1894 30 November: Five weeks after first being used in London to show films, Thomas Edison’s “kinetoscope” 35mm film-viewers seduced Australian audiences into a love affair with cinema that has never paled. The kinetoscope allowed one viewer at a time to watch an endless loop of film, of about 15 minutes in length. Twenty-five thousand Australians saw this exhibition in the first month.
1895 March: Charles McMahon, perhaps Australia’s first film entrepreneur and producer, opened the “Edison Electric Parlour,” showcasing kinetoscopes and gramophones, in Pitt Street, Sydney. September: Audiences in the outback mining town of Charters Towers marveled at the Edison “kinetophone” viewers that brought the first sound film to Australia.
1896 August: Carl Hertz, an American magician, presented a theatrical screening of moving pictures as part of a variety program in Melbourne. September: Maurice Sestier, an employee of the Lumière brothers, arrived with the first motion picture camera to reach Australia and, in a private showing sponsored by Joseph McMahon and Walter Barnett, screened the first films made by the Lumière brothers. In late September or early October, Sestier made the first Australian film, copying the Lumière film Photographers Debark at Lyon (1895) in theme and title: Passengers Alighting from the Paddle Steamer “Brighton” at Manly. 5 November: Sestier followed this with the 1896 Melbourne Cup capturing on film the horse race that brings the country to a standstill every year.
1897 August: Under the direction of Major Joseph Perry, the Limelight Department of the Salvation Army, based in Melbourne, began shooting short (23-minute) motion picture films describing the Army’s social and religious work. One of these was a dramatized version of its “prison-gate” brigade. By 1900, the department was the preeminent filmmaker in Australia. Over the next six years, it was responsible for 80 percent of all film shot in Australia, much of it nonreligious film made under contract to, or commissioned by, state governments and the New Zealand Government. 3 November: The Sydney Polytechnic embarked on the exhibition of films until September 1898, beginning with the 1897 Melbourne Cup and including many local actuality films.
1898 Sponsored by Cambridge University, British zoologist Alfred Haddon shot the world’s first film of an anthropological field trip in the Torres Strait Islands, just north of Cape York. May: In Melbourne, the Salvation Army premiered its first films, entitled Our Social Triumphs. The films toured throughout Australia and New Zealand.
1899 December: The Salvation Army’s Limelight Department shot 13 short films (averaging three minutes) on the life and death of Jesus Christ. Called The Passion Films, they began touring in 1900.
1900 January: The Limelight Department joined with the photographic company Baker and Rouse to cover the inauguration ceremonies of the Commonwealth of Australia. 13 September: Combining 13 film segments, 200 magic lantern slides, music, and lectures, Soldier of the Cross screened in Melbourne to an audience of 4,000. This was the Salvation Army’s most ambitious project.
1901 University of Melbourne biology professor and ethnographer, Baldwin Spencer, filmed the Aboriginal tribes of the Central Desert in South Australia and the Northern Territory, using 3,000 feet of stock.
1904 March: The Tait brothers began exhibiting films with a program of newsreels and music at Melbourne Town Hall.
1905 1 July: Cozens Spencer commissioned locally shot actuality material and combined these for a season of films in Sydney.
1906 March Thomas J. West signed a long lease on the Palace Theatre, Sydney, showing mainly nonfiction film. He signed the first “city first-run” agreement with Pathé Frères. West owned theaters in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. 26 December: The first fictional feature film in Australia—and arguably the world—The Story of the Kelly Gang, was released in Melbourne and was a huge commercial success. Australian filmmaking declined because of the monopoly practices of the exhibition conglomerate comprising West, Spencer, Pathé, Tait, Johnson and Gibson, and J.D. Williams. This group favored imported material over locally produced film based on cost criteria, effectively arresting Australian production temporarily.
1907 The Carroll brothers bought the exhibition rights to The Story of the Kelly Gang for Queensland, beginning the enterprises of the Birch, Carroll and Coyle exhibition chain. December: The development of permanent cinemas became a reality after T.J. West purchased more long leases for large exhibition theaters in Sydney and Melbourne. Other exhibitors followed.
1909 Dr. Arthur Russell began showing films every Saturday night in a leased hall in Melbourne, and shortly after founded Hoyts Pictures. Pathe Frères became the first overseas film company to set up a distribution network.
1910 Concerned by the apparent lack of moral standards in the industry and in films, the Salvation Army closed down its Limelight Department. 12 March: The premiere of Cozen Spencer’s debut production film, The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Notorious Australian Bushranger, marked the start of a three-year “golden age” of Australian filmmaking. Between 1910 and 1912, almost 90 narrative films were made.
1911 4 March: Capitalizing on the growth in the industry, numerous filmmaking companies coalesced. Johnson and Gibson merged to form Amalgamated Pictures Ltd. 24 April: Raymond Longford directed his first feature, The Fatal Wedding, for Cozens Spencer. Longford went on to make 30 features over the next 20 years, making him, arguably, the most prolific director in Australian film history. September: Spencer opened a glassed-roof film studio in Sydney, in an attempt to utilize natural light. 6 December: The first official Commonwealth cinematographer, James Pinkerton Campbell, was appointed.
1912 Because bushranging films were now banned in New South Wales, production ceased as a large market segment was closed. This popular genre was banned because the films portrayed the police in an unsympathetic light. In a further rationalization of the industry, West’s, Spencer’s, and Amalgamated Pictures merged and became the General Film Co. The popularity of film promoted theater development, and new luxury cinema “palaces” opened: the Majestic Theatre belonged to Amalgamated, while the Greater J.D. Williams Amusement Co. opened the Melba and Crystal Palace in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
1913 American expansion into the Australian industry effectively strangled local production. 6 January: The Greater J.D. Williams Amusement Co. combined with the General Film Co. to form Australasian Films Ltd. and Union Theatres, establishing an effective monopoly in the industry. They agreed to cease local production in order to focus on the distribution and exhibition of overseas films. 19 July: Two significant films were released. The first was Frank Hurley’s 1,200-m documentary The Home of the Blizzard, recording the Douglas Mawson expedition to Antarctica. The second was Raymond Longford’s last film for Cozens Spencer, Australia Calls. Recycling and therefore strengthening a paranoia theme that was to be utilized by politicians through to the 1960s, the film prophesized an Asian invasion of Australia.
1914 Two local feature films were the first to dramatize World War I. A Long, Long Way to Tipperary was released on 16 November and The Day on 23 November. To spur local production, the federal government imposed a tax on imported film, which was reduced in 1918.
1915 Hoyts Pictures had expanded into Sydney, and Melbourne and its suburbs. World War I momentarily spurred film production focused on wartime exploits. Australasian Films made the recruiting films Will They Never Come? and The Hero of the Dardenelles. The theater company J.C. Williamson made films about the Dardenelles—signaling the effect that campaign was to have on Australian cultural history—and the naval battle between HMAS Sydney and the German cruiser Emden.
1916 State governments appointed censorship boards to classify and regulate films. New South Wales appointed its board in this year, South Australia followed in 1917 and Tasmania joined in 1920.
1917 June: Frank Hurley was appointed the first official war cinematographer, serving in France and the Middle East.
1918 George Birch joined the Carroll brothers, bringing the Earl Court Theatre in Rockhampton into the chain. 11 March: Popular athlete Reg (Snowy) Baker starred in The Enemy Within, about fifth columnists within Australia.
1919 4 September: Snowy Baker and E.J. Carroll contracted American filmmakers Wilfred Lucas and Bess Meredyth to make three outback Westerns starring Baker, all in 1920: The Man from Kangaroo, The Shadow of Lightning, and The Jackeroo of Coolabong. 4 October: Raymond Longford’s The Sentimental Bloke was released. Based on the poetry of C.J. Dennis, this film was arguably the most important production of the silent period, earning better returns and critical reviews than any film to that date. The sequel, Ginger Mick, was released in 1920. Later in the year, New York–based Fox News appointed Claude Carter as their cameraman and reporter in Australia.
1920 21 February: Films about Ned Kelly, and bushrangers, have always fascinated Australians. Harry Southwell’s version of The Kelly Gang was released and Robbery under Arms followed later in the year. 24 July: Raymond Longford’s first adaptation of the Steele Rudd stories was released as On Our Selection. The sequel, Rudd’s New Selection, was released in 1921. April: Filmmaker Beaumont Smith returned to Australia to make The Man from Snowy River. He had tried to make the film in the United States, but high production costs thwarted him. 19 June: The Breaking of the Drought was released in Australia, but was later banned for export because the realistic scenes of drought in rural areas were considered “harmful to the Commonwealth.”
1920–1929 Union Theatres gradually formed a mutually beneficial relationship with the rapidly expanding Queensland exhibitor Birch, Carroll and Coyle.
1921 Ronald Davis and George Malcolm experimented with short films synchronized with sound-on-disc, while Sydney engineer Ray Allsop experimented with synchronized sound-on-cylinder. Managing director of Union Theatres, Stuart Doyle, modernized his theater chain in an attempt to attract audiences. 5 November: Raymond Longford made the last of four films, The Blue Mountains Mystery, for the Southern Cross Feature Film Co. 3 December: Frank Hurley’s documentary of two journeys through New Guinea opened to critical and popular acclaim, which was repeated when he took the film to the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
1922 Virgil Coyle added his two theaters in Townsville to the Birch and Carroll chain, forming Birch, Carroll and Coyle. May: Lottie Lyell and Raymond Longford formed Longford-Lyell Australian Productions.
1922–23 Ninety-four percent of all films screened in Australia were made in the United States, after they achieved dominance during World War I.
1924 New picture palaces, offering unrivaled sumptuousness, opened in Brisbane (the Wintergarden), Sydney (the Prince Edward), and Melbourne (the Capitol).
1925 The Commonwealth Film Laboratories were established, later changing their name to Colorfilm. 24 October: Australian expatriate actress in Hollywood, Louise Lovely, starred in Jewelled Nights, which was released in Australia. At the same time, The Mystery of the Hansom Cab—directed by and starring another expatriate, Arthur Shirley—was released. 21 December: Lottie Lyell, business partner and friend of Raymond Longford, died of tuberculosis at the age of 35. She contributed a vast amount to the early Australian industry, as scriptwriter, actress, producer, director, and editor.
1926 Hoyts Pictures, Electric Theatres, and Associated Theatres merged to become Hoyts Theatres Ltd. with Frank Thring Sr. as managing director. There were now two cinema chains: Union Theatres and Hoyts Theatres. In Victoria, the Censorship of Films Act stipulated that theaters screen 2,000 feet of Australian film each session. Exhibitors addressed this requirement by screening locally made short films before the feature. 25 January: Charles Chauvel’s first feature, The Moth of Moombi, was released. His second feature, Greenhide, premiered later in the year. 22 November: Paulette, Phyllis, and Isobel McDonagh began their career as filmmakers, releasing Those Who Love. They made three more films: The Far Paradise (1928), The Cheaters (1930), and Two Minutes’ Silence (1934).
1927 3 March: A Parliamentary Select Committee was established, to “enquire into and report into the moving-picture industry in Australia.” May: The Select Committee was converted into a Royal Commission, effectively enhancing its authority and scope. 9 May: The American, Dr. Lee De Forest, who had perfected an amplification system for sound-on-film, filmed the visit by the Duke and Duchess of York to Canberra to open the first federal parliament to sit in the federal capital, Canberra. 20 June: For the Term of His Natural Life premiered. Produced by Australasian films, its budget and production values were far ahead of any film produced to date, and made a substantial profit in Australia, but lost money overseas because it had to compete with sound productions.
1928 Union Theatres renovated the magnificent State Theatre in Sydney. 26 April: The Royal Commission tabled its findings. It recommended cash prizes for best production, and revised censorship legislation. A Federal Board of Censors was established, along with a Censorship Board of Appeal, and a new ratings system was implemented. March: In his directorial debut, Ken G. Hall directed the sequences that were added to the film Unsere Emden (released as The Exploits of the Emden) for its release in Australia. 29 December: The feature-length sound films, The Jazz Singer (1927) and The Red Dance (1928), opened in Sydney.
1929 Ray Allsop built a “Raycophone” sound projector, and filmed four sound-on-disc musical short films. Other inventors experimented with sound-on-film, in an attempt to produce a cheaper technology than that from overseas. 8 August: Equipment for the local shooting of Movietone News arrived, and the first newsreel was shown on 2 November.
1930 Radio engineer Arthur Smith and Clive Cross developed a viable optical sound system, used in the feature On Our Selection (1932) and, from 1931, the weekly newsreel Cinesound Review. May: Filming began on the first Australian all-talkie, Showgirl’s Luck. It was finally released in December 1931. 1 September: In an attempt to cash in on film exhibition in Australia, the Fox Film Corporation bought a controlling interest in Hoyts Theatres. The managing director of Hoyts, Frank. Thring Sr., resigned to form Eftee Film Productions.
1931 May: Efftee Productions, representing Frank Thring Sr.’s ambitious move into film production, released the two short features A Co-Respondent’s Course and The Haunted Barn. July: Thring joined Noel Monkman to establish Australian Educational Films, producing five short films on the Great Barrier Reef—pioneering underwater photography—and other wildlife documentaries. These were released through Efftee. 26 September: Director/producer A.R. Harwood formed A.R. Harwood Talkie Productions, with the aim of making the first Australian sound features. He released Spur of the Moment and Isle of Intrigue, which were the first Australian feature-length talkies. 15 October: Union Theatres, bankrupted during the Great Depression, sold its assets to the newly incorporated Greater Union Theatres. 7 November: Cinesound began producing newsreels under the generic title Cinesound Review.
