- 12 years ago
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Buckingham Palace, the home in 1935 of King George V and Queen Mary.
00:21It was Jubilee year and British subjects throughout the Empire were celebrating the 25 year reign
00:26of their beloved monarchs.
00:30At home in Sydney's Centennial Park, steady rain, mud and puddles failed to dampen the
00:35enthusiasm of a crowd of more than 30,000 who watched a Jubilee Day parade by all the
00:39armed services.
00:48The occasion marked one of the first public appearances of the new Governor of New South
00:51Wales, Sir Alexander Hoare-Ribbon, a gallant soldier who'd won the Victoria Cross at the
00:56Sudan.
00:57Highlight of the parade was the salute of 21 guns to honour the King and Queen on the
01:04anniversary of their coronation.
01:10Among the drenched onlookers were young Japanese naval cadets, members of the crew of two cruisers
01:14on a goodwill visit.
01:16Cadets who would within six years be engaged in some of the greatest sea battles in history.
01:23The Japanese squadron commander was given a traditional naval welcome as he stepped
01:26ashore to inspect the Guard of Honour.
01:28Within a generation, Japan had risen from obscurity to become a major naval power.
01:40But the world's navies were all active as the first submarine ever to enter Fremantle
01:43Harbour arrives.
01:45The Dutch K-18 on the last leg of a seven-month, 21,000-mile devious trip to Batavia, now known
01:50as Jakarta.
01:52An Australian officer shed his sword before extending an official welcome to Lieutenant
01:58Commander Heterges and men of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
02:13In Melbourne, the army showed signs of becoming mechanised.
02:16An armoured car was tested, a sort of Ned Kelly's suit on wheels.
02:23Yes, the armour was impervious to rifle bullets too, but I wonder if those tyres were bulletproof.
02:37Lack of finance and economic stringencies hold back production and within a few years
02:40this model was soon out of date.
02:45At Victoria Barracks, Sydney, army cadet officers rehearsed for their passing out parade, culmination
02:50of a tough schooling, both in the classroom and outdoors.
02:53Two years later, the academy was moved to Canberra, there to become the Royal Military
02:57College Duntroon.
02:58A place in this select band was obtained only after rigid physical and educational tests.
03:04In the laboratory they studied chemical warfare and explosives.
03:18Physical fitness was attained in the gymnasium.
03:30These were the days before mechanisation of cavalry units and skill in the saddle was
03:33another requirement, a subject no longer on the curriculum.
03:41This was no military camp, but the site for the World Jamboree at Frankston, Victoria,
03:45led by Chief Scout Lord Baden-Powell.
03:48And here they are gathered together with wonderful pageants to show to one another and all wanting
03:55to see each other and realise the magnitude of the brotherhood of scouts to which they
04:01belong.
04:02Founder of the scouting movement in 1908, the Chief, as he was known to more than six
04:06million boys of every race, colour and creed throughout the world, was 78 years old.
04:11It was a stirring experience, not only for the hero of Maverking, but also for the 10,700
04:16scouts from 23 countries, as the old London-born leader took the salute.
04:21Two years later, he retired to his winter home in Kenya, where he died in January 1941
04:26at the age of 84.
04:34It was a great day in the lives of these scouts, but an even greater one for unknown artist
04:38Harry Hankey, winner of the Archibald Prize.
04:41Using a backyard garage for a studio and forced by economic difficulties to prepare his own
04:45canvas and paints, he created this self-portrait in a painting time of eight hours.
04:50The ÂŁ500 prize was a bonanza in a year struggling out of financial depression.
05:00Across the continent at Kalgoorlie, the famous gold mines were still working round the clock,
05:04turning out more than a million ounces a year, and with gold prices rising in 1935, the production
05:09incentive was high.
05:16But this gigantic project in the arid desert was completely dependent upon a pipeline 30
05:20inches in diameter and 350 miles long, from the Mundaring Weir near Perth, completed in
05:251903, through which 2,700 million gallons of precious water are pumped every year.
05:31A two-week journey for every drop, which is lifted 1,000 feet, enabling the intricate
05:35processes from ore to ingot to produce about 77% of the total annual Australian gold output.
05:41Kalgoorlie, in the heart of Western Australia, the state which has mined more gold than any
05:46other since 1897.
05:50But in southeastern Queensland at Roma, the search for black gold was still going on.
05:54In fact, the outlook was no brighter than in 1900, when a water bore in the Great Artesian
05:58Basin first yielded a petroliferous gas.
06:01Thirty-seven years and millions of pounds worth of prospecting later, it was still mostly
06:05mud and petroleum gas.
06:19Although no oil was found in sufficient quantity to produce an Australian petrol, the motorcar
06:23industry was steadily expanding.
