FILM AUSTRALIA COLLECTION

Title Details

Ghan to Alice

Follows two rodeo riders travelling from Marree to the Alice Springs Rodeo on the Ghan train.
Year : 1978 | Total Duration : 27 Minutes | Producer : Peter Johnson
Director : Curtis Levy |
Rodeo rider easing into knee guards in yard. Slow-motion rodeo rider on bucking bull. Cowboys preparing bull then riding bull in rodeo ring. Green fields, homestead. Rough riders around homestead, men packing panel van. Driving through outback arriving at Marree railway station. Men reading train timetable, inside office buying tickets, panel van being loaded onto Ghan train. Driver sounding horn, men boarding train. Train leaving station at dusk, countryside from driver's cabin. Line of railway tracks to horizon POV driver. Waiter serving beer to men in dining car. Men in small cabin. Train at night. Waiter delivering coffee to cabins in morning, Ghan travelling through desert. MS waiter on loudspeaker announcing breakfast, VS train kitchen, cooks, waiters. VS Japanese family in train dining car. VS breakfasts being prepared in kitchen, waiter through dining car. Shots of outback from train window, GS lounge car, VS breakfasts served in dining car. Japanese tourist filming. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 133284 | 6 mins 44 secs | 1970s | SA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
WS train. VS in train lounge car with Japanese woman playing Waltzing Matilda on piano, children reading books, drawing and playing with yo-yo. MS waiter polishing sugar bowls, VS train staff eating and driver being handed mug of tea. Aerial over Ghan through desert. CU playing cards on table, children playing cards in Ghan train lounge. GS train past camera. VS train passengers looking at derelict Dodge City Bar building in desert, train staff refuelling train. Staff in communications tower. Wild camels being rounded up by stockmen on motorcycles and horses. Zoom out from roped camel roaring. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 141612 | 3 mins 42 secs | 1970s | SA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
CU horns blasting, train preparing to leave, guard waving yellow flag. Railway tracks, Ghan over railway bridge POV driver's cabin. Passenger taking photographs from train. Train co-driver over name plate "Ben Chifley". Ghan past waving Aboriginal guard Alec Woodford. VS passengers alighting train assisted by suited staff. Passengers posing for photographs with Oodnadatta station sign. GS Woodford preparing to feed caged dog in hold. VS train departing. GS railway tracks, Oodnadatta sign and zoom to Ghan moving. VS passengers eating, drinking, smoking. Asian girl playing piano in Ghan lounge. Woman sewing, others playing cards. LS sun setting over desert. VS driver's cabin. Guard climbing signal tower, Ghan at night. Railway sign, good WS train lines into distance at dawn. WS green desert landscape, LS flat topped mountains. Ghan stopped in desert. Ewaninga sign and shed, Maintenance crew working on line, packing up, and in motorised rail truck. Railway guard in communications box. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 141614 | 6 mins 11 secs | 1970s | Oodnadatta,SA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Train through desert, VS passengers, ruin from window and aerial track of train. GS riders with herd of horses. VS Ghan over railway bridge. GS passengers drinking and smoking. VS train approaching then arriving at Alice Springs Station, people waiting on platform. Passengers alighting with luggage, cowboys watching forklift remove panel van from train then driving past Aboriginal children sitting on rails. Cattle truck with Aboriginal stockmen prodding cattle in truck, cattle down ramp. Cowboys in car doing sums on paper, boots propped on car window. VS rodeo, cowboys, audience, Ted Egan singing at microphone drumming on cardboard box. Cowboy on crutches, pair of cowboys on fence wearing chaps. Man hitting strength testing machine with large mallet. VS police car and police presence. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 141616 | 4 mins 21 secs | 1970s | SA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Miss Rodeo 1978 Sharon McTaggert doing lap of honour carrying flag at rodeo. VS cowboys, horse being saddled and cowboys riding bulls while clowns distract and judges score. Bill Willoughby and other cowboys riding bulls and horses in slow-motion. High angle view over empty rodeo ring and tilt up hillside. Aerial track following the Ghan across barren outback landscape. High angle shot over pair of cowboys with luggage on Alice Springs railway station practising their lassoing. Railway scenes. Quicktime clip available.
Access No. 141617 | 4 mins 39 secs | 1970s | SA, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |