the documentary leads the ...
Always a Visitor (2000)
A personal journey by 30-year-old Turkish Australian Muslim Kuranda Seyit. He discusses his relationship with his father and his siblings, and talks about growing up ...
Alyawarre Country (2001)
A documentary about how, in January 1889, cattle arrived in the Frew River area, and changed the lives of the local Indigenous peoples forever.
Angst (1993)
The film looks at the lives of three Jewish comedians who are the children of Holocaust survivors. Deb Filler is from New Zealand, Sandy Gutman ...
Anthem: An Act of Sedition (2004)
A documentary by filmmakers Tahir Cambis and Helen Newman addressing the contemporary events that have changed the political and cultural landscape. It travels from Australia ...
Antonio Gaudi: to a Dancing God (1974)
The documentary celebrates the work of Catalonian architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926), showing his many architectural works around Barcelona and interviewing a range of experts. Gaudí's ...
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 ...
Art (1974)
A personal point-of-view documentary about the meaning of art by cartoonist and animator, Bruce Petty. Petty uses his own drawings and other works of art ...
Art From the Heart (1998)
The documentary looks at the way that Aboriginal art has been commercialised since the 1970s. Artists and galleries have prospered since Aboriginal art was marketed ...
The Art of Healing (2005)
A documentary about an Arrernte woman Agnes Palmer, and her vision of painting the walls of the Santa Teresa church in Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), ...
Arthur Boyd: Figures in the Landscape (1985)
Arthur Boyd is interviewed in his studio in Shoalhaven NSW. The internationally acclaimed artist paints two large works depicting water skiers on the river nearby. ...
Arthur Boyd: Testament of a Painter (1994)
A portrait of Australian painter Arthur Boyd (1920 – 1999). Born into a family of painters, writers and potters in 1920, his paintings are displayed ...
Astonish Me, Graeme Murphy Choreographer (1989)
An observational documentary that explores the world of choreographer Graeme Murphy. The camera finds him in rehearsal, in performance and with his wife Janet Vernon. ...
Aunty Connie (2006)
Aunty Connie is described as a love story. It uses voice-over narration (Deborah Mailman), historical photographs and interviews with Aunty Connie McDonald, an Indigenous woman ...
Austin Hospital at Heidelberg, Vic: The Only Hospital for Chronic Diseases in Australia (1928)
This silent documentary shows the Austin Hospital at Heidelberg in Victoria including its extensive grounds; its main buildings and wards; patients undergoing ‘sun-treatment’ in the ...
Australia (1934)
Semi-professional filmmaker Gordon Donkin, accompanied by his wife, travelled more than 25,000 kilometres over 18 months filming throughout Australia. The resulting documentary presents a comprehensive ...
Australia Daze (1988)
An observational documentary shot on the bicentennial anniversary of Australia’s European settlement. Twenty-nine directors working all over Australia have contributed segments as Australians celebrated 26 ...
Australia in World War 1 (c1980)
A compilation of film footage from the collection of the National Film and Sound Archive and the Australian War Memorial. Subjects include the home front ...
Australian Cement in the Making (c1926)
This surviving 24 minutes from a silent documentary with intertitles shows the processes involved in the production of cement from raw limestone material to the ...
Australian Navy: Destroyers (c1930)
This short documentary made by Herschells Films features Royal Australian Navy destroyers launching torpedoes with dummy warheads attached for training purposes. It also shows a ...
The Australian Way: A Salute to Aussie Sex Appeal (1982)
A two-hour commercial television special featuring the personalities and TV programs current on Network Ten in 1982. The program is hosted by presenter Gordon Elliott, ...
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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 ...
Backs to the Blast, an Australian Nuclear Story (1981)
The documentary summarises nuclear testing in the 1950s in Australia and its consequences. This compilation documentary uses archival footage from both scientific recordings and newsreels ...
The Balanda and the Bark Canoes (2006)
This documentary is about the making of Ten Canoes (2006), a feature film partly inspired by the photographs of Donald Thomson from the 1930s.
Banners Held High (1956)
This documentary is about the significance of the May Day celebrations for the trades and labour movement in Australia. It includes the construction and painting ...
The Barefoot Bushman: Dancing With Dingoes (1997)
The barefoot bushman, Rob Bredl, presents his view of Australian nature with an emphasis on the dingo. Rob examines the arrival of the dingo from ...
Barred Wives (1993)
Through the examples of four couples, the documentary examines why women marry prisoners, and the complexities and difficulties they experience.
Bastards from the Bush, A Journey with Bob Ellis and Les Murray (1998)
Author and screenwriter Bob Ellis and poet Les Murray go on a journey visiting significant places from their past. They attended Sydney University together and ...
The Battle for Byron (1996)
The documentary looks at the history of Byron Bay, a seaside town in Northern NSW. Waves of development have influenced the culture of the town. ...
The Battleships (2000)
A four-hour documentary miniseries examining the rise in importance of the battleship from the wooden sailing ships of the Elizabethan age to the dreadnoughts of ...
Behind the Big Top (1949)
A documentary about the travelling Wirth’s Circus and Zoo that toured to Melbourne in 1949. The circus train arrives in town and workers (and elephants) ...
Behind the Sun (1988)
The documentary looks at a number of artists working in NSW in 1988. Many forms of artistic expression are included. The artists include Jonathan Throsby, ...
Belsen For Example (1985)
A German film crew interviews survivors, now living in Australia, of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The recollections of the victims and members of the rescue ...
Benny and the Dreamers (1992)
A documentary about the Pintubi people’s first contact with white people, and the affects of dispossession and institutionalisation when the peoples were forced from their ...