06:26In South Australia, the General Motors plant at Woodville was producing all steel bodies.
06:33Huge drop hammers and pressers were seen in action for the first time in this country.
06:37The press was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
06:53This was the drawing plan for the 1935 model Chevrolet.
06:57Production rate rose to 30,000 bodies a year, and when war interrupted this production in
07:001939, more than 374,000 bodies had been turned out, not only for the local market, but also
07:06for export by ship.
07:13After 30 years' service in Australian waters, the one-time Tasman record-crossing holder
07:17Mahino of 5,233 tonnes, stripped of her three propellers, was being towed to Osaka, Japan.
07:24But on July 8th, 200 miles north of Brisbane in a cyclone, Mahino was blown onto Fraser
07:29Island.
07:30Her skeleton crew of eight Japanese waited ashore to camp on the island for two weeks
07:34before salvage plans were abandoned.
07:36Mahino was left to the waves.
07:45Another Union steamship vessel, the Marama, brought Queen Saloti of Tonga to Sydney.
07:50She was met at the wharf by her eldest son, Prince Taufa Aho, a six-foot Newington College
07:54student and star athlete and heir of the Tongan throne.
07:58Queen Saloti was one of the principal guests at the Methodist centenary celebrations in
08:02Melbourne.
08:03I want to thank everybody in Sydney for the welcome given me today.
08:07The Association of Tongan Australia have always been friendly, and we send our greetings to
08:12you all.
08:15After three years as Prime Minister, Joseph Aloysius Lyons, with his wife, left Sydney
08:19to attend the Imperial Conference in London.
08:22The popular, hard-working leader of the United Australia Party was showing strains of his
08:25fight to restore Australia's overseas credit, but the couple quickly joined in the relaxing
08:30shipboard life.
08:35But Dame Enid, mother of eleven, could not break away from her domestic routine, even
08:40when a hole turned up in the PM's sock.
08:45And as for her husband, it was almost a busman's holiday.
08:51Snakes alive, whether or not she liked it, Madam Python was back in circulation, and
08:56one of the zoo's curliest problems of 1935 was solved.
09:05In Melbourne Zoo, another large lady was the centre of attraction, ever eager for something
09:10to tickle her palate.
09:12And if Baby Hippo didn't mind, the old girl provided a tonne or so of fun for her jockey
09:15in her spot of track work, even if he too was a little overweight.
09:23Still in New Zealand, we met Jock Banks, that year's Man of Courage.
09:27Here is what famous radio star and comedian Jack Lumsden had to say about him.
09:30Car driving is a nightmare to some people with full use of their limbs, but this farmer's
09:35son from Matamata moves his bus away quite efficiently, with only his feet to control
09:40it.
09:41Always looking on the bright side, he enjoys a cigarette, but prefers to look after himself
09:46in this respect.
09:48Long practice has made it an easy job to take a match out of the box, strike it, and even
09:53shelter it from the wind, as others do with their hands.
09:56It's a long way from foot to mouth on a windy day, but it's all in a day's smoke, and puffing
10:01his fag, his sunny disposition is evinced in this little tate-a-tate.
10:07Jock has got ping-pong down to a fine art, and with uncanny skill places the ball from
10:11one side to the other.
10:14He does his own carrying, and nonchalantly brings the ball into play again.
10:19But he doesn't serve many faults either, his keen eye sees to that, and placing his
10:24shots keeps his opponent on the move all the time.
10:28At La Perouse that year, Aborigines put on a boomerang throwing exhibition every weekend,
10:32but this display was for the benefit of a visiting Mexican sideshowman and his two attractive
10:37assistants.
10:38A gentle reminder that despite their primitive background, the Australian natives were masters
10:42of aerodynamics long before Leonardo da Vinci dreamed up his idea of a flying machine.
11:10Pedro showed his skill with his one-way weapons, a hatchet man at work...
11:13How's this for a 1935 William Tell?
11:35But it was no act on June 24th of that year, 12,000 fight fans packed Sydney Stadium to
11:40see our national middleweight champion Fred Henebury match punches with highly rated American
11:44Tommy King.
11:45It was a boom year for boxing in Australia, with Ron Richards and Jack Carroll at their
11:49peak.
11:50As usual with Henebury bouts, it was a non-stop affair, 15 exciting rounds.
11:55Tommy King staged a grandstand finish, and when popular referee Joe Wallace declared
11:59a draw, the fans were happy.
12:07Athletic meeting of the year was held in Melbourne, coinciding with the centenary celebrations.
12:11Sydney University student Jack Metcalfe was one of the stars when he set a new Victorian
12:15record of six feet, five and three quarters in the high jump.
