Wind & Sky ProductionsShining a Light on Untold Women’s History
Few Melbournians realise that the Mission to Seafarers, that odd-looking building with the dome and the bell tower at the Docklands end of Flinders Street, has a story reaching back to World War One and early 20th century Melbourne harbourside life.
A new documentary ‘Harbour Lights’ tells the story of a remarkable and forgotten group of women connected to the origins of that building.
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Harbour Lights
Info
Commissioned by: Victorian Government
Produced: 2020
Length: 17:51 minutes
The Ladies Harbour Lights Guild, circa 1910. Courtesy of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Victorian Government Architect Jill Garner. Courtesy of Wind & Sky Productions.
Mission to Seafarers Building circa 1920. Courtesy of Mission to Seafarers.
Seafarers at a Mission event circa 1910. Courtesy of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Urban historian Chris McConville. Courtesy Wind & Sky Productions.
Seafarers circa 1910. Courtesy of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Ladies Harbour Lights Guild event in Melbourne circa 1910. Courtesy of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Seafarers, circa 1910. Courtesy of the Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
About The Film
In WW1 Melbourne a pioneering network of women at the Mission to Seafarers called the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild supported sailors who risked their lives at sea.
The documentary ‘Harbour Lights’ tells the remarkable story of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild and the lives of seafarers in early 20th century Melbourne. It focusses on Melbourne’s iconic Mission to Seafarers building, its connection to the Great War and to a unique community of ships crew and volunteers.
This Wind & Sky Production was produced in collaboration with the Mission to Seafarers Victoria. It was directed by Jary Nemo and written and produced by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo with executive producers Sue Dight and Gordon MacMillan.
Narrated by Sharon Turley, the film features Jill Garner, Kate Darian-Smith, Chris McConville, Janet Miller and Gordon MacMillan. Music was specifically composed by the incredible Richard Chew. Featuring Melbourne historians, commentators, archivists and architects and rare footage and images of sailing and social life in and around the ports of Melbourne, this film will inform and connect audiences young and old.
Created with the support of the Victorian Government.
Story Background
At the outbreak of World War One shipping was central to the Victorian way of life.
Seafarers from every corner of the world visited Melbourne on merchant ships. They risked their lives bringing goods to what was then the largest port in Australia. Life could be equally difficult in port where exploitation of sailors was rife.
To help protect them from harm the Mission to Seafarers set up a network of support in Australia and around the world. The Mission was first established as a floating chapel in Hobson’s Bay in 1857, but by the early 20th century had established shore-based missions in Williamstown, Port Melbourne, and on the Yarra River in Melbourne.
The Melbourne Mission to Seafarers, which still stands today, was constructed on the Yarra River waterfront in 1917 during the First World War at a time when ships carrying cargo and people were subjected to heightened dangers at sea.
What is little-known about the story is the crucial work of a group of women called the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild who raised significant funds for the Mission’s construction and who volunteered their time to support the global welfare of seafarers from ship to shore.
The inspiration for the film project was the rediscovery in 2007 of a near-forgotten set of dusty old boxes stored under the Mission’s theatre. The boxes were filled with documents and photographs related to the activities of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild from its foundation in 1906 to its demise in the 1960s.
In recent years a dedicated team of volunteers and staff at the Mission has been gradually digitising, identifying and cataloguing the Guild records. Through their research they discovered that the construction of the current Mission building at 717 Flinders Street, particularly the building of the Memorial Chapel, was paid for in large part by the fundraising efforts of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild during WW1.
The archives also revealed that the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild model was a homegrown invention, pioneered in Melbourne in 1906 and exported to Missions around the world.
Though the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild disbanded in the 1960s, their legacy is present in the bones of the building they helped construct during the terrible years of the First World War. Their traces can be found in the outdoor garden, designed and planted by members of the Guild, and in the stained glass, decorative work and plaques in the building’s Memorial Chapel, dedicated to the memory of merchant mariners who lost their lives in the Great War.
Today the Mission continues to operate from the same building and has an active staff and volunteer community working in support of the world’s seafarers who visit the port of Melbourne.
In the News
Peter Krausz, Interview with Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo Harbour Lights, Movie Metropolis, WYN 88.9FM, 24 July 2021.
Documentary Drive, ‘MDFF 2021: Shorts to Watch’, 06 July 2021.
Annie McLoughlin, ‘Harbour Lights & The Last Typewriter Shop In Melbourne’, Interview with Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, Showreel, 3CR Community Radio, 24 June 2021.
Screenings and Events
Winner, Best Documentary Film, Directors Circle Festival of Shorts 2021, 27 November – 4 December 2021.
Official Selection, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2021, 7-31 July 2021.
