[Gadsden Family Home Movie Collection: Reel 147]

The Gadsden Company has a long and proud history of manufacture, dating back to its foundation by Jabez Gadsden in 1879. The company pioneered tinplate printing in Australia, and produced the first printed can the country had seen. By 1936 the company had twelve factories spread throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The company’s success allowed two generations of Gadsden family men – Stanley Gadsden and his son Ronald – to pursue their interest in amateur filmmaking (a relatively expensive hobby for the time). The two cameramen captured the family’s children, homes, many of its major events and holidays on film.

A collection of the films made by these Gadsden family photographers has been donated to ACMI by Chris Gadsden (Ronald’s son). The films comprise a fascinating assortment of imagery that provides a window into bygone days and customs.

This film contains scenes of camping near the beach and a rail journey to Perth, in Western Australia. The trip includes a stop at ‘Rawlinna’, an Aboriginal community in Western Australia. Scenes at Rawlinna, give an indication of the relationship in society of Australian Aboriginal peoples and non-indigenous Australian people at the time.

This film was originally made using 16mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 1940s cars travel across sand on a beach
00:00:08:00 a tea ‘billy’ on a camp fire
00:00:31:00 a large 1940s style canvas tent
00:00:55:00 overlooking the sea from clifftops
00:01:30:00 members of the Rawlinna Station Indigenous community stand for the camera and demonstrate boomerang throwing
00:02:36:00 travellers walk toward the camera
00:03:01:00 chasing a goat
00:03:04:00 playing a game of ‘two-up’
00:03:21:00 members of the Rawlinna Station Indigenous community
00:03:30:00 wandering along a constructed stone wall at a river or waterway