1932 The American-owned Fox Film Corporation increased its shareholding in Hoyts Theatres. 26 May: Eftee released its most expensive feature The Sentimental Bloke. The next film, His Royal Highness, starred comedian George Wallace in his debut performance. 3 June: Cinesound Productions was formed to take over filmmaking activities from the failed Australian Educational Films, while British Empire Films took over its distribution. 6 August: A sound version of On Our Selection was released and was immediately successful. Made by Australasian Films under the direction of Ken G. Hall, the film used sound recording equipment developed locally for the company. Hall went on to make 16 profitable features for the production company Cinesound over the next eight years.
1933 15 March: Errol Flynn, in his debut role as mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, starred in In the Wake of the Bounty, Charles Chauvel’s first sound film.
1934 February: Because it could not obtain equitable distribution in Australia, Efftee suspended production after making seven features and 80 short films. The founder, Frank Thring Sr. died in 1936, and the company folded. June: The question of protection of the local film industry, in the form of a quota system, was the subject of a New South Wales state government enquiry. It reported in this month, recommending a quota for Australian films for five years. 1 June: Director Raymond Longford’s final film, The Man They Could Not Hang, was released.
1935 The industry expressed optimism after the long Depression and because of government intervention. Hoyts and Greater Union expanded their distribution circuits and modernized their cinemas. New cinemas sprang up in the suburbs. September: National Studios completed a film complex in Sydney, and National Productions was formed to produce the films. 17 September: The film industry was granted a lease of life through the passing of the N.S.W. Cinematograph Films (Australian Quota) Act. In the first year, at least 5 percent of all films distributed, and 4 percent of films screened, had to be of Australian origin.
1936 January: National Productions began shooting its only film, The Flying Doctors. 9 May: The industry decided to be more aggressive in looking to markets outside Australia. Cinesound’s Ken Hall attempted to break into the US market with films that dealt with international interests, played in an Australian context. American actress Helen Twelvetrees starred in the first film of this push, Thoroughbred.
1937 30 June: Norman B. Rydge assumed control of Greater Union Theatres. In one of the longest reigns in media history, he was managing director and chairman for 43 years, until 1980. December: Because it had difficulty enforcing the film quota system, New South Wales passed further legislation to scale down the quotas.
1938 Dad and Dave Come to Town was released. December: In a different method of support for the local industry, the New South Wales government guaranteed funding for the production of four films: Dad Rudd (1940), Forty Thousand Horseman (1940), That Certain Something (1941), and The Power and the Glory (1941).
1940 February: Damien Parer, Australia’s second war cameraman, was sent to the Middle East, and later served in Papua New Guinea. The 1942 documentary about the war in Papua New Guinea, Kokoda Front Line, was edited from Parer’s footage, and won an Academy Award for best documentary in 1942. 14 June: After releasing Dad Rudd M.P., Cinesound postponed features production for the duration of World War II. 26 December: The first Australian film released on the global market was Charles Chauvel’s Forty Thousand Horsemen. The film cemented Chauvel’s reputation as well as that of actor Chips Rafferty.
1944 Damien Parer was killed in action.
1945 26 April: The Australian National Film Board was established to implement John Grierson’s recommendations concerning Australian documentary production. The Board evolved later into the Commonwealth Film Unit and now Film Australia. The production arm was the Films Division, Department of Information.
1946 The Waterside Workers Federation financed the production of Joris Ivens’ Indonesia Calling, denoting an emerging interest in the production of left-wing documentaries. Supported by various left-wing trade unions, the noted Dutch documentarist and (briefly) Dutch Film Commissioner made the polemical documentary under the nose of the Australian police. The film was a strong plea against the attempt to reimpose colonial rule on the Indonesian people. March: In an action that evinces the growing multinational nature of the industry, and an international interest in the Australian market, Greater Union Theatres sold a 50-percent interest to the British Rank Organisation. 27 June: Greater Union Theatres, in partnership with Columbia Pictures and Cinesound, released Ken G. Hall’s final feature, Smithy. Although it was successful, Greater Union decided not to resume film production in association with Cinesound. 27 September: Made with the assistance of the wartime Federal Government, The Overlanders premiered to critical and audience acclaim in Australia and overseas, and persuaded Ealing, the British production company, to establish a production branch in Australia.
1947 19 December: Like Ealing, the overseas company Children’s Entertainment Films set up a production unit in Australia that was to operate until 1960. They produced and released on this date the film Bush Christmas.