Official Selection, Setting Sun Film Festival 2021, 18-26 June 2021.
Official Selection, Carmarthen Bay Film Festival 2021, 18-19 May 2021.
Geelong Wooden Boat Festival: Sunday 8 March 2020, West Lounge Theatre, Geelong Foreshore. Program
Film Launch: Wednesday 26th February 2020, Melbourne Mission to Seafarers.
Viewing the Film
The film is free to show, watch and share online at internet quality at Harbour Lights on YouTube.
To arrange for a high quality screening copy for community screenings and events contact Wind & Sky Productions or Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Media Contact
For interviews and further information, contact Wind & Sky Productions or Mission to Seafarers Victoria.
Credits
- Narrator
- Sharon Turley
- Featuring (in order of appearance)
- Dr Chris McConville, Gordon MacMillan, Janet Miller, Professor Kate Darian-Smith and Jill Garner
- With
- Raul S Gantalao Jr, Escoto Lemuel, Ben Schroeder, Cinda Manins
- And
- Ian Fletcher, Yuan Jia, Uma Kothari, Gordon Lansley, William Reed and Cheka Samaranayake
- Directed by
- Jary Nemo
- Written and Produced by
- Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo
- Music by
- Richard Chew
- Executive Producers
- Sue Dight and Gordon MacMillan
- Research advisors
- Geraldine Brault, Maria Culka, Professor Kate Darian-Smith, Ros Fletcher, Professor Uma Kothari, Dr Barbara Lemon, Catherine McLay, Dr Chris McConville, Janet Miller, Rick Mitchell, Duncan ‘John’ Perryman, Dr Annette Sheill and Peter Taylor
- Archival photographs, music and footage courtesy of
- Australian Red Cross Society, Central Highlands Libraries, Internet Archive, National Film and Sound Archive, National Library of Australia, Mackarness Family Personal Archives, Mission to Seafarers Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria, State Library of Victoria and US National Archives
- Music
- Harbour Lights. Music by Richard Chew. Westering. Music by Richard Chew. Twilight (Crépuscule) by Jules Massenet. Performed by Amelita Galli-Curci. I Love You So, Waltz from The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár. Performed by Elise Stephenson and Harry Macdonough with Orchestra. Harbour Lights 2. Music by Richard Chew. If I Could Fly by Walking Hearts featuring Jennifer Holm. Courtesy of Epidemic Sound.
- With thanks to
- Peter Barrow, Sarah Bartak, Lin Bender AM, Patty Braumueller, Csilla Csongvay, Emer Diviney, Moira Drew, Ian Fletcher, Ajith Jayasuriya, Ben Jones, Patience Jones, Cinda Manins, Madeleine Martiniello, Georgia Melville, Elisabeth Moglia, Tara Oldfield, Lyn Pasquier, Nigel Porteous, Rev’d Onofre (Inni) Punay, Dr Rosalie Triolo, Ben Schroeder, David Simpson, Cheka Samaranayake, Daria Wray, the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust and KPMG.
- A special thanks to
- The women of the Ladies Harbour Lights Guild 1906 to 1961
- Produced in collaboration with
- The Mission to Seafarers Victoria
- Created with the support of
- The Victorian Government
- Licensing
- This film has been released under a
- Acknowledgement of country
- Project production and development took place on the lands of the Kulin nation. We acknowledge Traditional Owners and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.
- Production company
- A Wind & Sky Production
- Copyright with
- © Wind & Sky Productions MMXIX
Event Report: Premiere Screening of ‘The Missing’
On Friday the 29th November 2019 a select audience joined us for the premiere screening of The Missing.
The typical Melbourne traffic chaos was countered by a beautiful spring day and the tranquil surroundings of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance.
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The Missing Launch Photo Gallery
On Friday the 29th November a select audience joined us at the tranquil Shrine of Remembrance for the premiere screening of The Missing.
Here are some photographs of the event by Kathie Mayer.
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Many Roads: Chinese on the Goldfields
Info
Commissioned by: Culture Victoria
Produced: 2017
Length: 11.35 minutes
Chinese people took many roads to get to the goldfields of Victoria in the 1850s. Image: Samuel Charles Brees, Flemington Melbourne, watercolour, ca 1856, courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
Chinese culture would influence Victoria in many unexpected ways. Image: Parade costume jacket (detail), silk, cotton, gold thread. China, c. 1880. Courtesy of the Golden Dragon Museum. Image by Jary Nemo.
Chinese miners faced discrimination which they resisted through petitions and other means. Image: Petition to Governor Barkly. PROV, VA 475 Chief Secretary’s Department, VPRS1189/P0, Inward Registered Correspondence, Unit 522, Item: 59/7364, Sub Item: B82/59. Courtesy of Public Record Office Victoria. Image by Jary Nemo.
