[John Anderson Home Movies: Reel 34]

John Robert (Jack) Anderson (1924–1993) was a film distributor, cinema owner and photographer as well as an enthusiastic filmmaker in and around Ballarat in Victoria. Jack developed an interest in film very early at cinema shows and gained his first film experience while serving in WWII, photographing wartime conditions and aircraft involved in the defence of Australia’s north, including the aftermath of the Darwin bombing raid.

It was whilst working in photographic studios that Jack met his future wife, business partner and fellow film enthusiast Marie Bourke. Starting out by hiring films and showing them around regional Victoria, Jack and Marie established cinemas such as the Astor Cinema in Ararat, Bell Post Hill Drive-In in Geelong and the Southern and Northern Drive-Ins and Vegas 70 Cinema in Ballarat. In the 1970s, the Anderson family acquired and restored the Regent Theatre in Ballarat which would then become the first multiplex in regional Victoria.

Along the way, Jack filmed his family and friends activities and outings, horse racing, Ballarat street scenes, motorcycle scrambling and travel scenes on the road – an unusual and wonderful look at life in regional Victoria during the 1940s to the 1960s.

This film was originally made using 16mm film.

This film begins with scenes of kids’ birthday parties, horse riding and sports in Ballarat. The family then make a road trip to South Australia, featuring city streets in Adelaide, a visit to an amusement park and a wildlife sanctuary, and more horse riding.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:03:00 kids’ athletics day
00:01:16:00 girl dismounting a horse from the back of the saddle
00:02:05:00 horse-riding at an equestrian club
00:07:13:00 a group of kids having fun on a trampoline
00:07:30:00 riding a horse in the backyard
00:08:05:00 kids seated around a table eating cake
00:08:50:00 blowing out the candles on the cake
00:10:24:00 playing musical chairs
00:12:01:00 kids’ footy (AFL football) match
00:14:01:00 a nun cheering from the sidelines
00:16:05:00 parents watching from the sidelines
00:18:31:00 man riding a horse down a suburban street
00:20:45:00 on a road trip, at the border of South Australia
00:21:59:00 fish and chips on the bonnet of the car
00:23:25:00 busy Adelaide street with Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building in the background
00:24:09:00 in a department store
00:24:53:00 the kids on a Ferris Wheel and other carnival rides
00:25:50:00 trained seals doing tricks
00:28:00:00 dolphins jumping through rings
00:29:42:00 group family shot at a wildlife sanctuary
00:30:56:00 kids patting a kangaroo
00:32:00:00 kids walking down the steps of an ANSETT plane
00:33:12:00 one of the kids on a tire swing
00:34:18:00 cowboy on a horse
00:34:52:00 paddling around in kayaks on a lake
00:36:23:00 on a boat cruising down the river
00:37:08:00 old steam trains in a yard
00:37:15:00 city streets including trams
00:37:58:00 boys running down train tracks
00:39:01:00 arriving home and pulling suitcases out of the boot of the car