[Around Australia with Movietone; Gt. Barrier Reef; Sporting Highlights; Skiing; 1949 Melbourne Cup]

This film is a Movietone Newsreel, a theatrical news broadcast that covered significant social, cultural and political events in Australia. This newsreel consists of five sections, covering news and events around Australia in 1949.

The first section, titled ‘Around Australia with Movietone’, photographed by J. W. Trerise shows pearl divers in Darwin, Northern Territory. The film takes place on a Japanese lugger, featuring Japanese divers and Peter Nakashiba, an interpreter and advisor to the Japanese in Darwin. It shows the protective diving suits and apparatus worn by pearl divers.

The second section is titled ‘Gt Barrier Reef’ and shows people fishing from trawlers on the Great Barrier Reef. The narrator describes the fishing as a popular sport and names the type of fish, including Spanish mackerel.

In the third section, ‘Sporting Highlights’, we see a horse rodeo in Warwick, Queensland, with commentary by Jack Davey, a popular radio entertainer who narrated Movietone News reels from the 1930s to 1950s.

The fourth section is titled ‘Skiing’, and takes place at Mount Kosciuszko, showing the ski fields and resort as a popular tourist destination. It includes footage of George Day, the manager of the Chalet at Charlotte Pass and a renowned Australian skier.

The final section, titled ‘1949 Melbourne Cup’, shows the popular horse racing event at Flemington Race Course, Melbourne, which in 1949 was won by Foxzami.