12:27Metcalfe had won the hop, step and jump at the Empire Games in London in 34, and here
12:31you see him the following year creating a world record of 51 feet, nine and three quarter
12:35inches.
12:36A leap which raised hopes of a gold medal at the Berlin Olympics in 36.
12:40But he finished third, the only Australian athletic medalist of those games.
12:44However, he later repeated his London victory in the triple leap.
12:48Jack Metcalfe, a jump ahead of his rivals in 1935.
12:53For these contestants at the Melbourne show, the jumps ahead were watery hazards.
12:57Invariably a highlight of show ring events, this was no exception.
13:01No records or bones were broken, just a slight dampening of the spirits of the unstable jockeys.
13:14There was no more colourful aquatic carnival in Australia than the annual Henley-on-Yarra
13:18Regatta, Melbourne's version of the famous Thames event, a gay gathering of young and
13:23old.
13:24And those fashions.
13:25Yes, indeed, striped blazers, cushions and gondoliers and all that jolly old stuff you
13:38know.
13:50Canoodling without a thought for the girls.
13:52Not until after the race, of course.
14:00But this year provided another gay setting on the high seas aboard the luxury liner Atranto,
14:05selected for a summer cruise, the first of its kind ever held in Australian waters.
14:09Dining, whining and dancing.
14:11Ah, this is the life.
14:13No chance of being bored at this festive board.
14:16And the theme song of the day, Cocktails for Two.
14:22But for the real sailors, there could be nothing better than this 250 tonne top sail schooner,
14:32the Huia, built at Aratapu, New Zealand in 1894, and for 33 years carrying explosives
14:38around the Australian and New Zealand coast.
14:40Holder of the Tasman crossing record for a sailing ship, the Huia was later sold as an
14:44island trader, but was wrecked off the coast of Newmere in 1950 on her first trading voyage.
14:52Sharks.
14:55In three weeks of February and March 1935, three young men were taken by sharks from
15:00New South Wales beaches.
15:01One at Austinmere, the second at North Narrabeen and the third at Maroubra.
15:11The state government adopted a recommendation of a shark menace advisory committee and regular
15:15systematic meshing was introduced.
15:17In the first six months, more than 1,100 sharks were caught, hammerheads, many whalers and
15:22grey nurses.
15:23The cost averaged about 7,000 pounds a year.
15:26At one stage, one chartered company was operating four boats with 12 nets, each 1,000 feet long.
15:34Fishermen and handliners joined in the hunt for the killers.
15:52Each catch by these intrepid fishermen at Bondi drew crowds eager for a close-up view.
15:57He claimed meshing was a waste of public money.
16:09But when another man was attacked while fishing from his boat, the scare grew to near panic.
16:14William Johnson tells of his lucky escape.
16:36Sharks as much a menace today as in 1935.
16:41After these attacks, owners of Alsatians combined to stage demonstrations designed
16:46to prove the breed was intelligent and gentle, particularly to children.
16:50Yes, it was a tough time for Alsatians, but they won through by leaps and bounds.
16:58On March 6, 1935, New Zealanders hailed the arrival of the Dominion's first set of quads.
17:04Born in Dunedin Hospital to Mrs. George Johnson, three girls and a boy.
17:07First came Bruce, 4 pounds 10 ounces, then Vera, 3 pounds 15 ounces, Kathleen at 4 pounds
17:139 ounces, and Mary, who tipped the scales at 4 pounds 5 ounces.
17:26A hungry handful for the nursing staff, but after a bottle or two, they were oblivious
17:30to the widespread interest and obstetrical history they'd created in the shaky isles.
17:34On this, their day of birth.
17:39Across the Pacific in Hollywood, star of films and radio, Will Rogers, paid tribute to Shirley
17:43Temple on her sixth birthday.
17:44I'm not going to make a speech, because I'm so long-winded, I make speeches everywhere
17:50for no reason whatever, and you are the biggest entertainer in the world today, and you have
17:56arrived at that position by not making speeches.
17:59So a painting of Shirley is unveiled in the Fox Studio dining room in Hollywood.
18:03The celebrated star is six, has a party, and makes a speech.
18:06I want to thank you very much, I think it's very nice to have a big party like this.
18:14Frosty ice cream and sugary cake make a happy birthday.
18:17Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Shirley, happy birthday to you.
18:28From a birthday to a wedding, Sydney's wedding of the year on September 16th, St. Mary's
18:33Cathedral was jam-packed and thousands crammed nearby Hyde Park to see Madge Elliot and Cyril
18:37Richard married.
18:38For 18 years, they had teamed in musical comedies before theatre fans in London, New York, and
18:43throughout Australia.
