[Ted Parsons Home Movies: Reel 8]

Ted Parsons was a keen amateur filmmaker of the 1940s to 1960s. Ted’s films feature life in and around the Victorian regional city of Wangaratta post-war. This was a period of prosperity and optimism largely due to a successful textile industry that took Wangaratta from a small country town to major rural city, declared in 1959.

Ted captures the many sporting and social events, venues and clubs, holidays and travel along with scenes of everyday life. The collection also shows the broader issues faced by country people such as the regular flooding events around the Ovens and King Rivers.

Wangaratta’s success story as a manufacturing town traces the path of post-war migration and the accompanying growth of Australia’s economy, which makes these films particularly interesting.

The Ted Parsons Home Movie Collection has been donated to ACMI by the filmmaker’s grandson Barry Parsons. The films have been made on 16mm film.

In this film, titled ‘Just Roaming’, Ted tells the story of a road trip through Victoria. The Parsons travel through Mount Hotham and Myrtleford, down to Melbourne and then back through Bairnsdale and Paynesville on the south coast.

A feature is the footage of the Gliding Club of Victoria, including female pilots, and historic buildings in Melbourne such as the Shrine of Remembrance and Ormond College at the University of Melbourne. There are beautiful scenes of the Victorian countryside throughout.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 title cards ‘E.J. Parsons Presents’, ‘Just Roaming’
00:00:11:00 a 1950s car leaves the driveway of a brick house and drives down a country road
00:00:35:00 flooded roads and paddocks, uprooted trees in the river
00:01:30:00 a visit to the Hume Dam (formerly known as the Hume Weir) including scenes of Lake Hume
00:02:55:00 man with binoculars, looking out to snow covered mountains
00:03:28:00 two women and a man playing with snowballs
00:04:27:00 a man and woman wade through the snow; woman playfully flashing her underwear to the camera
00:04:50:00 snowy countryside
00:06:33:00 the Hotham Heights Hotel in Mount Hotham, with guests on the balcony looking out over the railings
00:06:51:00 bleached white gum trees and yellow buttercups
00:07:33:00 beautiful views across the mountain ranges
00:08:59:00 a clock tower
00:09:18:00 road sign ‘Myrtleford Please Slow Down’
00:09:27:00 a helicoptor landing in a field, followed by footage of gliders taking off and landing
00:10:27:00 logo ‘Gliding Club of Vict.’ on a wing
00:10:33:00 two young men seated in a glider, smiling and waving at the camera
00:10:59:00 a yellow glider taking off
00:11:19:00 young woman in a glider
00:11:57:00 gardens
00:13:14:00 bridge over the Yarra River, Melbourne, with a church spire in the background
00:13:33:00 the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne
00:14:18:00 boys in a red row boat on the Yarra
00:14:25:00 Ormond College, University of Melbourne
00:14:38:00 flowers
00:16:11:00 feeding the seagulls at the beach
00:17:16:00 farm paddocks
00:17:28:00 scenic shot of three people on a rocky outcrop
00:17:43:00 sign for ‘Bairnsdale Please Slow Down’ followed by scenes in the country town
00:18:22:00 a unicycle mounted on a white brick wall
00:18:29:00 the Technical School, Bairnsdale
00:20:34:00 road sign ‘Paynesville Please Slow Down’
00:20:55:00 two women walking along the beach
00:21:32:00 view from a boat on the river
00:22:52:00 boat named ‘Krunulla’
00:24:05:00 poplar and pine trees
00:27:09:00 title card ‘Springtime’ followed by scenery in country and footage of farm animals