Australian Cinema > history >

1900-1913

On this page is Pike & Cooper's introduction to the period from their definitive book, followed by a list of films made during this period.

Pike & Cooper:
Actuality films recording daily life in Australian cities were made as early as 1896, and they provided a staple income for early Australian film-makers. By 1899, films were also being made that added new dimensions to the presentation of evangelical religion (such as Soldiers of the Cross, 1900), and others that served as moving backgrounds to stage plays (such as Besieged at Port Arthur, 1906—a ‘magnificent Russo-Japanese war spectacle’).
In 1906 the first continuous narrative film of any substantial length, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was made in Melbourne. Debate about whether it was the first feature film in Australia, or even in the world, has tended to obscure the important fact that in Australia there was an early flowering of feature film production from 1906 to 1912, pre-dating the regular appearance of narrative films of similar length (4000 feet or more) in other countries, especially Britain and the U.S.A. In Britain, for example, the longest film made in 1911 was 2500 feet; in Australia in the same year at least twenty films were over 3000 feet, and of those nearly half were over 4000 feet. In these early years it was essentially an indigenous cinema, reflecting the producers’ direct responses to the Australian audience, without reliance on established models from overseas. It was perhaps the most acutely ‘national’ period in Australian cinema, and many of the recurring themes and motifs of the local cinema were first explored and defined at this time.
Many of the films in the pre-war years were produced by theatrical companies based in Sydney, using film as a means of penetrating their market more thoroughly than had been possible before. E. J. Cole’s Bohemian Dramatic Company and George Marlow’s company were two such groups. By recording its repertoire on film, a theatrical troupe could send its work to remote country towns and could saturate the city suburbs by using several prints. There soon emerged other troupes that specialized in film, that had no theatrical basis, but employed a regular staff of players and technicians (for example, the Australian Photo-Play Company and the Australian Life Biograph Company).
Whether made by theatre or film specialists, the early films tended to be closely allied to theatrical experiences: while the film ‘unwound’, performers on stage or behind the screen would provide music, sound effects and dialogue, or descriptions of the action. The moving image provided a simple means not only of illustrating the plays but also of opening them up, and it allowed action scenes to be performed outdoors in surroundings that looked more authentic. Accordingly, producers tended to favour subjects with open-air Australian settings—stories of the convict days or of the gold rushes, sporting dramas, tales of station life in the outback, and above all, bushranging adventures. Other popular subjects in local theatre were sometimes filmed, as diverse as Deep South racial melodramas (The Octoroon, 1912), American Westerns (The Luck of Roaring Camp, 1911), Irish romances (Colleen Bawn, 1911) and British dramas of class, religion and sex (The Christian, 1911), but none of these triggered off the same degree of public enthusiasm as the Australian outdoor subjects.
The urban dramas were often centred upon new technological phenomena—for example, telegrams and telephones (A Silent Witness, 1912), police detection methods such as finger-printing (Whose Was the Hand?, 1912), and fast cars and trains (All for Gold, 1911)—but were nevertheless rooted in the recognizable contemporary life of the city. Films of the bush, however, tended to be romantic fantasies, made by city-dwellers about a vanishing or extinct life-style. Chief among them were the bushranging films, which established themselves as a distinctive genre before the Hollywood Western swept the world. These films had stock characters and actions that appeared repeatedly, regardless of historical accuracy or physical possibility. Raymond Longford wrote: ‘All they needed was horses hired from stables in Redfern, some uniforms, guns, a stagecoach, and enough men to play troopers and rangers.
They would take their gear down to the bush at Brookvale, outside Manly, camp out for a week, and—without any script—make a film. Their action was usually a stagecoach hold-up, a lot of galloping, and a shooting-match.’ (Daily Telegraph, 9 November 1946) Bushrangers usually included at least one daring leap in their adventures, whether alone or on horseback, from a cliff into the ocean or from a bridge into a flooded river, and they often had a quick-witted ‘black boy’ as faithful ally.
Women also followed a romantic pattern in outback films. Bush heroines were always accomplished horsewomen, knowledgeable about bush lore and cattle mustering, but they were not tomboys. While they could ride the range with the best of the men, they maintained a dainty and demure appearance and flirted happily with the men of their choice.
They were simultaneously loyal mates and good wives. Such a woman was often the protagonist of the film. Unlike some Hollywood Westerns in later decades, there was in these films no question of women being ‘tamed’ by marriage: they were presented as emotionally balanced characters, their ability to play both ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles in the bush creating no signs of psychological stress.
The tradition established in these early years of ‘the squatter’s daughter’ or the girl of the bush’ continued through to the 1950s in the local cinema.
