FILM AUSTRALIA COLLECTION

CU Aborigine making fire by hand seen during opening credits and GS smoke. CU's telegraph poles and lines in mountainous country landscape. Men sitting atop of telegraph poles carrying out maintenance.

Bush Post Office with people gathered on verandah and reading telegrams. Graphic showing telegraph links across map of Australia. Tilt down imposing building of the Chief Telegraph Office of Victoria to bustling street and pedestrian traffic. Interior shots of people queuing in rows to telegraph counter. GS men working telegraph machines in back room and dispatching. Quicktime clip available.

VS detailing telegram processing and distribution: young man loading telegrams into tubes which are sent down pneumatic chutes, VS operating room. Good sequence of sorting and use of Ôhigh speed' overhead carrier . VS men punching out telegrams then putting paper on belt, CUs perforated tape and transmission machinery. Quicktime clip available.

Animation depicting telegram transfer between Melbourne & Sydney. CUs apparatus auto typing telegram message. VS of end-line distribution processes of telegrams. Good sequence of telegraph messengers patiently waiting turns to deliver messages. Messengers cycling from Telegraph Office through streets and traffic to deliver message to man at door. Quicktime clip available.

GS man opening and reading telegram looking taken aback. CU to message typed out on telegram. Humorous sequence of gaudily dressed overweight woman exercising on beach with telegram message superimposed over sequence. MS young woman on telephone and good MS of telephonist at other end typing out telegram. Quicktime clip available.

MS row of men operating teleprinters. Businessman on telephone seated at desk with secretary taking telegram from receiver and placing on desk. Rural telegraph line with magpie nested on top then shot with nest moved to lines nearby. VS cockatoos chewing and walking along lines. GS man rescuing tattered kite caught in telegraph pole wires. Quicktime clip available.

WS flooded town with man on flying fox style device suspended from telegraph pole in BG of shot. GS bushfire and CU to burnt base of telegraph pole with firefighters beating flames out around pole and dousing flames with hose. Good high shots of large crowds at Melbourne Cup day. Start of Melbourne Cup race and excerpts with car following horses seen in some shots. Winners enter race course. Quicktime clip available.

Cameraman runs to waiting car with VS of car speeding down streets stopping at building where man runs in. MS man in darkroom developing photograph in tray. Photo loaded onto drum in telegraph office. Various processes of newspaper production are shown including running through presses, sorting, carting on trolley and young boy selling them on street corner. FS Telegraph pole silhouetted against sunset sky with dark clouds in sky. Quicktime clip available.