1949 16 December: Sons of Matthew, Charles Chauvel’s pioneering melodrama—an epic in both its production and its story—was released. It was his best film and one of the most significant films in Australian film history.
1951 Through prohibiting the formation of film production companies with capital in excess of stg£10,000, the Capital Issues Board effectively stopped the work of filmmakers like Ken Hall and Ealing studios.
1952 The Waterside Worker’s Federation Film Unit released the first of its documentaries arguing for social action, Pensions for Veterans. January: Ealing studios, partly as a result of the ruling of the Capital Issues Board in 1950, decided to end local production. The studio had invested in Australia, producing many films like The Overlanders, Eureka Stockade (1949), and Bitter Springs (1950). The docudrama Mike and Stefani was released by the Department of the Interior. The docudrama told of the difficulties faced by immigrants in settling in Australia, bringing to national attention a new dimension of social policy.
1953 This year marked the beginnings of annual film festivals in both Sydney and Melbourne. January: Captain Thunderbolt reinvigorated the market for films about bushrangers, and was Cecil Holmes’ directorial debut in feature films. 4 June: Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty produced and directed the first of five genre films, The Phantom Stockman, based on the Western genre, and making a healthy profit in Australia and overseas.
1954 John Heyer’s documentary depicting life along the Birdsville Track, The Back of Beyond, was released, later to win the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival. The Department of the Interior produced the first full-length color film of the monarch’s visit, The Queen in Australia.
1955 3 January: Charles Chauvel’s Jedda, the first Australian color feature, explored the issues of cultural contact between Aboriginal and other Australians, suggesting that such contact might contain the seeds of tragedy.
1956 The Commonwealth Film Unit (now Film Australia) was reformed out of the Department of the Interior’s Film Division. 16 September: Television broadcasting began, initially with a further depressing effect on the already-depressed feature film production and exhibition sectors.
1957 March: Cecil Holmes’ Three in One was released for limited screenings in Australia. Adapted from Frank Hardy and Henry Lawson stories, the film explored mateship from a left-wing perspective. It won critical acclaim overseas.
1958 The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was formed to promote “an awareness and appreciation of film” and awarded its first prize to Grampians Wonderland.
1960 8 December: The Sundowners premiered in New York. This film represented a change in the nature of filmmaking, as it was the last of some 14 films since 1944 that were made by overseas corporations primarily for overseas audiences, that were made in Australia, and that capitalized on Australian locations.
1961 Birch, Carroll and Coyle opened their first drive-in, the Tropicaire, in Mt. Isa, Queensland. 1 January: The Australian Film Producers Association lobbied the Liberal Government to declare, through the Postmaster-General—the office responsible for regulating the airwaves—that television advertisements were to be produced in Australia. This was a form of protection of the industry.
1963 29 October: The Vincent Committee, set up the previous year as a Senate Select Committee, recommended government aid for the film industry. While these recommendations were not implemented, they highlighted the growing support for some form of government assistance to the industry.
1966 19 August: Significantly, a film about immigrant experiences was not only one of the few films made in the period but was also successful. They’re a Weird Mob was an Anglo-Australian production that opened in Sydney to record box offices, indicating a demand for Australian product.
1968 Significant relaxation of film censorship occurred under the Minister for Customs, Don Chipp. November: The UNESCO committee for Mass Communication joined others in recommending Commonwealth support for the film industry, but went further in recommending the establishment of a film and television school.
1969 27 March: Tim Burstall’s first feature, Two Thousand Weeks, opened in Melbourne. May: Another committee, the Film and Television Committee of the Australian Council for the Arts, mirrored the call of the 1968 UNESCO committee for a film and television school and government support for the industry. It also recommended the establishment of a film fund and the purchase of television time to show the films.
1970 5 March: Responding to the recommendations of various committees, the federal government established the Australian Film Development Corporation (AFDC) to promote the making of Australian films. 7 July: The newly established Experimental Film and Television fund made its first loan to filmmakers. Surprisingly, in the light of current events, the first film that was completed was a documentary about the Vietnam moratorium movement, Or Forever Hold Your Peace.
1971 March: The Australian Film Development Corporation commenced operations. The Commonwealth Film Unit released Three to Go for commercial television. Peter Weir, Brian Hannant, and Oliver Howes directed the film, an innovative three-part feature on youth issues. November: The Commonwealth film censors introduced the “R” rating, indicating that entrance to the film was restricted to those over 18. 9 December: The first feature funded by the AFDC, Stockade, was released. 27 December: Tim Burstall’s Stork, a sexual, lowbrow, anarchistic comedy, was the first of the “ocker” cycle. Its box office success encouraged wider investment in films.
1972 Written by Barry Humphries, Bruce Beresford’s The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie, another in the “ocker” cycle, earned huge returns for its backers, engendering confidence in the industry and confirming the Australian feature film production revival was up and running. 23 March: The first nondocumentary funded through the Experimental Film and Television Fund, A City’s Child, was released.
1973 The Commonwealth Film Unit was renamed Film Australia. January: The Australian Film and Television School (later, The Australian Film, Television and Radio School—AFTRS) opened, with an initial intake of 12 students including Gillian Armstrong and Phillip Noyce. 1 February: Filmmakers, concerned about American domination of the film market, demonstrated during Jack Valenti’s visit to Sydney. He was president of the Motion Picture Producers’ Association of America. March: Tim Burstall’s second in the “ocker” cycle, Alvin Purple, was released, quickly becoming the most profitable film since On Our Selection (1932). April: The Labor government of Don Dunstan established the South Australian Film Corporation, the first state corporation of its kind, in an attempt to develop cultural industries, which, it was envisaged, would balance the decline in white goods manufacturing in that state. All other states established similar bodies over the next eight years. 30 June: The Tariff Board concluded its enquiry into the film and television industry, recommending radical restructuring of the film industry: production, distribution, and exhibition. Apart from the recommendation to replace the Australian Film Development Corporation, the government ignored the report.
1974 27A, one of a series of low-budget, social realist films was released, examining urban alienation. Others included The Office Picnic (1973), Pure S (1975), and Mouth to Mouth (1978). October: Filmmaker Peter Weir released The Cars That Ate Paris, his first feature.
1975 Birch, Carroll and Coyle replaced the single screen cinema in Townsville with an air-conditioned, twin cinema complex. Hoyts opened the first multiplex in Sydney. March: The Australian Film Commission (AFC) Act was passed, and the AFC replaced the Australian Film Development Corporation. May: The first government-sponsored delegation went to Cannes to promote Australian films. Ken Hannam’s Sunday Too Far Away received critical acclaim at the festival. 8 August: Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock was critically and popularly acclaimed, making over four times its costs, a huge return in the industry. The film also indicated the emergence of the period/art film, with its focus on gentler, but not always less menacing times. Both this film and Sunday Too Far Away denoted a “new wave” in Australian filmmaking, turning away from the “ocker” films of earlier in the decade. 4 September: The Greater Union Organisation had not invested in the production of film since Sons of Matthew in 1949. Recognizing the profit potential of local production, the company began to invest once again in film, beginning with The Man from Hong Kong.
1975–1977 Color television broadcasting began in Australia, coinciding with a period of unemployment, and inflation, correlating with a slump of 30 percent to 40 percent in cinema attendances.
1976 Donald Crombie’s Caddie (9 April), Fred Schepisi’s The Devil’s Playground (12 August), and Henri Safran’s Storm Boy (19 November)—the third film supported by The South Australian Film Corporation—opened to critical and audience acclaim. The first television presentation of the Australian Film Institute awards took place, and the best film of the year was The Devil’s Playground.
1977 Bruce Beresford’s The Getting of Wisdom and Peter Weir’s The Last Wave were released. New directors like Gillian Armstrong, Phillip Noyce, and Ken Cameron—later to make their mark on the industry—released short films. Bruce Petty’s Leisure won the American Academy Award for best animated short. April: The AFPA was superseded by the Independent Feature Film Producers Association (IFFPA).
1978 Recognizing that Australian films could be and had to be successful in a global market, both the Australian Film Corporation and the N.S.W. Film Corporation opened offices in the United States. 24 April: In a blatant example of censorship in the film industry, Home Affairs Minister Robert Ellicott vetoed funding of The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, on the grounds that it was not a commercial venture. May: Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith was critically acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival. The film marked the entry into film production of the Hoyts exhibition chain. 28 July: Phillip Noyce’s Newsfront opened to critical and audience acclaim in Sydney. 28 November: In another gesture of support for the industry, the government again liberalized tax laws allowing for a 100 percent tax write-off over two years—previously this was 15 years—for film investment.
1979 Hoyts entered the distribution sector. February: The Film and Television Producers Association (FTPA) superseded the IFFPA. April: George Miller’s Mad Max earned $1 million in its first week of release in Australia and, after its international release, became the highest-grossing film up to that time. 17 August: Gillian Armstrong’s My Brilliant Career was released. This was one of the few Australian films of the art and period cycle to achieve success at the box office. October: The Australian Film Commission changed its focus to a more commercial operation, aiming for self-sufficiency by recovering costs on a global market, rather than funding the development of filmmakers and esoteric films. November: Actors Equity and the Film and Television Producers Association negotiated the Film Actors Award. The award was a form of protection for Australian actors, effectively preventing filmmakers hiring cast from overseas for local films and films that government funds supported.
