Australia in World War 1
Clip 1: Over the top
0 min 32 sec
Taken from the documentary Australia in World War 1 (c1980)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
The footage is a re-enactment using First World War troops. Australian troops charge out of the trenches to attack the enemy on the Western Front. Bombs explode nearby.
Curator’s notes
The footage was shot by Hubert Wilkins, the official Australian war photographer (and Arctic explorer) who was, with the Australian war historian Charles Bean, in the field right through the final stages of the Western Front campaign in 1918. The trench footage is unlikely to be capturing troops going ‘over the top’ during real action – it is more likely a re-creation, filmed behind the frontline, shortly after the Australian victories of August and September 1918. One clue is that the camera placement is above the parapet of the trench, a very dangerous place to be; another is that the troops are walking forward, in full daylight.
Damien Parer, curator
