Australian National Film Board

This year the Musica Viva Festival will feature content from the NFSA's Film Australia Collection to be screened in the Bang & Olufsen Salon throughout the festival in Sydney. This film Music Camp is one of those films. Directed by R. Maslyn Williams for the National Film Board in 1949. Each year the Melbourne Junior Symphony Concert Orchestra holds a summer camp organised by the National Fitness Council at Point Lonsdale Victoria, for three weeks it provides an opportunity for music students to continue their education over the holiday season.

Produced by The National Film Board 1945. Directed by Maslyn Williams. When this film was made, Canberra was one of the world's youngest planned cities. This film briefly outlines how the Australian colonies became one nation in 1901 and how the need was felt for a city to be the symbol of national unity. Canberra, a tiny hamlet in the rolling countryside of New South Wales, was chosen as the site. It turned into a thriving city of Federal Government, growing according to plan yet retaining all of its rural charm. This film features some of Canberra's most dignified buildings - Parliament House, the National War Memorial, the Institute of Anatomy - as well as broad tree-lined roads and lawn-fronted homes. It also looks at the people who have come to live in the nation's captial.

Made by the National Film Board 1949. Directed by Bern Gandy. The expanding activities of the Post Office to cater for communications in an ever growing nation. This film also deals with the rapid expansion to cater for post-war demands, especially in supplying more telephones and exchanges. Australia’s vast distances make an efficient system of communication most necessary and this film stresses all the main factors involved in maintaining its efficiency.

Shows new methods in treating those afflicted with mental health issues. Contrasts past treatment regimes where people were locked away out of sight with the new, 1960s, psychiatric ideas of "group therapy" and talking therapy. Also shows practical behaviours aimed at returning patients to productive lives in society and outpatient services.

The film examines the organisation of civil aviation in Australia, from passenger flights to freight and utility aircraft. It includes planning and control procedures before and during each flight, safety measures established by the Department of Civil Aviation, training of pilots and maintenance staff, and plans for future development.

Much of the romance associated with the development of the gold industry is to be found at Kalgoorlie on the golden mile, that rich strip of Western Australian territory. This film illustrates life in the town and the work of the miners: the school of mining, the vast store of mining tradition, the old-time prospectors who still search the surrounding countryside for new and fabulous strikes. It takes the viewer underground, deep into the galleries where the gold holding rock is blasted out, and shows the intricate business of separating the valuable metal from the rock that is undertaken on the surface.

Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the New South Wales regional town of Wagga Wagga in the mid 1960s.

There was dancing in the street and tea on the river front when the Jacaranda Festival sprung to life in the last week of October in 1949. The Jacaranda Queen was the "most popular and prettiest girl in town" and the whole of the Clarence Valley descended on Grafton for the festival.

A documentary about the city of Broken Hill in New South Wales.

Two Aboriginal families live like their ancestors have for centuries in this anthropological documentary. The gathering of food is the main focus as women harvest grass seeds to make a primitive flour for bread. Grubs, lizards, and fruit are also on the menu, with the only contact with the modern world being their trek to a government compound for much-needed drinking water.

On piloting ships into Sydney harbour.

As a contribution to the cause of road safety Sir Donald Bradman world famous cricketer, played the lead in this film for children. The theme is cricket played in casual suburban small boy fashion, with a narrow street for the oval and a petrol tin for the wicket. Sir Donald comes on the scene and demonstrates the virtues of safety first as a must for those who aspire to play a test cricket for Australia.

Documentary short about job opportunities for British ex-servicemen in post-war Australia.

A documentary about mining.

Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the South Australian regional town of Mount Gambier in the mid 1960s.

A documentary showing the town of Port Augusta in South Australia.

Instructional film for children, teaching them how to properly ride a bicycle.

Radio is one of the most important communication technologies ever invented and has been a vital tool in helping Australians overcome the tyranny of distance both nationally and internationally.

In Australia with its rapid development there is a need for insistence upon town planning. This film illustrates what has already taken place in our leading capital cities, where planning has been haphazard.

A road safety lesson using puppets and animation kindergarten age children.