1980 May: Bruce Beresford’s Breaker Morant was acclaimed at Cannes, winning Jack Thompson a best supporting actor award. American critics applauded this film and My Brilliant Career. Rupert Murdoch and Robert Stigwood established R & R Films, which invested $2.6 million in Gallipoli, and planned to invest $10 million a year in local production. June–September: Investment in films slowed to a trickle when the government announced it would tighten the tax laws to prevent investors using film investment as a blatant tax avoidance measure.
1981 24 June: The industry was further promoted through new tax laws that increased the deduction to 150 percent for funds invested in film, but it could be claimed only when the film had earned income. In addition, 50 percent of revenue would be tax free. 7 August: Peter Weir’s Gallipoli was released and won immediate critical acclaim. Besides setting records in the Australian box office, it set house records in the United States as well. It was the first Australian film to be distributed by an American major; namely Paramount. December: Dr. George Miller’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior created box office records in Australia and the United States for an Australian film, taking US$12 million in the first three weeks.
1982 Far East, an Australian remake of the Warner classic Casablanca, was released. 20 March: The Man from Snowy River grossed $8 million in its first eight weeks, beating the record set by Star Wars as the quickest-earning film in Australia. July: Four Australians bought out the interests of the US company Twentieth Century Fox in the Hoyts conglomerate.
1983 Victoria introduced a new governing structure for the State Film Centre and recognized emergent new media forms based on digital technology. The tax concession on film production was reduced from 150 percent to 133 percent. Films shown at Australian Film Festivals no longer required clearance or a rating from the Film Censorship Board. American Linda Hunt won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Film Australia released the feature-length spoof documentary Cane Toads. Goodbye Paradise transposed the conventions of the Hollywood film noir to the Gold Coast.
1984 Film Australia’s first production of a feature film, Annie’s Coming Out, was based on a true story concerning a disabled girl’s struggle for recognition as a human being. The film achieved wide commercial release. The National Film and Sound Archive was established as an organization independent of the National Library. Victoria legislated for X-ratings for sexually explicit, nonviolent videos.
1985 Leon Fink bought out the other three owners of Hoyts, restructuring and renaming it Hoyts Corporation. Australian-born Rupert Murdoch bought Twentieth Century Fox and the Metromedia Broadcasting Stations. Tax concessions for film investors were reduced from 133 percent to 120 percent. Fifty percent of Australian households owned a videocassette recorder.
1986 The Empty Beach was the first feature based on the Cliff Hardy crime novels written by Peter Corris with actor Bryan Brown appearing as Hardy. Peter Faiman’s Crocodile Dundee was released to audience acclaim in Australia and overseas. This film had the highest box office takings in Australia, and remains the most successful Australian film in the United States. At the other end of the spectrum, Jane Campion’s Peel won the Palme d’Or for best short film at Cannes.
1987 Tim Burstall directed a remake of Kangaroo first made by Lewis Milestone in 1952 and based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence.
1988 The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was established to control Federal Government investment in film production and replace the role of 10BA tax incentives, which were reduced to a 100-percent write-off. John Cornell’s Crocodile Dundee II was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($24.9 million). The New South Wales government established the N.S.W. Film and Television Office to support local filmmakers with script development, production investment, skill enhancement, policy issues and expert location, and industry advice. The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) opened its new facilities at North Ryde, NSW.
1989 In conjunction with Warners and Village Roadshow, Birch, Carroll and Coyle opened multiplexes in Queensland shopping centers. Yahoo Serious’s Young Einstein (1988) was the highest ranking Australian film by gross box office ($10.1 million). Jane Campion made her first feature, Sweetie.
1990 The Delinquents was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($2.6 million). Dean Semler won best cinematography Oscar for Dances with Wolves.
1990–1991 Sound systems changed from analogue to digital, using digital audio tape (DAT) technology.
1991 Greater Union took over Birch, Carroll and Coyle. Peter Weir’s Green Card—filmed in America and backed by the Film Finance Corporation—was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($10.6 million). Jocelyn Moorehouse’s first feature Proof won a special mention for excellence—the Camera d’Or Jury—at Cannes. The Queensland government established the Pacific Film and Television Commission to work with the Warner Roadshow MovieWorld Studios in attracting film production to Queensland.
