The Outback on Screen
Walkabout (1971)
Physical Space/State of Mind
A documentary with live narration by Graham Shirley.
WHEN: 5.30pm, Thursday 16 March
WHERE: National Film and Sound Archive, Acton
The way the Australian outback has been interpreted on screen was examined by renowned film historian Graham Shirley in a special free presentation held at the NFSA on 16 March.
Shirley has recently joined the NFSA as Senior Curator of Documents and Artefacts.
In his presentation, The Outback on Screen: Physical Space/State of Mind, Graham focussed on how Australian film and TV program-makers have depicted the Australian outback over the last century. In an innovative documentary with live narration, he presented excerpts from a wide range of narrative films and documentaries.
The screening traced themes such as Indigenous Australians' relationship to the land and the instincts of early white settlers to conquer the wilderness. Graham will also looked at the dissonance of European culture and the landscape; the outback as an idealised place for coastal whites, as a domain of fear, conflict and loss, and as a living and working environment for men and women.
Excerpts from silent films such as The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and A Girl of the Bush (1921), from early talkies like On Our Selection (1932) and The Squatter's Daughter (1933) and from popular classics like Sons of Matthew (1949), The Back of Beyond (1954), Jedda (1955) and Smiley (1956). From the 1970s, there will be films such as Walkabout (1971), Wake In Fright (1971) and Sunday Too Far Away (1974). More recent films will include Gallipoli (1981), Crocodile Dundee (1986), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and Beneath Clouds (2002) were shown, linked by live commentary.
The Outback on Screen flyer [322 KB]