Outback films rivalled each other in the authenticity of their action scenes. Spectacular feats of horsemanship by rodeo roughriders would sometimes be interpolated into a bush yarn to give it distinction, and the promise of ‘real rides’ was often highlighted in film advertising to lure audiences away from the theatre into the cinema (for example, The Squatters Daughter, 1910). Injuries often occurred in the staging of fight scenes, especially in the bravura stunt-work of John Gavin’s films (such as The Assigned Servant, 1911). The urge to find ‘real’ scenery led film-makers into distant or almost inaccessible parts of the continent, not only for outback films but also for a melodrama like The Bells (1911), for which the film unit ventured under difficult conditions into the Snowy Mountains to secure background scenery to represent the countryside of Alsace in the midnineteenth century.
Sustained portraits of little-seen corners of Australia also attracted an enormous public following, far beyond the numerous short ‘actualities’ of city and country life. In 1911 Francis Birtles made Across Australia, the first of several long records of journeys around the continent and into ‘unknown’ Australia. Travelling first by bicycle, and later by car and aeroplane, Birtles’s adventures in central Australia and in the tropical north established armchair travelling as a popular form of commercial cinema, and his example was followed by other film-makers, from Frank Hurley and J. E. Ward later in the decade to the wave of ‘safari’ documentaries in the late 1960s.
The years before the First World War were the most productive for Australian cinema, with a quantitative peak in 1911 that has not been equalled since. But by 1913 production had declined, and it did not recover until the heavy input of government finance in the 1970s. The cultural imperialism of the U.S. A. and Britain has often been blamed for causing the failure of the feature film industry by acquiring a stranglehold over Australian theatres and denying local film-makers access to the screen. While such arguments may help to explain the problems of the industry in later decades, they do not explain the sudden and sharp fall in production in 1912, several years before Hollywood gained primacy in world production.
The collapse in production had nothing to do with audience response; it was a myth spread by the enemies of local production that Australian films were ‘below standard’ and that Australian audiences did not want to see them. On the contrary, the feature film industry was the victim of a struggle for power within the distribution and exhibition trades. Early in 1912 several film exchanges and theatre-owning companies began to merge their interests in a combine made up of Australasian Films for distribution, equipment and production, and Union Theatres for exhibition. Under the direction of businessmen such as Henry Gee, Australasian and Union Theatres systematically set about consolidating their hold over the Australian trade. By mid-1912 independent production units, including larger operations such as the Australian Photo-Play Company and the Australian Life Biograph Company, were beginning to go out of business because the theatres they normally supplied had signed to screen nothing but films from Australasian. For sheer lack of theatre outlets, production fell into decay. Theatre, 2 November 1914, estimated that eight out of ten exhibitors in New South Wales were dependent on Australasian for film supplies and were tied to contracts that gave them no freedom in programming. On 1 January 1915 an editorial in the same magazine asserted that ‘Whether deliberate or accidental, [Australasian’s] contract with exhibitors has done more to kill local picture production than anything else.’ Thus the first major blow against production came from Australian businessmen in a situation of unfettered free enterprise. The monopoly of Australasian Films and Union Theatres was dominant in the industry for the next decade, and the companies remained powerful forces in the industry into the 1970s.
The production industry was also hampered by the banning of the bushranging genre by the New South Wales Police Department in 1912. Bushranging had been the most popular subject for films in 1911, and New South Wales was the largest market for them, so the ban was a body-blow to the industry. The police claimed that the bushranging films made a mockery of the law and glorified outlawry to audiences that were largely composed of young adults and children. Bushranging stories remained in a less spectacular form on the stage, but the police did not consider the predominantly adult audience for live theatre to be endangered by exposure to them. The ban remained in force until the 1940s and had a powerful influence on Australian popular culture: the entire folklore relating to bushrangers was effectively removed from the most popular form of cultural expression, and for more than thirty years Australians were left ignorant of the exploits of bushrangers. A ready substitute was found in the American Western, and Australians became more familiar with Tom Mix and Bill Hart than with Frank Morgan or the Captains Midnight, Moonlite and Starlight.
During these early years of Australian cinema, many people drifted in and out of production, moving back into live theatre or departing overseas when conditions toughened in 1912. But the period also constituted the formative years for a handful of filmmakers who persevered with production during the war and after: Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell displayed an acute sense of the medium’s power to express emotion, but like John Gavin and Franklyn Barrett, their best work was yet to come. The most important figures in the early production industry, the men with vision, were the entrepreneurs—Cozens Spencer, J. D. Williams, T. J. West, Stanley Crick, the Frasers and others. Their rivalry in exploring the possibilities of film ‘showmanship’ stimulated a healthy climate of ingenuity and enthusiasm in production as well as exhibition, and the rapid development of the commercial uses of film in Australia owed much to them.

