Queensland's Silent Films - The Newsreel Years 1910-1930

Kids' billygoat race

Queensland's Silent Films
Kids' billygoat race
Rockhampton circa 1919
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view from Brisbane river 1925

Queensland's Silent Films
view from Brisbane river 1925
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The Commonwealth Cinema Branch laboratory circa 1927

Queensland's Silent Films
The Commonwealth Cinema Branch laboratory circa 1927
The De Brie printer produced 100,000 ft of film each month which had to be processed, fixed and dried
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Preparing Ground for cotton growing circa 1923

Queensland's Silent Films
Preparing Ground for cotton growing circa 1923
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Bert Ive, Qld film pioneer and Commonwealth Cinematographer 1913-1939

Queensland's Silent Films
Bert Ive, Qld film pioneer and Commonwealth Cinematographer 1913-1939
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A promenade in New Farm Park Brisbane circa 1917

Queensland's Silent Films
A promenade in New Farm Park Brisbane circa 1917
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Queensland film pioneer Al Burne circa 1915

Queensland's Silent Films
Queensland film pioneer Al Burne circa 1915
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Charles Kingsford Smith arriving in Brisbane 1928

Queensland's Silent Films
Charles Kingsford Smith arriving in Brisbane 1928
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On 31 May 1921, 'Smithy' with co-pilot Charles Ulm, navigator Harry Lyon and radio operator James Warner set off from San Francisco. The crossing was a three-legged marathon in a plane with an open cockpit. The difficulties of a pioneering flight across a featureless ocean, the difficulties of navigation, the difficulties of the weight of the aircraft, were countered only by their eternal optimism. When they reached Brisbane, 83 flying hours later they had completed the first air crossing of the Pacific.