1 min 48 sec

Taken from the home movie Australia to England via Tobruk and Benghazi: Menzies Wartime Tour (1941)

Original title classification not rated – this clip chosen to be PG

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Availability of the complete title

Please note: this clip is silent

Curator’s clip description

This clip from a Menzies home movie features the Prime Minister inspecting Australian troops stationed in Cairo in 1941. We then see him inspecting Bardia, Tobruk and Benghazi from the air before arriving at an airbase to meet some of the airmen.

Curator’s notes

Sir Robert Menzies’s visit to Cairo came at a victorious time for the Australian troops in the Middle East. They had just been involved in the allied capture of Tobruk. The colour 16mm film, extraordinary for its time, captures the mood of mostly individual commanders; clearly satisfied with their progress in the war. The footage also reveals the vastness of the desert battlefield from the air.

On his return to Australia, Sir Robert had the film edited and created his own intertitles as we see during this clip.

Elizabeth Taggart-Speers, curator

australian screen