Films 1900-1913

Films 1900-1913

1900

Soldiers of the Cross (Joseph Perry & Herbert Booth, 1900) The Salvation Army; not as a whole a feature film, but a show with lantern slides, motion pictures, hymns and a spoken commentary; included here because of obvious historical importance: the world's first drama film; premiered 13 September 1900; the film sequences are lost; stills survive

1906

Story of the Kelly Gang, The** (Charles Tait, 1906) J. & N. Tait, Johnson & Gibson, wr. Charles Tait, dp Millard Johnson, Orrie Perry, Reg Perry, c. 4000 ft; Frank Mills, Elizabeth Tait, John Tait, Norman Campbell, Will Coyne; world's first feature film, in the sense that it ran for more than an hour; seventeen minutes of the film have been restored and released by the National Film and Sound Archive

1907

Eureka Stockade (George & Arthur Cornwell, 1907) Australian Cinematograph Company [its only film], screened Atheneum Theatre, Melbourne, 19 October, 1907 (Reade 1975: 275)

Robbery under Arms (Charles MacMahon, 1907) MacMahon's Exquisite Pictures, screenplay, scenario, script Charles MacMahon, from the novel by Rolf Boldrewood, dp Byers Coates, William Duff, 5000 ft. Jim Gerald (Warrigal), George Merriman, Lance Vane, William Duff, Arthur Guest, Rhoda Dendron

1908

For the Term of his Natural Life (Charles MacMahon, 1908) prod. Charles MacMahon, E. J. Carroll, Messrs Gunn Osborne & Jerdan; from the novel by Marcus Clarke, dp Byers Coates; Martyn Keith, Rosie Knight Phillips, Mrs Barry Lane; 2000ft; prison at Port Arthur, Tasmania

Quietest Horse in Australia, The (unknown, 1908) screened Spencer's Lyceum, Sydney, 18 April 1908 (Reade 1975: 275)

1909

Heroes of the Cross (Joseph Perry, 1909; much content from Soldiers of the Cross (1900)

Saved from the Sea (unknown, 1909) screened Spencer's Lyceum, Sydney, 1 January 1909 (Reade 1975: 275)

Scottish Covenanters, The (Joseph Perry, 1909)

Sydney on the Spree (Globe Pictures, 1909) aka Motor Boat Pirates on Sydney Harbour, screened Queen's Hall, 31 July 1909 (Reade 1975: 275)

1910

Kelly Gang, The (unknown, 1910) aka The Kelly Gang of Outlaws, Bail Up, aka Ned Kelly the Ironclad Bushranger, screened Atheneum Hall, Melbourne, 6 August 1910, then other venues in Sydney and Adelaide (Reade 1975: 275)

Life And Adventures Of John Vane, The Notorious Australian Bushranger, The, (S. A. [Stephen Australia] Fitzgerald, 1910) Spencer's Pictures, prod. Spencer's Pictures, dp Ernest Higgins; Jim Gerald, Lance Vane, Max Clifton; longest title

Moonlite (John Gavin, 1910) aka Captain Moonlite, Southern Cross Motion Pictures, wr. H. A. Forsyth, dp A. J. Moulton; an Aboriginal character, Bunda, an Aboriginal woman, was played by Gavin's wife Agnes in blackface

