[George Malins Home Movies: Reel 18]

George William Malins (1910–2007) was an amateur filmmaker who made home movies in Australia and overseas from the 1940s to 1970s. According to his daughter, George was ‘optimistic, happy and enthusiastic’, an outlook reflected in his films which are a history of home life and a love of travel.

George came to Australia from England as a young man by way of the merchant navy, after having seen South America and some of Asia. He met his future wife Sybil, who was impressed by George’s world travels and his dreams for the future.

The family lived in the Melbourne suburb of North Balwyn, spending their summers camping at Wye River on the Victorian coast often with extended family and friends.

George and Sybil must have shared a sense of adventure as they eventually sold the family home and sailed on the ‘SS Orontes’ to England, travelling around Britain for two years.

The George Malins Home Movie Collection was donated to ACMI by the creator’s daughter, Ruth Hargrave. The films were made on 16mm film.

This film shows a collection of scenes including a QANTAS plane leaving the airport, a group of family and friends in the backyard of a suburban home, dressed for a celebration, and the Malinses’s Bedford camper van.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 a group of kangaroos in grassy parkland
00:00:12:00 close-up of kangaroo with joey in her pouch
00:00:48:00 QANTAS airplane on the tarmac of Melbourne Airport, departing
00:01:21:00 a group of people on the lawn in a garden dressed in 1970s style clothing at what seems to be a celebration - great examples of 70s patterns and dress styles
00:01:55:00 close-up of man in white pants and pink check shirt with a pink ribbon flower attached to his back pocket digging in the garden bed; purple hydrangeas at the back of the bed and wishbone ferns at the front
00:02:10:00 exterior of a suburban brick house with venetian blinds and pot plants
00:02:19:00 a man drives a two-toned green Morris van out of the driveway
00:02:35:00 George and Sybil Malins with their Bedford camper van in a campground