[John Anderson Home Movies: Reel 36]

John Robert (Jack) Anderson (1924–1993) was a film distributor, cinema owner and photographer as well as an enthusiastic filmmaker in and around Ballarat in Victoria. Jack developed an interest in film very early at cinema shows and gained his first film experience while serving in WWII, photographing wartime conditions and aircraft involved in the defence of Australia’s north, including the aftermath of the Darwin bombing raid.

It was whilst working in photographic studios that Jack met his future wife, business partner and fellow film enthusiast Marie Bourke. Starting out by hiring films and showing them around regional Victoria, Jack and Marie established cinemas such as the Astor Cinema in Ararat, Bell Post Hill Drive-In in Geelong and the Southern and Northern Drive-Ins and Vegas 70 Cinema in Ballarat. In the 1970s, the Anderson family acquired and restored the Regent Theatre in Ballarat which would then become the first multiplex in regional Victoria.

Along the way, Jack filmed his family and friends activities and outings, horse racing, Ballarat street scenes, motorcycle scrambling and travel scenes on the road – an unusual and wonderful look at life in regional Victoria during the 1940s to the 1960s.

This film was originally made using 16mm film.

This film shows various recreational activities in the life of the Anderson family, including water skiing, riding speed boats on a lake, a trip to the snow, visiting the Royal Melbourne Show, birthday parties, swimming at a local pool, and a Christmas morning.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 skimming stones at the river
00:01:15:00 picnic lunch, eating sausages in bread
00:03:55:00 an ANSETT plane at a country airport
00:07:40:00 water skiing on a large lake
00:08:25:00 groups of people on the shores of the lake
00:09:46:00 man with binoculars
00:10:24:00 kids eating ice creams
00:11:02:00 sign for ‘Water Ski Spectacular: The Fastest Show on Water’
00:11:18:00 the three boys at a table set with birthday cake and party cups
00:15:04:00 on a speedboat on the lake
00:18:47:00 another birthday party with balloons and cake
00:18:56:00 double-layer sponge cake on a rotating tray (lazy Susan)
00:21:47:00 blowing out the candles on the cake
00:22:33:00 trip to the snow
00:23:18:00 kids learning to ski
00:25:00:00 siblings in matching outfits holding hands at the Royal Show
00:25:12:00 Showbags stall
00:25:17:00 on the Racing Speedboats ride
00:26:15:00 the Kiddies Ferris Wheel
00:26:25:00 the Merry-Go-Round with the older girls holding the boys on
00:27:08:00 on the Speed Car ride
00:27:57:00 girl with fairy floss in front of the fairy floss stand and then thoroughly enjoying it
00:28:13:00 sign for ‘Delicious Flavoured Milk’
00:29:29:00 the Mad Mouse ride
00:30:00:00 Christmas morning with a pile of presents under the tree and the kids in their pyjamas
00:31:25:00 in the backyard riding new bikes and race car toys
00:33:15:00 playing at the local pool with an inflatable boat
00:37:34:00 a large group of kids lined up for a bike race
00:38:37:00 group of girls on the trampoline
00:39:04:00 cake with a ballerina and ‘Happy Birthday to Denise’ written on top
00:39:28:00 blowing party horns