Squatter's Daughter, The (Bert Bailey, 1910) aka The Land of the Wattle, prod. William Anderson, from the play by Bert Bailey & Edmund Duggan, dp Orrie Perry; Olive Wilton, Bert Bailey, Edmund Duggan; 6000 ft

Thunderbolt (John Gavin, 1910) Southern Cross Motion Pictures, prod. H. A. Forsyth, from the novel Three Years with Thunderbolt by Ambrose Pratt, dp A. J. Moulton; John Gavin, as Thunderbolt, "is rescued from a police trap by a half-caste girl ..." (Pike & Cooper 1998: 11), Ruby Butler, H. A. Forsyth; survives in part

1911

More films were made in Australia in 1911 than in any other year. However, only one survives—and that only in part: The Romantic Story Of Margaret Catchpole (Raymond Longford, 1911)

After Sundown (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln, dp Orrie Perry; Leslie Woods, Godfrey Cass, Frank Cullinane, John Ennis, Miss Laing-Mason, Nellie Bramley, Ethel Grist; melodrama; 60 min. [not in Pike & Cooper, data from Verhoeven]

All For Gold (Franklyn Barrett [?] 1911) aka Jumping The Claim; dp Franklyn Barrett; Herbert J. Bentley, Hilliard Vox, Lilian Teece, Ronald McLeod, E. Melville, Walter Bastin; goldfields drama; 3000 ft; lost

Assigned Servant, The (John Gavin, 1911) Production Company: Crick and Finlay. Screenplay, Scenario, Script: Agnes Gavin, dp Herbert Finlay. 4000 ft. Cast: John Gavin, Alf Scarlett, Charles Woods, Dore Kurtz, Sid Harrison, Agnes Gavin.

Assigned To His Wife (John Gavin, 1911) John F. Gavin Productions, wr. Agnes Gavin, dp A. J. Moulton; John Gavin, Agnes Gavin, Carr Austin, J. Harris, F. Henderson, Miss Daphne, H. Harding, Wilton Power, H. Benson, A. Delaware (Yacka); In the dramatic highlight of the film, Jack's faithful Aboriginal friend, Yacka, contrives to rescue him with a 'Dive for Life' in which the Aboriginal boy dives 250 feet over a precipice into a river; evidence is eventually found that exonerates Jack and condemns Danvers, and at last Jack is free to return to England with Bess and Yacka. Pike & Cooper: 27

Attack On The Gold Escort (1911)

Bells, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln from the adaptation by Leopold Lewis of the play Le Juif Polonais by Erckmann-Chatrian, dp Orrie Perry

Ben Hall And His Gang (John Gavin, 1911) Crick and Finlay, wr. Agnes Gavin, dp Herbert Finlay, 3000 ft; John Gavin (Ben Hall)

Bushranger's Ransom, A, or A Ride For Life (E. J. Cole, 1911) Ben Hall story

Called Back (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln from the novel by Hugh Conway set at the time of Garibaldi, dp Orrie Perry; Arthur Styan; 4000 ft

Caloola (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) aka The Adventures Of A Jackeroo; Australian Photo-Play Company; settler daughter captured by Aboriginals

Captain Midnight, The Bush King (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) aka The Bushranger's Bride, Spencer's Pictures, dp Ernest Higgins; Alfred Rolfe [Alfred Roker] (Edgar Dalmore/Captain Midnight), Lily Dampier [Rolfe's wife] (Elsa), Raymond Longford

Captain Starlight, or Gentleman Of The Road (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Spencer's Pictures, from the play by Alfred Dampier, based on the novel Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood, dp Ernest Higgins; Alfred Rolfe, Lily Dampier [Rolfe's wife], Raymond Longford, Stanley Walpole, Augustus Neville; opened Spencer's Lyceum Sydney 16 March 1911 and ran for a profitable extended season; over 3000 ft

Christian, The (Franklyn Barrett [?] 1911) dp Franklyn Barrett; Roy Redgrave [father of Sir Michael], Eugenie Duggan, Rutland Beckett, Bert Bailey; 2500 ft, 28 min.

Colleen Bawn, The (Gaston Mervale, 1911) Australian Life Biograph Company, from the play by Dion Boucicault; Louise Carbasse [Louise Lovely], James Martin

Cup Winner, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company; Melbourne Cup drama which included footage of the actual 1911 Cup race

Dan Morgan: Notorious Australian Outlaw (Spencer's Pictures, 1911) "Aborigines associated with a bushranger" Malone : 3; Pike & Cooper: 29

Double Event, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln from the novel by Nat Gould, dp Orrie Perry; horse-racing milieu

Driving A Girl To Destruction (George Marlow, 1911)

Drover's Sweetheart, The (John Gavin, 1911) John F. Gavin Productions, wr. Agnes Gavin, dp A. J. Moulton; John Gavin; may not have been screened; 33 min.

Fatal Wedding, The (Raymond Longford, 1911) Spencer's Pictures, screenplay, scenario, script Raymond Longford, dp Arthur Higgins; Raymond Longford (Howard Wilson), Lottie Lyell (Mabel Wilson), Walter Vincent (Robert Curtis), Tom Cosgrove (Toto), Harry Saville (Peter Schwartz), George Ellis (Constable O'Reilly), Mr Henderson (Reverend Dr Lanceford), Miss Clare (Cora Williams), Helen Fergus (Bridget), Elsie Rennie (Jessie), Master Anson (Frankie), Jack Goodall; first film to bring together Longford, Lyell and Higgins; 3500 ft

Five Of Hearts, The aka Buffalo Bill's Love Story, aka A Maiden's Distress (E. J. Cole, 1911) Production Company: Pathe Freres; Cast: E J Cole's Bohemian Dramatic Company; this Western was presented by Empire Pictures at the Town Hall, Perth [WA], on 10 May 1911

Frank Gardiner, The King Of The Road (John Gavin, 1911) Crick and Finlay, wr. Agnes Gavin, dp Herbert Finlay; John Gavin (Frank Gardiner)

Gambler's Gold (George Young, 1911)

Gentleman of the Road (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) aka Captain Starlight; 33 min.

Girl from Outback, The (Australian Life Biograph Company, 1911) drama

Golden West, The (George Young, 1911) prod. Australian Film Syndicate, dp Lacey Percival, 2500 ft. 'A romance of the West Australian [WA] goldfields', featuring 'magnificent scenery' and 'sensational rides', The Golden West was privately screened at the King's Theatre, Sydney, on 27 March 1911

In The Days Of 49 (1911)

In the Nick Of Time (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company

It Is Never Too Late (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) prod. J. & N. Tait, wr. W. J. Lincoln from the novel by Charles Reade, It Is Never Too Late To Mend (1856), dp Orrie Perry; Stanley Walpole

Keane Of Kalgoorlie (John Gavin, 1911) Crick and Finlay, wr. Agnes Gavin from play by W. O'Sullivan from novel by Arthur Wright, who wrote: 'The authorities would not allow Randwick course to be used for picture purposes, so a "scenic" picture of the running of a race in WA (the Perth Cup, I think) was joined up in the film ...'; John Gavin, Agnes Gavin, Alf Scarlett

Lady Outlaw, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company; Charles Villiers

Life Of Rufus Dawes, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) aka The Convict Hero, Spencer's Pictures, wr. Alfred Rolfe from the novel For The Term Of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke, dp Ernest Higgins; Alfred Rolfe, Lily Dampier [Rolfe's wife], Raymond Longford; 4000 ft

Lost Chord, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln, dp Orrie Perry

Luck Of Roaring Camp, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln from story by Bret Harte, dp Orrie Perry; The George Marlow Dramatic Company, incl. Ethel Buckley, Robert Inman, John Cosgrove

Mark Of The Lash, The (John Gavin, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company, wr. Agnes Gavin, dp A. J. Moulton; John Gavin

Mates Of The Murrumbidgee (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company; 28 min.

Miner's Curse, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company

Miner's Daughter, The (1911)

Moora Neya (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) aka The Message of the Spear Australian Photo-Play Company; Ethel Phillips, Stanley Walpole, Charles Villiers

Mystery Of A Hansom Cab, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1911) Amalgamated Pictures, from the novel by Fergus Hume, dp Orrie Perry

One Hundred Years Ago (Gaston Mervale, 1911) Australian Life Biograph Company; wr. P. W. Marony; Louise Carbasse [Louise Lovely] (Judith), Harrie Ireland, A J Patrick, Godfrey Cass, Alf Scarlett, James Martin, Harry Beaumont; 2000ft

Only A Factory Girl (1911)

Romantic Story Of Margaret Catchpole, The** (Raymond Longford, 1911) Spencer's Pictures, dp Ernest Higgins; Lottie Lyell (Margaret Catchpole), Raymond Longford, Augustus Neville, Sybil Wilde, William Coulter, E. Melville, Fred Hardy, Walter Vincent, Fred Twitcham, Jack Goodall, J. Howard, H. Parker, J. Eldridge, C. Swain, Arno, Mr Spencer's dapple grey horse; 3000 ft (?) of which about half survives

Sentenced For Life (E. J. Cole, 1911)

Squatter And The Clown, The (1911)

Squatter's Son, The (E. J. Cole, 1911) "In a climactic horseback escape, the hero is helped by an obedient 'Black Boy' who destroys a bridge to delay the pursuers" Pike & Cooper 1998: 17; quotations in Malone 1987: 2

Sundowner, The (E. J. Cole, 1911)

Sweet Nell Of Old Drury (Raymond Longford, 1911) Spencer's Pictures, wr. Raymond Longford from the play by Paul Kester; dp Ernest Higgins; Nellie Stewart, Augustus Neville, Charles Lawrence; 4800 ft

Tale Of The Australian Bush, A (Gaston Mervale, 1911) aka Ben Hall, The Notorious Bushranger; Australian Life Biograph Company, wr. P W Marony; A J Patrick (Ben Hall), Godfrey Cass (Melville), Harry Beaumont (Gilbert), James Martin (Keightley), Gilbert Emery (Chief of Police), Harrie Ireland (Mrs Keightley), Isma Owen (Robbie Hall), Louise Carbasse [Louise Lovely] (Mrs Hall); 2500 ft

Three Strings To Her Bow (George Young, 1911)

Ticket In Tatts, A (Gaston Mervale, 1911) Australian Life Biograph Company, wr. P. W. Marony, 2000 ft; A. J. Patrick, Alf Scarlett, Godfrey Cass, James Martin, Louise Carbasse [Louise Lovely], Harrie Ireland, Harry Beaumont

Way Outback (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company

What Women Suffer (Alfred Rolfe, 1911) Australian Photo-Play Company

1912

Angel Of His Dreams (George Marlow, 1912) melodrama, sex and scandal

Breaking The News (W. J. Lincoln, 1912) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln, inspired by John Longstaff painting, dp Orrie Perry; Hattie Ireland, Arthur Styan; drama; 39 min.

Bushman's Bride (Spencer's Pictures, 1912)

Call Of The Bush (Charles Wood, 1912) sundowner story

Cheat, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912 Australian Photo-Play Company; Ethel Phillips, Stanley Walpole, Charles Villiers

Conn, The Shaughraun (Gaston Mervale, 1912)

Coo-ee And The Echo (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company; dp A. O. Segerberg; happy ending is only reached when a 'faithful' Aboriginal boy (played by Charles Woods in blackface) arrives in time to rescue the hero

Crime And The Criminal, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Daughter Of Australia, A (Gaston Mervale, 1912) Harry Beaumont (?), Louise Carbasse; romance of the Australian gold diggings

Do Men Love Women? (Alfred Rolfe, 1912 Australian Photo-Play Company

Eleventh Hour, The (West's Pictures, 1912) aka Saved by Telegram; dp Franklyn Barrett; Sydney Stirling, Cyril Mackay, Leonard Willey, Charles Lawrence, Loris Brown; 'the adventures and vicissitudes in the life of a Girl Telegraphist' Pike & Cooper: 34.

