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This film was originally made using 16mm film.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 shows various scenes of life in the Anderson family, including the kids riding a dirt bike, holidays at the beach, and birthday parties.
Selected highlights list:
00:00:05:00 family and friends arriving to the house with presents
00:02:03:00 all the kids taking turns on the new Honda dirt bike
00:05:42:00 relaxing at the beach
00:06:12:00 on the dirt bike track
00:08:30:00 riding the dirt bike on the beach
00:10:38:00 couple lounging on the beach
00:11:15:00 teenage girls laughing at the camera
00:12:55:00 boy carrying four ice cream cones dripping on him
00:13:29:00 cricket in the front yard
00:14:01:00 Marie and friends on the beach in stylish sunglasses and bikinis
00:14:24:00 boogie boarding
00:16:49:00 cooking sausages on an open BBQ
00:17:00:00 horse riding on a bush trail
00:19:15:00 kids’ birthday party
00:20:02:00 birthday cake with ‘Happy Birthday Paul’ on top
00:20:08:00 kids’ bike gang
00:20:38:00 musical chairs
00:21:42:00 boy animatedly blowing out candles
00:23:19:00 kids taking turns on the trampoline
00:26:31:00 slow motion trampoline jumping
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
B2004259
Subject categories
Sound/audio
Silent
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
16mm film; Master
MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - presentation
MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation
MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan
MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan