[Ted Parsons Home Movies: Reel 10]

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.

This film takes place at the the motor racing circuit in Tarrawingee, Victoria, which was used by the North Eastern Car Club between 1957 and 1965. It includes footage of motorcycle and motorcar races, as well as the people in the crowd out for a Sunday event, providing a great snapshot of the townspeople and recreational activities of the period.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 poster ‘Motor Racing at the new Tarrawingee Circuit’
00:01:11:00 cars taking off around the circuit
00:02:52:00 dust flying as cars careen around the bend
00:03:04:00 young people sitting on a fence, wearing the full skirts and cardigans of 1950s style
00:03:25:00 spectators watching
00:03:50:00 man holding chequered flag across the track
00:04:51:00 the children’s train ride
00:05:43:00 two men in boiler suits push a race car off
00:06:16:00 a driver gets out of a Volkswagon Beetle in the ‘Pits’
00:07:40:00 a Fordson Major tractor
00:08:19:00 a red lorry being led by a tractor, sprinkling the race track with water from a tank
00:09:27:00 view from interior of a car driving the race track
00:10:43:00 stylish women lounging on the grass
00:11:24:00 cars arriving at the Finish line