Hands Across The Sea (Gaston Mervale, 1912)

King Of The Coiners (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Life Story Of John Lee, The, or The Man They Could Not Hang (Robert Scott, 1912) wr. prod. Phillip Lytton, dp Herbert Finlay; Mervyn Barrington, Edna Phillips, Robert Scott, Robert Henry, Fred Cope; 4 reels

Love Tyrant, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) aka Love, The Tyrant, Australian Photo-Play Company; Charles Villiers

Midnight Wedding, The (Raymond Longford, 1912) Spencer's Pictures, wr. Raymond Longford from the play by Walter Howard, dp Ernest Higgins; Augustus Neville, Lottie Lyell, D. L. Dalziel; 3000 ft

Moira (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) aka The Mystery Of The Bush, Australian Photo-Play Company

Mystery Of The Black Pearl, The (West's Pictures, 1912) aka The Black Pearl Mystery; dp Franklyn Barrett; Sydney Stirling, Cyril Mackay, Leonard Willey

Octoroon, The (George Young, 1912

Percy Gets A Job (William Stratford Percy, 1912)

Rip Van Winkle (W. J. Lincoln, 1912) Amalgamated Pictures, wr. W. J. Lincoln, based on story by Washington Irving, dp Orrie Perry; Arthur Styan

Silent Witness, A (Franklyn Barrett, 1912) Cyril Mackay, Leonard Willey, Sydney Stirling, Loris Brown; detective drama; 2400ft

Sin Of A Woman, The (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Strangler's Grip, The (West's Pictures, 1912) dp Franklyn Barrett; Sydney Stirling, Cyril Mackay, Leonard Willey

Strike (George Young, 1912)

Ticket Of Leave Man, The (Gaston Mervale, 1912) 46 min. (survives in part)

Tide Of Death, The (Raymond Longford, 1912) Spencer's Pictures, wr. Raymond Longford, dp Tasman Higgins; Augustus Neville, Lottie Lyell, Frank Harcourt; 3000 ft, 33 min.

Whose Was The Hand (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Won On The Post (Alfred Rolfe, 1912) Australian Photo-Play Company

Wreck Of The Dunbar, The (Gaston Mervale, 1912) aka The Yeoman's Wedding

1913

Australia Calls (Raymond Longford, 1913) Spencer's Pictures, wr. C. A. Jeffries, John Barr; dp Ernest Higgins, Tasman Higgins, Arthur Higgins; racist film warning of the Yellow Peril; 4000 ft, 44 min.

Blue Gum Romance, A (Franklyn Barrett, 1913) Tien Hogue, Tom Middleton, Douglas Lotherington ('Aboriginal chief'); drama among the trees; used local white boys in blackface

Bondage Of The Bush, The (Charles Woods, 1913) bush melodrama; 44 min.

Crisis, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel

Hinemoa (Gaston Melies, 1913) wr. Edmund Mitchell from Maori legend, dp George Scott; Maata Horomona; no footage exists; one reel, 1000ft; NZ

How Chief Te Ponga Won His Bride (Gaston Melies, 1913) wr. Edmund Mitchell from traditional story, dp George Scott; no footage exists; one reel, 1000ft; NZ

Life Of A Jackeroo, The (Franklyn Barrett, 1913) Tien Hogue, Tom Middleton, Ruth Wainwright; like A Blue Gum Romance, used Gosford locations and another 'corroboree'; another loyal Aboriginal saves the hero's life

Loved by a Maori Chieftess (Gaston Melies, 1913) wr. Edmund Mitchell from his story, dp George Scott; first NZ film, no footage exists, two reels, 2000ft; NZ

Melbourne Mystery, A (director? 1913) John Gavin

Moondyne (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel

Neath Austral Skies (Raymond Longford, 1913) Lottie Lyell

Opium Runners, The (Gaumont Agency, 1913)

Pommy Arrives In Australia (Raymond Longford, 1913) aka Pommy, The Funny Little New Chum; dp Franklyn Barrett; Longford's first comedy

Remittance Man, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel; reformed thief

Reprieve, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel; 28 min.

Road To Ruin, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel

Sea Dogs of Australia (Martyn Keith, 1913)

Sick Stockrider, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) Lincoln-Cass Films, from the poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon, dp Maurice Bertel; George Bryant (the stockrider) Godfrey Cass (his mate) Roy Redgrave, Tom Cannam; 1200 ft; earliest film to survive virtually complete

Transported (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) dp Maurice Bertel

Wreck, The (W. J. Lincoln, 1913) from the poem 'From the Wreck' by Adam Lindsay Gordon

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