[Nixon Family Home Movies: Reel 10]

In the Nixon Family Home Movie Collection, married film enthusiasts Les and Dorothy Nixon have captured their family life from when their children are very young to when they are young adults, at home in Geelong, during wonderful beach holidays at Point Roadknight on the Victorian coast, and when going about their everyday activities, from the 1960s to the 1980s.

The films show life in regional and suburban Victoria at the time: playing in the backyard and bike riding down the street (no helmets of course), lots of tennis, lots of beach and swimming, lots of family visits, birthday parties and family barbeques or picnic gatherings. Along the way, the films also record the distinctive fashion (often handmade) and hairstyles of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, through Dorothy Nixon being so stylish a dresser herself, and at the many family weddings across the extended family.

The films are made on Standard 8mm and then Super 8mm film, and are in reasonable condition though a little shaky or damaged at times.

Their children having grown up, this film captures Les and Dorothy enjoying a holiday in New Zealand.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 Dorothy Nixon and two companions are part of a travel trip as indicated by their name tags
00:00:17:00 sign for ‘trial plots’ as part of a nursery in New Zealand, followed by Dorothy enjoying some views of public gardens
00:01:12:00 sign for ‘Cockayne Memorial Garden’ in honour of Dr Leonard Cockayne, a significant botanist in New Zealand
00:01:31:00 a conservatory in the gardens
00:02:00:00 a large lake amongst hills and a ship, a yacht and boats
00:02:13:00 views toward snowy covered mountains and looking down over a town from a higher vantage point followed by more snowy mountain tops
00:03:07:00 a tourist bus stopped at a roadside lookout point followed by more lakeside scenery
00:03:30:00 filming the mountains and landscape from inside a small plane
00:04:19:00 views of the motel accommodation for the travellers
00:05:10:00 sign for the ‘Omarama Motel Lodge’
00:05:34:00 a peacock, several small deer
00:06:01:00 sign ‘Welcome to Lake Manapouri’
00:06:20:00 a waterfall and tourists on a walk bridge over ‘Falls Creek’
00:06:45:00 filming from a bus as it travels through mountains
00:07:19:00 filming among fellow tourists in a boat on a river taking in the spectacular views of waterfalls and mountains
00:09:42:00 a steam train comes into view on a country track followed by views of houses and trees across a lake
00:10:18:00 looking at the front of a paddle steamer
00:10:40:00 filming from a sky lift as it travels up a hill followed by views over a town below
00:11:11:00 looking at the sky lift as it travels up
00:11:24:00 tourists walk over a bridge looking down at a fast moving creek or river
00:12:52:00 a helicopter landing
00:13:52:00 views of ‘Shantytown’, a tourist attraction on the South Island
00:14:41:00 on board a tourist boat on a lake
00;15:21:00 sign for ‘New Zealand Electricity’ after views of the plant
00:15:27:00 various ‘Wharenui’ (Maori meeting house) followed by views of hot springs
00:16:16:00 on a light plane travelling over a lake looking down on a seaplane
00:17:12:00 memorial to ‘Michael Joseph Savage 1872 – 1940’
00:17:20:00 traditional Maori dance performance
00:18:04:00 scenes of the rolling waves around the rocky coast
00:18:28:00 the travellers gather at the sign for ‘Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest)’, a very tall tree
00:18:30:00 the bus tour passengers, including Len and Dorothy, bid each other farewell, followed by travelling by taxi to the airport and ‘Quantas’ and ‘Air New Zealand’ planes at the terminals