The digital exhibition features video and audio interviews with historians and experts such as Anna Kyi, historian. Image by Jary Nemo.
The digital gallery features 100 images of engravings, maps, photographs, documents and artefacts. Image: Going to market, China [picture], John Henry Harvey, photographer, Thomas Allom, artist. 1 transparency : glass lantern slide. ca. 1900-1920. Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.
The Story
In the 1850s tens of thousands of Chinese people flocked to Victoria, joining people from around the world who came here chasing the lure of gold. Fleeing violence, famine and poverty in their homeland they sought fortune for their families in the place they called ‘New Gold Mountain’. Facing discrimination and injustice they carved out lives in this strange new land.
The Chinese took many roads to the goldfields. They left markers, gardens, wells and place names, some which still remain in the landscape today. At the peak migration point of the late 1850s the Chinese made up one in five of the male population in fabled gold mining towns of Victoria such as Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Beechworth and Ararat. It was not just miners who took the perilous journey. Doctors, gardeners, artisans and business people voyaged here and contributed to Victoria’s economy, health and cultural life.
Many Roads: Stories of the Chinese on the Goldfields of Victoria showcases the extent of the Chinese influence in the making of Victoria, which reaches farther back than many have realised.
Digital Exhibition
The all-digital project features an eleven minute film featuring curators, historians and Chinese Victorian descendants, two extended audio interviews and one extended video interview with key experts, a digital gallery featuring a hundred images of artefacts, documents, photographs and illustrations from museums, galleries and historical societies, and six essays written by Victorian historical experts. The story canvasses the discrimination the Chinese faced and the famous overland treks the Chinese were forced to take to get to Victoria, but also the various positive ways the Chinese contributed to the economy and culture of Victoria.
All items in the digital exhibition are free to watch, show and share from the link https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/immigrants-and-emigrants/many-roads-stories-of-the-chinese-on-the-goldfields-of-victoria/ .
The project was commissioned by Culture Victoria, an online platform that shares the stories held by collecting organisations across the state. It was produced by Ballarat-based production company Wind & Sky Productions in collaboration with the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, the Gold Museum- Sovereign Hill Museums Association, the Golden Dragon Museum Bendigo and the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre Ararat.
The Film
The story’s 11 minute documentary film explores the story of Chinese people in the Victorian gold rush, uncovering the routes the Chinese took to seek gold, the lives they lived and the sort of people they were.
The film contains beautiful montages of archival images, illustrations and photographs from Victoria’s regional collections. It features interviews with Cash Brown, Curator and Conservator at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, Anita Jack, General Manager of the Golden Dragon Museum and great grand daughter of a goldrush-era Chinese migrant, Professor Keir Reeves, Director, Collaborative Research Centre in Australian History, Federation University Australia, and Heather Ah Pee, Former Coordinator, Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre and related by marriage to a goldrush era Chinese forebear.
An extended video feature includes a full interview with historian Anna Kyi on attitudes towards Chinese migration from the 19th century to the present, harmony and conflict on the goldfields and the complexity of the Eureka story.
Awards and Nominations
Highly Commended, Communicating, promoting and celebrating heritage, 2019 Ballarat Heritage Design and Excellence Awards
Credits
- Creative Producers:
- Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo
- Commissioning Editors on behalf of Culture Victoria:
- Eleanor Whitworth and Dimity Mapstone
- Production Company:
- Wind & Sky Productions
- Project Manager:
- Jary Nemo
- Digital Gallery Curator:
- Lucinda Horrocks
- Film Director:
- Jary Nemo
- Interviewees:
- Heather Ahpee, Cash Brown, Anita Jack, Anna Kyi and Keir Reeves
- Essay Contributors:
- Cash Brown, Fred Cahir, Ian Clark, Liz Denny, Anna Kyi and Benjamin Mountford
- Research Advisors:
- Cash Brown, Fred Cahir, Snjezana Cosic, Liz Denny, Yvonne Horsfield, Anna Kyi, Elizabeth Marsden, Leigh McKinnon, Benjamin Mountford, Rick Mitchell, Diann Talbot, John Tully and Charles Zhang
- Produced in collaboration with:
- the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, the Gold Museum- Sovereign Hill Museums Association, the Golden Dragon Museum and the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre
- Contributing Organisations:
- Art Gallery of Ballarat, Bendigo Chinese Association, Bright and District Historical Society, Chinese Museum, Creswick Museum, Dunolly Museum, Golden Dragon Museum, Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre, Library of Congress, Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, Museums Victoria, Myrtleford and District Historical Society, National Library of Australia, Newstead Historical Society, Public Record Office Victoria, Sovereign Hill Museums Association and State Library of Victoria
- Camera, Sound, Editing and Post Production by:
- Jary Nemo
- Story Research, Interviews and Digital Gallery Content Written by:
- Lucinda Horrocks
- Additional Digital Gallery Content Written by:
- Cash Brown, Liz Denny and Yvonne Horsfield
- Digital Content Upload and Assistance:
- Sharon Turley
- Content Management System Co-Ordinator:
- Dimity Mapstone
- With Thanks to:
- Kay Adams, Lauren Bourke, Sam Brown, Fred Cahir, Angela Campbell, Ian Clark, Snjezana Cosic, Jan Croggon, Kate Dunn, Andrew Evans, Peter Freund, Margaret Fullwood, Luke Grimes, Henry Gunstone, Yvonne Horsfield, Sam Henson, Jemma Holcombe, David Hood, Bill Horrocks, Heather Horrocks, Julie Kilpatrick, Elizabeth Liddle, Hong Lim, Geoffrey Lord, Lucy Lv, Samantha Mackley, Elizabeth Marsden, Sarah Masters, Pauline McCall, John McDonald, Moya MacFadzean, Kathryn McKenzie, Julie McLaren, Gordon Morrison, Bill Moy, Jim Oastler, Philippa O’Halloran, Dennis O’Hoy, Michelle Philips, Anne Rowland, Padmini Sebastian, Kylee Smith, Jane Smith, Michelle Smith, Diann Talbot, John Taylor, John Tully, Sharon Turley, Mindy Meng Wang, John Watson, the Chinese Australian Cultural Society Ballarat, the Chinese Community Council of Australia Victoria, the Bendigo Chinese Association, the Bright and District Historical Society, the Myrtleford and District Historical Society, the Ballarat Historical Society, Ararat City Council, Ballarat City Council, Bendigo City Council, Federation University Australia, La Trobe University, the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Creswick Museum, Dunolly Museum, Museums Victoria and Public Record Office Victoria
- Film Shot on Location at:
- Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, Ballarat, Golden Dragon Museum, Bendigo, Gold Museum and Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Wind & Sky Productions Studio, Ballarat
- Acknowledgements:
- This project was created for Culture Victoria with the support of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria. Project production and development took place on the traditional lands of the Wadawurrung, Djab Wurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples. We would like to acknowledge these traditional owners and pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.
- Copyright with:
- Wind & Sky Productions ©2017 unless otherwise acknowledged.
New Film Tells Story of WW1 Missing
29 November 2019
New short documentary celebrates volunteer heroes of the First World War and its aftermath.A new film ‘The Missing’ celebrates two unsung Australian humanitarian efforts of WW1 – the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and post-war Australian Graves Workers.
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The Missing
Info
Commissioned by: Victorian Government
Produced: 2019
Length: 11:21 minutes
Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, Chair of History, Flinders University. Still from the film ‘The Missing’, courtesy of Wind & Sky Productions.
The Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau, London, 1918. Courtesy of Australian Red Cross Society.
Dr Bart Ziino, Historian, Deakin University. Still from the film ‘The Missing’. Courtesy of Wind & Sky Productions.
Burial Parties and Relocating to Proper Graves, France, circa 1919. Source: Marcel Pillon photograph collection, ANZAC House, Melbourne.[/caption]
Vera Deakin, daughter of Alfred Deakin, was integral to the operation of the international Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau. Image courtesy of Australian War Memorial.
The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival was the first Australian Documentary Festival to go online due to COVID-19
Audience questions at The Missing film launch. Photo by Kathie Mayer.
Panellists Carole Woods, Dr Bart Ziino, Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, Associate Professor Fred Cahir and interviewer Lucinda Horrocks at The Missing film launch. Photo by Kathie Mayer.
When WW1 brought Australians face to face with mass death a Red Cross Information Bureau and post-war graves workers laboured to help families grieve for the missing.
The unprecedented death toll of the First World War generated a burden of grief. Particularly disturbing was the vast number of dead who were “missing” – their bodies never found. This short documentary and online exhibition explores two unsung humanitarian responses to the crisis of the missing of World War 1 – the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and the post-war work of the Australian Graves Detachment and Graves Services. It tells of a remarkable group of men and women, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, who laboured to provide comfort and connection to grieving families in distant Australia.
Documentary Film
The short documentary features Professor Melanie Oppenheimer of Flinders University and Dr Bart Ziino of Deakin University, with original compositions by Dr Richard Chew of Federation University. Not to be missed are rarely seen archival images from the Australian Red Cross Heritage Collection and from Anzac House Victorian RSL headquarters.
Skillfully crafted and edited by director Jary Nemo, the eleven minute film is a moving and visually rich reflection on war, grief, commitment and loss, a fitting vehicle to commemorate the centenary of the Great War’s aftermath.
This Wind & Sky Production was directed by Jary Nemo and written and produced by Jary Nemo and Lucinda Horrocks, with executive producer Associate Professor Fred Cahir of Federation University.
Online Exhibition
A companion online exhibition was launched on the Victorian Collections portal in April 2021.
The ‘Missing’ exhibition provides some of the context of the crisis of the missing, the role of the Red Cross and the Graves Workers and the story of the creation of the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne to provide a place for people to mourn.
Curated by Lucinda Horrocks of Wind & Sky Productions the exhibition features contributions by historians Fred Cahir, Carole Woods and Sara Weuffen and essays by volunteers, archivists and family members who share personal journeys of people during the First World War and in its aftermath.
The exhibition features the stories of: Vera Deakin, determined head of the overseas Wounded and Missing Inquiry Bureau; Winifred Brotherton, dedicated volunteer bureau clerk who travelled from Castlemaine to London to be of use; Stanley Addison, Red Cross ‘searcher’ who looked in hospitals and battlegrounds for missing and wounded soldiers; Emma Tout, grieving mother at home of a son whose body was never found; Frank Cahir, the seasoned Gallipoli veteran who volunteered for extra duty to photograph war graves; and Will McBeath, young army recruit who was too late to fight and instead became a war graves worker, digging up graves and reburying people he knew.
Visit https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/the-missing to view the free exhibition.
Screenings and Events
Directors Circle Festival of Shorts 2021, Erie, Pennysylvania, United States, 29 November – 4 December 2021.
Online Exhibition Launch 19 April 2021, Victorian Collections.
Ogeechee International History Film Festival 2021, February 26-March 5 2021.
Setting Sun Film Festival 2020 (postponed due to COVID), 4-13 February 2021.
Veterans Film Festival 2020, 30 November – December 31 2020.
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2020 30 June 2020- 15 July 2020.
Film Launch: Friday 29th November 2019, Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance.
Awards and Nominations
Honourable Mention, Social Concern Category, GSF Awards-Global Short Film Awards, 2022.
Silver Award, Spotlight Documentary Film Awards 2021.
Nominee, Documentary Award, Directors Circle Festival of Shorts 2021.
Shortlisted, 2021 Victorian Premier’s History Award, and Commendation, Digital Storytelling Award, 2021 Victorian Community History Awards.
Finalist, Best Documentary – History, 2020 ATOM Awards
Viewing the Film
The film is free to show, watch and share online at internet quality at The Missing on YouTube.
To arrange for a high quality screening copy for community screenings and events contact Wind & Sky Productions.
Viewing the Exhibition
The exhibition is free to watch, show and share online on the portal Victorian Collections.
In the News
‘Frank Cahir saw more of the horror of war than most, and knew its cost‘, Caleb Cluff, The Courier, 27 September 2021.
Interview with Lucinda Horrocks, Heather Horrocks and Fred Cahir, Saturday Breakfast with Matt Tribe, ABC Radio Victoria, 24 April 2021.
‘ANZAC Exhibition’, Sam Mills, WIN News Ballarat, 23 April 2021.
The Missing: the inspiring Australians who went looking for the war dead, Peter Litras, Federation University News, 19 April 2021.
‘What did you do after the war?’ The Missing is short but packs a punch, David Stephens, Honest History, 14 January 2020.
The untold story of the ‘searchers’ who tracked down missing World War I soldiers, Elise Kinsella, ABC News Online, 30 Nov 2019.
PM daughters’ hunt for wartime missing, Yaz Dedovic, Flinders University News, 29 November 2019.
After the war: Remembering those who chose to stay behind, Peter Litras, Federation University News, 13 November 2019.
About the ‘Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances’ Project
The ‘Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances: The Missing’ film and digital gallery project was supported by the Victorian Government and was a project partnership of Federation University, Wind & Sky Productions, Australian Red Cross and RSL Ballarat.
Media contact
For interviews and further information, contact Wind & Sky Productions.
Credits
- Acknowledgements:
- Project production and development took place on the lands of the Wathaurung, Boon Wurrung Wurundjeri and Kaurna peoples. We would like to acknowledge these Traditional Owners and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.
- Federation University Research Project Chief Investigator:
- Fred Cahir
- Creative Producers:
- Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo
- Produced in collaboration with:
- Federation University Australia, Australian Red Cross Society and RSL Ballarat
- Created with the support of:
- the Victorian Government
- Research Advisors:
- Fred Cahir, Moira Drew, Katrina Nicolson, Linda North, Melanie Oppenheimer, Sara Weuffen, Carole Woods and Bart Ziino
- With Thanks to:
- Gillian Anderson, John Cahir, Sandy Cahir, Julie Cotter, Joanna Day, Alan Douglass, David Fitzroy, Leigh Gilburt, Sam Henson, Andrew Hope, Heather Horrocks, Maurie Keating, John MacDonald, Georgia Melville, Kristine Morgan, Brendan Nelson, Paula Nicholson, Fred Pratt, Lynne Redman, Matt Smith, Alex Tascas, Kristen Thornton, Sharon Turley, Creative Victoria, Deakin University, Flinders University, the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and Royal Historical Society Victoria.
- Featuring:
- Bart Ziino and Melanie Oppenheimer
- Film Directed by:
- Jary Nemo
- Film Written and Produced by:
- Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo
- Executive Producer on behalf of Federation University:
- Fred Cahir
- Music by:
- Richard Chew
- Research Advisors:
- Fred Cahir, Moira Drew, Katrina Nicolson, Linda North, Melanie Oppenheimer, Sara Weuffen, Carole Woods and Bart Ziino
- Archival photographs and footage courtesy of:
- Anzac House RSL Victoria, Australian Red Cross Society, Australian War Memorial, Central Highlands Libraries, Deakin University Library, Family of Stanley Addison, Museums Victoria, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of South Australia, State Library of Victoria, University of Melbourne Archives and US National Archives
- Music:
- Sun Rim: Music by Richard Chew and Ian Dixon. The Windhover: Music by Richard Chew. Solo Violin; Stephen Morris. A View of the Sky: Composer Richard Chew. Produced by Richard Chew and Tom Robinson.
- With Thanks to:
- Gillian Anderson, John Cahir, Sandy Cahir, Julie Cotter, Joanna Day, Alan Douglass, David Fitzroy, Leigh Gilburt, Sam Henson, Andrew Hope, Heather Horrocks, Maurie Keating, John MacDonald, Georgia Melville, Kristine Morgan, Brendan Nelson, Paula Nicholson, Fred Pratt, Lynne Redman, Matt Smith, Alex Tascas, Kristen Thornton, Sharon Turley, Creative Victoria, Deakin University, Flinders University, the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and Royal Historical Society Victoria.
- Produced in collaboration with:
- Federation University Australia, Australian Red Cross Society and RSL Ballarat
- Created with the support of:
- the Victorian Government
- Licensing:
- Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International.
- Production Company:
- Wind & Sky Productions
- Copyright with:
- Wind & Sky Productions ©2019.
- Curator:
- Lucinda Horrocks
- Commissioning Editor on behalf of Federation University:
- Fred Cahir
- Victorian Collections Project Officers:
- Ash Robertson, Georgia Melville and Lynda Bernard
- Essay Authors:
- Fred Cahir, Jo Caminiti, Lucinda Horrocks, Linda North, Kate Spinks, Sara Weuffen, and Carole Woods.
- Digital Essay Photographs and Items Courtesy of:
- Anzac House RSL Victoria, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Australian Red Cross Society, Australian War Memorial, Ballaarat Mechanics Institute, Central Highlands Libraries, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Deakin University Library, Imperial War Museum, Tracey Hind (Flickr), Larry Koester (Flickr), Melbourne University Archives, Museums Victoria, National Archives of Australia, National Library of Australia, Private collection of the Cahir family, Private collection of the Harrison and McBeath families, Private Collection of the Family of Stanley Addison, Private Collection of the White Family, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of South Australia, Shrine of Remembrance, State Library of Victoria, University of Melbourne Archives, National Library of Australia, Wernervc (Wikimedia Commons)
Film Credits
Digital Gallery Credits
The David Scott Story
Info
Commissioned by: The Davids Group
Produced: 2019
Length: 14.28 minutes
David Scott circa 1980, courtesy of the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
The film features archival footage from the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Courtesy Brotherhood of St Laurence.
Richard Tanter, still from the film ‘The David Scott Story’, courtesy Wind & Sky Productions.
David Scott was one of a handful of Australians to witness the eve of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Photograph by Michael Richardson, 1975. Courtesy Michael Richardson and The Age.
Caroline Scott, still from the film ‘The David Scott Story’. Courtesy Wind & Sky Productions.
David Scott in India circa 1966, courtesy of Oxfam Australia.
David Scott had an extraordinary life, beginning as a young navy recruit in WW2. Still from the film ‘The David Scott Story’. Images courtesy of Caroline and Matthew Scott.
Peter Hollingworth, still from the film ‘The David Scott Story’, courtesy Wind & Sky Productions.
The Story
Melbourne activist David Scott spent a lifetime fighting poverty, was a pioneering advocate for East Timor, and created an enduring legacy in social justice and environmental reform.
Through the recollections of people who knew him this gentle, reflective story unpacks David Scott’s life.
Beautifully crafted, the film is also a powerful visual reminder of the social transformations of late 20th century Australia.
Featuring Adrian Harris, Peter Hollingworth, Caroline Scott, Lucinda Horrocks, Richard Tanter and Mick Lumb and incorporating historic images from the archives of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Oxfam Australia, the United Nations, the Richardson East Timor Papers and others this memorable short documentary film will leave you wanting more.
More About David Scott
David Horace Ford Scott (1925-2012).
Once described as ‘one of Australia’s giants in social welfare and social policy’, David Scott was a prominent Australian who had an extraordinary life. He witnessed crucial events in Australia’s history: the Great Depression, the Pacific War, the invasion of East Timor.
He took action where he saw injustice, extraordinary action in the case of East Timor, and he left a lasting mark on the organisations he helmed, as he led them from a 1950s mentality towards the modern phenomenon that is the ‘NGO’.
He is known for many roles, prominent amongst them being the founding director of Community Aid Abroad in the 1960s, the Executive Director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence in the 1970s and the Chair of the Land Conservation Council and Victoria’s first Commissioner for the Environment in the 1980s. Perhaps most famously, in 1975 on a visit to East Timor to oversee a delivery of international aid, David was one of a handful of Australians to witness events on the eve of the Indonesian invasion of Dili. The experience prompted him to drop all commitments and fly to New York to campaign for justice for the tiny island nation.
David’s character was an interesting mix of conflicting traits: he was both shy and bold, modest but a risk taker, pragmatic yet philosophical, adventurous though plagued by lifelong low self esteem. In 1954 the young Second World War navy veteran stumbled almost accidentally into a life of advocacy on the advice of his pioneering uncle Father Tucker, but once he found his vocation he pursued it with ingenuity, perseverance and gusto.
Driven by a personal mantra to ‘always say yes’ to opportunity despite his pervasive self-doubt, David played a significant part in the transformation of Australian public values and policies in the second half of the Australian 20th century. Growing into a quiet yet determined leader, with political skill and pragmatic goals, he encouraged those around him to step up and become activists for change.
In the eyes of those whom he mentored and worked with, David Scott provided a remarkable example of how to navigate complexity and create change that is just as relevant today as it was in David’s era.
Further Reading
David Scott with Carrie Hutchinson, 2014, ‘Always Say Yes: the Life of David Scott’, Pier 9, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.
Screenings and Events
The film is free to show, watch and share online at internet quality at The David Scott Story on YouTube.
To arrange for a high quality screening copy for community screenings and events contact Wind & Sky Productions.
The Making of the Film
The film was commissioned by ‘The Davids Group’: David Green, David Hall, Hayden Raysmith and Mike Salvaris; an informal group of friends who knew and had been mentored by David Scott.
The Davids Group, working with the Brotherhood of St Laurence as auspice, was instrumental in publishing David Scott’s memoir ‘Always Say Yes’ which was published posthumously in 2014.
They then commissioned Wind & Sky Productions to make a short film about David Scott’s life which was completed in 2019.
The producers would like to thank all those who gave generously in terms of time, expertise and funds to make this film a reality. Particular thanks go to David Scott’s children Caroline and Matthew, to our marvellous brains trust community of experts on call from distant parts of Australia and around the world, and to the many organisations who gave us access to extraordinary original content.
But we have many others to thank, listed in the credits below.
Credits
- In memory of
- David Scott 1925-2012
- Featuring (in order of appearance)
- Adrian Harris, Peter Hollingworth, Caroline Scott, Lucinda Horrocks, Richard Tanter, Mick Lumb
- Directed by
- Jary Nemo
- Written and Produced by
- Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo
- Research advisors
- Adrian Harris, Carrie Hutchinson, Sue Roff, Caroline Scott, Matthew Scott, John Waddingham
- Archival audio, photographs, film and news clippings courtesy of
- The Brotherhood of St Laurence Archives, CHART Clearing House for Archival Records on Timor, East Timor Relief Association (ETRA) Archives, Fairfax Syndication, The Library of Congress, Northern Territory Library, Ira and Faith Renton Collection, Oxfam Australia Photographic Archive, Sue Roff, Matthew and Caroline Scott, Snowy River Mail, State Government of Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, United Nations Department of Public Information, New York, University of New South Wales, Michael Richardson Papers, Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, World Meteorological Organisation
- Specific acknowledgements
- ‘Beautiful Melbourne’, silent film, 1946, (J.G. Fitzsimons), produced by Jack Fitzsimons for the Brotherhood of St Laurence. © Brotherhood of St Laurence; ‘These are our children’, silent film, 1947, (K. Coldicutt, R. Mathews) produced by the Melbourne Realist Film Unit for the Brotherhood of St Laurence. © Brotherhood of St Laurence; East Timor, photographs, October-December, 1975, photographer Michael Richardson, University of New South Wales archives, courtesy of Michael Richardson and the Age. © Michael Richardson and the Age; Order of East Timor Ceremony, photographs, Melbourne, 2010, photographer Richard Kendall, courtesy of Oxfam Australia. © Oxfam Australia; United Nations Security Council, New York, photograph, 1975, photographer Teddy Chen, courtesy of United Nations Department of Public Information. © United Nations; United Nations Fourth Committee, New York, photograph, 1981, photographer Milton Grant, courtesy of United Nations Department of Public Information. © United Nations; United Nations Fourth Committee, New York, 1982, photographer Yukata Nagata, courtesy of United Nations Department of Public Information. © United Nations; ‘UN Headquarters Exteriors’, 1970, archival b-roll, produced by the United Nations. © United Nations; ‘East Gippsland : a bright future’, video, 1987, produced by the Community Education and Information Branch, Victorian Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands. © State Government of Victoria, DELWP; ‘Beautiful Conspiracy’, music, composed by Chris Haigh, via PremiumBeat. © Chris Haigh; Alaricio Fernandes reporting invasion of Dili, 7 December 1975, audio recording. Courtesy of CHART Clearing House for Archival Records on Timor.
- Orphan works
- This film includes archival creative works which remain in copyright. We have tried to identify, locate and contact all rights holders, but some works may remain unattributed. If you recognise yourself as a rights holder, we apologise for the omission and welcome you to come forward so we can negotiate in good faith to obtain permission and discuss your wishes. Contact via www.windsky.com.au or post to Wind & Sky Productions, PO Box 679W, Ballarat West, Victoria, Australia, 3350.
- With thanks to
- Matthew Scott, Caroline Scott, Vivian Papaleo, Jeannie Zhakarov, Tony Nicholson, Tim Nayton, Rob Hudson, Catherine Arnold, Tricia Szirom, Conny Lenneberg, Keith Parsons, Helen Szoke, Joan Phillips, Dr Gillian Sparkes, Doreen Ross, John Waddingham, Robert Wesley-Smith, Gil Scrine, John Hughes, Deane Williams, Yvonne Rulikowski, Peter Christoff, Jock Murphy, Paddy Handbury, Judy Patterson, Sue Mathews, Dan Mathews, Helen Sykes, Victorian Government Library Services, United Nations Photo Library Staff, United Nations AV Library Staff, Brotherhood of St Laurence Library Staff and Volunteers, Northern Territory Library Staff.
- Executive producers
- David Green, David Hall, Hayden Raysmith, Mike Salvaris
- Project auspiced by
- The Brotherhood of St Laurence
- Acknowledgement of country
- Project production and development took place on the lands of the Wadawurrung, Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples. We would like to acknowledge these Traditional Owners and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.
- Licensing
- This film has been released under a
- Production company
- A Wind & Sky Production
- Copyright with
- © Wind & Sky Productions MMXIX
Chinese in Victoria took Many Roads to Fortune
Ballarat, Victoria, 12 December 2017.
Author: Wind & Sky Productions
New film and digital exhibition celebrates Victoria’s Chinese goldrush history
An ambitious online project called Many Roads brings together the collections of eighteen Victorian cultural organisations, both metropolitan and regional, to tell the story of the Chinese on the goldfields of Victoria.
In the 1850s thousands of Chinese journeyed to the fabled goldfields of central, northern , northeastern and western Victoria. ‘The gold was what drew them here,’ says Anita Jack, General Manager of the Golden Dragon Museum and great grand daughter of a goldrush-era Chinese migrant. ‘Here in Bendigo at the peak of the gold rush a quarter were Chinese. The other three quarters were people from America, Europe, New Zealand, all across the world. It was a very multicultural time.’
Read More
Ballarat Writers Festival: Queer Wars, an Interview with Dennis Altman
In a session not to be missed at the Ballarat Writers Festival, Lucinda Horrocks interviews the Australian academic and novelist Dennis Altman AM, one of the world’s most influential writers on sexuality and politics.
In this session Dennis will talk about LGBT rights in a global era, the gay civil rights movement and democracy, and will look back on the era of 1970s gay liberation and the publication of his first influential work Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation.
Where: Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, 102 Stawell Street South, Ballarat, Victoria, 3350.
When: Sunday 22nd October, 2:30pm-3:30pm.
Tickets: Festival Day Pass $50/$45/$40 | Festival Weekend Pass $80/$75/$70
Bookings: http://www.ballaratwritersfestival.com/2017-festival/tickets/
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