[Ted Parsons Home Movies: Reel 11]

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 shows scenes of a motor racing circuit. Ted films the cars from alongside the track, showing the dusty, mud-splattered action, as well as close-ups of the drivers, mechanics and race cars. The action throughout gives an insightful and exciting look at the sport.

A feature is a spectacular image of a burnt out car driving straight through a billboard set on fire.

Selected highlights list:
00:01:09:00 man in red shirt inspecting a Bugatti engine
00:01:16:00 fixing a Norton engine
00:01:44:00 driver adjusting his mirror; winks and smiles at the camera
00:02:13:00 car called ‘Blue Heaven’
00:02:32:00 two men in heated conversation
00:02:43:00 a club member with a badge on his shirt
00:04:12:00 motorbike race
00:04:34:00 race cars on the circuit
00:07:01:00 mud-splattered car and driver wearing helmet and goggles waiting for his next race
00:07:15:00 mechanic with cigarette dangling from his mouth as he works on a car
00:09:32:00 woman rugged up in two coats speaks to driver in a car
00:10:45:00 crowds of people gather around one driver
00:12:00:00 spectacular shot of a car driving through a burning billboard
00:12:15:00 handpainted name ‘Movaro’ on the side of the burnt out car
00:15:28:00 cars lining up for a race
00:17:03:00 women in the crowd