1992 Documentarist Dennis O’Rourke’s The Good Woman of Bangkok was released. The film proved highly controversial with its depiction of not only a Thai prostitute, but also the involvement of the filmmaker with the woman. Baz Luhrman’s first feature, Strictly Ballroom, was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($18.8 million). Australian Luciana Arrighi shared the best art direction Oscar for Howard’s End with Ian Whittaker. The inaugural Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) was held under the auspices of the Pacific Film and Television Commission. Geoffrey Wright’s first feature Romper Stomper was the subject of critical controversy for its depiction of racism and violence.
1993 The new MA film classification was created, requiring children under 15 to be accompanied by an adult. The Piano was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($9.2 million), and the film won prizes worldwide. Jane Campion won the Oscar for best original screenplay, American Holly Hunter won an Oscar for best actress, and New Zealander Anna Pacquin won an Oscar for best supporting actress. At Cannes, Campion shared the Palme d’Or and Holly Hunter won the award for best actress in a leading role. The Australian Film Commission had provided script development funding for this film. The Sydney Tropicana Short Film Festival was launched.
1994 Hoyts Cinemas, now an international company, with 47 percent of the shares held by the American company Hellman and Friedman, owned 1,500 screens in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Europe, and Mexico. Stephan Elliott’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($14.8 million). Lizzie Gardiner and Tim Chappel won the Oscar for best costume design for this film. P.J. Hogan’s first feature, Muriel’s Wedding had a local gross box office of $14.1 million. The South Australian Film Corporation ceased being a producer and became a film development agency, providing investment, development programs, and training support for film, television, and new media production in South Australia.
1995 Australian producer Bruce Davey shared the Academy Award for best picture of the year with Mel Gibson and Alan Ladd Jr. and Australians Peter Frampton and Paul Pattison shared the Oscar for best achievement in makeup with Lois Burwell, for Braveheart. December: Chris Noonan’s Babe was the top Australian film by local gross box office, taking $10.9 million in two weeks. Australian John Cox shared the Oscar for best achievement in visual effects for this film.
1996 Scott Hicks’ Shine was released to wide critical acclaim and commercial success at the Sundance Film Festival, and won Geoffrey Rush a best actor Academy Award in this year. Shine showed that Australian filmmakers could compete on an international market through drawing on global themes.
1997 Rob Sitch’s The Castle was the top Australian film by local gross box office ($10.3 million).
1998 The rebanning of Pasolini’s Salo indicated a new regime of repressive censorship regulation. The Seven television network sold its holdings in MGM for US$389 million. May: After many disputes over the site, Fox Studios opened in Sydney, on prime real estate previously used by the Agricultural Society.
1999 The Packer family, through its company Consolidated Press Holdings, purchased the last parcel of shares of Hoyts Cinemas from the American company Hellman and Friedman, effectively turning Hoyts Cinemas into a private company. The National Film and Sound Archive changed its name to ScreenSound Australia—the National Screen and Sound Archive. John Woo’s Mission Impossible 2 was filmed in Sydney. Australian Steve Courtley shared the Academy Award for best achievement in visual effects for his work on The Matrix, while Australian David Lee shared the Academy Award for best achievement in sound.
2000 Russell Crowe won the Oscar for best actor for Gladiator. George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones was filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney.
2001 Australian Andrew Lesnie won the Oscar for cinematography for The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge, filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, opened to popular and critical success. Australian Catherine Martin and Brigitte Broch shared the Oscar for best achievement in art direction for Moulin Rouge. Martin also shared the Oscar for best achievement in costume design with fellow Australian Angus Strathie.
2002 Nicole Kidman won the Academy Award for best actress for the film The Hours. Phil Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence opened to critical acclaim over its treatment of the “stolen” indigenous children issue. Rolf de Heer’s The Tracker interrogated other aspects of Aboriginal history. 1 January: The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), dedicated to all media forms of the moving image, was established by the Victorian government. 17 November: ACMI cinemas opened at Federation Square.
2003 Consolidated Press Holdings sold a 60-percent interest in the American operation of Hoyts (554 screens) to Regal Entertainment Group. Glendyn Ivin’s The Cracker Bag won the Palme d’Or for the best short film at Cannes. P.J. Hogan’s much-anticipated Peter Pan—filmed at the Warner Bros. studios in Queensland with a US$100 million budget—opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box office returns. 1 July: Following a review of cultural agencies the Federal government integrated ScreenSound Australia—the National Screen and Sound Archive into the Australian Film Commission.
2004 April: Pioneer filmmaker Tim Burstall died.