[Wallace Clarke Home Movies: Reel 17]

Wallace Clarke was an amateur cinematographer and filmmaker during the 1960s to the 1990s. Wallace was particularly keen on capturing both the Australian landscape and the people who enjoyed it. As well as Australian urban settings and some world travels, Wallace’s films focus on the many hiking and camping destinations that he visited.

Often carrying the credit, ‘A Walkabout Film’, Wallace’s movies indicate that he was part of a nature study and walking group called ‘The Walkabouters Club of Victoria Inc’. The ‘Walkabouters’ formed in 1968 as a result of a Council of Adult Education (CAE), Outback Study Tour to Central Australia. Some of the attendees decided to start the Club in order to continue educative walks particularly around Victoria. The Club encouraged their resident artists and photographers to capture their activities.

The collection of Wallace’s films was donated to ACMI by his widow Gwenda Clarke and is shot on various formats, predominantly Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film.

This film shows a group of holiday makers camping on Phillip Island in Victoria. Wallace shows several good close-ups of the koalas that are a feature of the island and one of the old kilns of the chicory industry of the past that are dotted over the landscape. There are also views of the bridge that was built in 1969 between San Remo on the mainland and Newhaven to replace the old wooden one, and many views of rolling, crashing waves on rocky coastline.

Originally made on Super 8mm film, there is a gap of several seconds a few minutes in, beginning at 00:02:42:00 and ending at 00:02:58:00.

00:00:02:00 views of the sea from a high cliff top vantage point
00:00:39:00 hikers sitting on a cliff looking out over the sea
00:00:51:00 a grassy habitat hole for an animal, sand dunes, grasslands and cliffs looking out to sea
00:01:41:00 hikers gather around what might be a weather station
00:02:08:00 a large black snake moving over the grass
00:02:59:00 the bridge from San Remo to Newhaven on Phillip Island followed by fishing boats, yachts and various views of the bridge and surrounds
00:03:42:00 fishing boats and yachts, from a view under the bridge
00:03:56:00 the piers at San Remo
00:04:15:00 the rocky shallow foreshore and jettys at Newhaven
00:04:44:00 coastal grass blowing in the wind
00:05:38:00 a foreshore viewing platform, possibly at ‘The Nobbies’ on Phillip Island
00:06:40:00 a 1970s style car with surfboards on the roof racks and two young men standing by
00:07:40:00 views of rocky coastlines, crashing waves and rolling surf
00:08:59:00 people walking along a wooden walkway on the foreshore
00:10:18:00 two men ‘mutton-birding’ - seeking out Shearwater birds (previously called muttonbirds)
00:10:24:00 a Shearwater fledgling held up to the camera
00:10:51:00 a group of hikers or bird-watchers (some with binoculars) or general nature-lovers listening to a speaker who they then clap and then walking off
00:12:21:00 a close-up of a koala in a gumtree
00:12:29:00 hikers walking along a muddy track followed by a small rowing boat
00:12:57:00 a young man with a camera and another koala in a tree
00:13:11:00 slicing bacon off a large piece at a picnic table
00:13:25:00 a 1970s three legged barbeque
00:14:40:00 shooing flies from lunch plate
00:15:00:00 using binoculars to look out to sea, views of sand dunes and a ‘Land Rover’ vehicle with surfboard stacked on top having some difficulty driving over the sand dunes
00:15:49:00 a passenger rides on the bonnet of the ‘Land Rover’ as it traverses the dunes
00:16:45:00 a seagull on an old ‘No Standing’ sign
00:16:50:00 pitching a tent in long grass, a woman cleans her teeth over a bucket, a view of the campsite and a woman goes off with a shovel and toilet paper in old fashioned camp style
00:19:25:00 a group of horses
00:20:03:00 a small jetty and some boats including a yacht with a lovely red sail
00:20:28:00 1970s model ‘Holden’ station wagon vehicle lowering a boat into the water and a tractor carrying a boat to the water’s edge
00:21:56:00 one of the remaining chicory kilns on the island which would seem to have been converted to a pottery kiln (Phillip Island had a chicory growing industry until the 1960s)
00:22:50:00 caged birds of different varieties
00:24:23:00 a lone grave with ironwork surround and headstone reading ‘William Phillip Grossard’ (who died in a gunshot accident, 1868)
00:25:45:00 women swimming in ‘one piece’ bathing suits and swimming caps, walking along the beach and back to the campsite