[Gadsden Family Home Movie Collection: Reel 167]

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 is a wonderful composite of several different sequences in different periods of time, including the 1934 floods in Melbourne, tennis and gardens in the 1930s, beach scenes in the 1950s and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

This film was originally made using 16mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 very dramatic flooding around Melbourne, which is likely to be 1934 when major flooding from torrential rains affected large areas of the city.
00:00:02:00 people looking out over a flooded road and possibly submerged bridge toward urban buildings on the the hillsides on the other side of the floodwaters. We may assume a trip to town has been stopped by the floods as the group are dressed for an outing. This could be Yarra river at some point.
00:00:55:00 several cars (1930s and 1940s models) in a city street with tram tracks, stuck at a flooded dip in the road; the scene includes a brief look at a motor bike. This could be Bourke Road, Camberwell as the area was flooded during the 1934 floods, the road is hilly and has tram tracks.
00:00:57:00 more flooded streets and a sign for ‘Glendebourne Ave’ which places the footage in Toorak.
00:01:33:00 a tremendously flooded Yarra River in the Melbourne CBD with onlookers observing the rushing waters lapping up over the bank, and a view toward Princes Bridge. Includes a man casually walking along completely indifferent to the flood.
00:02:05:00 we again see the fast running flooded river which could be around Yarra Bend Park as there are canoes on the bank, a traditional boating spot.
00:02:31:00 footage changes abruptly to colour and a 1950s beach scene with four people wandering along the sand; the two mean are dressed for swimming, the two women more formally. They sit and chat on the sand while the women have a cigarette.
00:02:55:00 surfing in the waves on a beach; some of the the surfboards appear to be the early wooden type of board.
00:03:15:00 two women in a garden and then footage of one of them very happy to be trying out a bicycle.
00:04:28:00 black and white scenes of a garden including some children at a table and chairs setting taken with the camera overhead from a top floor.
00:05:05:00 scenes of a river, probably the Yarra near one of the family homes in Kew or Hawthorn. We see children and then a woman swinging out on a knotted rope swing; the style of dresser and swimming costumes indicate the 1930s or 1940s.
00:05:52:00 outside views of a house, possibly a Gadsden home. The style of house and hedged fence would be found in either Kew or Hawthorn.
00:05:58:00 children participating in a swimming competition at a pool.
00:06:00:00 tennis being played in garden we saw earlier; likely to be one of the Gadsden homes during the 1930s or 1940s.
00:08:03:00 members of the family swimming and practising diving in a large public pool.
00:10:39:00 more views around a large ivy-covered house and the gardens, likely to be a Gadsden home.
00:11:22:00 picnic on a beach that included lots of flies (by the look of all the shooing) and Ronald and Jess Gadsden, both at a young age and a woman eating a sandwich in a car.
00:11:54:00 a small girl smiling at the camera while eating her share of a picnic and then playing with a ball and stick.
00:12:22:00 older members of the family seeing off Ronald and his wife Jess in their car.
00:13:08:00 colour scenes of Jess Gadsden picking flowers and wearing a ‘sunsuit’ typical of the 1940s or 1950s era. We also see Ronald Gadsden tending soil in the garden with a small (cutlery) fork.
00:13:39:00 several shots of Ronald tossing a shotput in what appears to be a competition or practice for a competition.
00:14:02:00 Ronald and others climbing a lookout quickly followed by Jess looking very confident happy on horseback and then Ronald riding a horse as well. This could be at their farm at Lancefield in regional Victoria.
00:14:41:00 family tennis court, filmed in colour (same court as earlier in black and white) where we see Jess and Ronald play with other family members.
00:16:31:00 the camera is back at the beach, in colour with Ronald a little older dabbling his toe in the water for the camera.
00:17:18:00 scenes in black and white showing Jess and Ronald’s son Geoffrey, riding on a miniature train in a park.
00:18:05:00 Gadsden children in black and white sequence, playing under the garden hose.
00:18:34:00 Ronald and son are riding an elephant presumably at the zoo and then son Geoffrey playing on playground equipment.
00:19:32:00 steam trains and ‘red rattler’ commuter trains with young Geoffrey looking on from a walkbridge.
00:20:50:00 night time scenes of the city’s neon signs in order to capture the decorations installed for the royal visit in 1954.
00:21:47:00 motorcade for the visiting royals.
00:24:18:00 crowds watching the royal motorcade and in particular a quick clear shot of the Queen in an open car. Of note also is the number of ladders and kitchen stools brought along by members often crowd to gain vantage points.
00:24:22:00 opening of the Olympic Games in Melbourne 1956, including Ron Clarke running along the stadium track with the Torch as well as the assembled countries and flags and the Olympic flag.
00:28:40:00 snow slopes and skiers appear and we see a series of shots including Jess Gadsden and some older women of the family walking and posing in front of what could be their holiday house.
00:31:00:00 an interior shot of what might be a country holiday house near the snow or a chalet with family members chatting.
00:31:13:00 an older member of the family playing with young children on the family tennis court which is now unmarked.
00:33:35:00 members of the extended family gather with all of their children for a family occasion. At one point, the children all parade past the camera in single file.