18:54The couple were to continue as a blissfully happy team, both on and off the stage for
18:58another 20 years.
19:08Meanwhile our small aircraft building industry was being launched.
19:12Well-known aircraft designer, Wing Commander Wackett, planned a high-winged monoplane with
19:15the idea of instituting a regular trans-Tasman airmail service.
19:19The plans called for two Napier engines, but only one plane was produced at the engineering
19:24works at Sydney's Cockatoo Dock, hence the name of the aircraft, the Kodok.
19:37A New Zealand airman was imported to carry out the test flights, and in an around Australia
19:41trip the Kodok got only as far as Charleyville in Queensland, and its brief career, along
19:45with Wackett's plans for the trans-Tasman service, came to an end.
19:58Despite setbacks in aviation design and development, the aeroplane was proving its value in the
20:02field of survey.
20:04These are the first aerial films ever taken of central Australia.
20:07Floating like waves on some inland ocean, huge sand dunes stretch as far as the eye
20:12can see.
20:16On May 20th, Jimmy Broadbent landed at Mascot after a 7,140 mile round Australia flight
20:21in three days, nine hours, 54 minutes, regaining the record from another famous flyer, Jim
20:25Melrose, who had taken two days and two hours longer.
20:28Congratulations, Jim.
20:29Thank you very much.
20:30Now that the record is over, exactly what was the object in tackling the record, Jim?
20:34Well, the main reason, I think, was that I was the first one to hold it solo when I
20:37broke at Kingsford Smith, and I just felt I'd rather like to get it back again.
20:42And how was the trip, generally speaking, from a flying point of view?
20:44Very, very good, Harold.
20:45There were no bumps to speak of, practically, the whole way.
20:48Well, Jim, it must be very satisfying to you now that you've accomplished this feat and
20:52taken the record back again.
20:53It was, Harold.
20:54I feel quite bucked up about it.
20:55Good.
20:56On their way to Richmond Aerodrome to prepare for a hop-off at dawn next day, with the first
20:59double load of mail to cross the Tasman Sea, a 1,200-mile watery waste, to New Zealand.
21:05Smithy told of the plans.
21:06The flight on this occasion is a little noteworthy, on account of the fact that two machines for
21:12the first time in this part of the world will be doing an ocean flight in formation.
21:16There's the dear old Southern Cross, which you all know so well, in command of yours
21:21truly, and the Faith in Australia, an equally well-known machine under the command of my
21:27old friend, Captain Bill Taylor.
21:29Each plane was loaded with 600 gallons of fuel, enough to run the engines continuously
21:33for 21 hours at about 100 miles an hour.
21:36The second stage of the drama began when one of the navigators became ill, and Smithy was
21:40forced to load all of the mail onto the Southern Cross.
21:43Bill Taylor was thus released to act as navigator to his old companion.
21:53The third phase occurred 400 miles out to sea, when a portion of the plane's exhaust
21:57carried away, shattering the starboard propeller and forcing Smithy to turn for home.
22:01Mail, cargo and surplus petrol were dumped to lighten the load.
22:05A reenactment later demonstrated the courage of the crew that made possible their safe
22:09return.
22:10With the damaged propeller out of action, the port engine soon began to show signs of
22:14strain, and somehow more oil had to be got to it.
22:17These pictures show how Bill Taylor accomplished the feat.
22:20Climbing out on the tiny strut, he drained the oil from the damaged motor into a thermos
22:24flask, passing it back through the window to where it was emptied into a suitcase, before
22:28transferred to the overheated engine.
22:31Oil spilled in the operation splashed down the fuselage.
22:34For half an hour, this gamble with death continued, and each time the motor was slowed to allow
22:47oil to be added, the plane would plunge towards the sea, to rise again as the engine came
22:51back to life.
22:56Rescue ships had been rushed to the area, but the old bus limped home to mascot for
22:59one of its greatest receptions.
23:04Smithy had made it again, but that dead engine was a reminder that the gallant crew had had
23:08a lucky escape.
23:20All Australia acclaimed her aviation heroes.
23:24John Stanich, who maintained radio contact throughout the drama, Bill Taylor, whose efforts
23:30undoubtedly saved the day, and Smithy, then the world's greatest airman.
23:38But 1935 was not to be Smithy's year.
23:41Earlier, he'd taken delivery of a new plane, the Lady Southern Cross, with which it was
23:45hoped to regain, among others, the England-Australia record.
23:48Just over six months after the Tasman drama, he was to tempt fate for the last time.
23:53They were lost over the Bay of Bengal, closing the career of Australia's greatest aviator
23:57at the end of a fateful and eventful year, 1935, a year to remember.