[KenRa Films Present: the Kenneth Rankine Home Movie Collection: Reel 8]

Kenneth Carruthers Rankine (1890 - 1968) was a keen amateur cinematographer and filmmaker. This collection of his home movies has been donated to ACMI by Kenneth’s granddaughte. The collection represents a wonderful slice of life in Australia, with contents including scenes of everyday life, major family occasions, holidays around Victoria and views of Melbourne.

This film captures a roadtrip to South Australia showing several ports and towns and the landscapes and ocean views along the way.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:15:00 title card ‘Exploring South Australia’ using a Shell (Gas and Oil) roadmap of SA
00:00:22:00 the Balmera Post Office with signs reading ‘Post and Telegraph Office’ and ‘Money Order and Commonwealth Savings Bank’
00:00:31:00 a town street with a large truck loaded with full hessian sacks followed by views of roses in the median strip gardens
00:01:32:00 Mrs Rankine holds some very large grapefruit
00:02:10:00 the travellers enjoy some public gardens
00:02:00:00 a ‘To Adelaide’ road sign on a flooded road, alongside some boats
00:03:20:00 filming from a punt that takes the travellers and cars across a waterway
00:05:00:00 sign reading ‘Port Augusta: Change here for Quorn Alice Springs’ followed by views of the rail station
00:05:20:00 street scenes with pedestrians, cars and buses
00:05:35:00 a long pipeline travels alongside a road in which Mrs Rankine, in a wonderful navy blue suit, sunglasses and cream ‘Maryjane’ style shoes, stands by the car taking in the views followed by two travellers on a motorcycle (motorbike)
00:06:13:00 the Whyalla Post Office followed by quiet street scenes including motorists and motorbike riders, an Orlando Wines advertising sign, lovely older buildings such as the Hotel Spencer and a great example of a 1940s or 1950s style small truck parked outside.
00:06:45:00 Mrs Rankine stands on a balcony of the hotel
00:06:57:00 a steam train carrying what appears to be aggregate crushed rock for road construction comes into view and shortly after, workers release the load into trackside rock and gravel piles, a fisherman and his bike on the pier and the rock being loaded onto the ship by way of a conveyor belt system
00:08:58:00 Mrs Rankine sits atop a very large pipeline, fanning flies away from her face
00:09:28:00 lengthy views of industrial works and cargo loading facilities
00:11:51:00 a lone blue-tongue lizard
00:12:18:00 the family car sits on top of a rise overlooking grassland and the sea, a ship, a town and in the foreground, an unusually low electricity pole and wiring
00:13:05:00 a ‘Port Lincoln’ sign on a building followed by scenes of the town, the bays, bobbing boats, public flowerbeds and 1940s and 1950s style cars, trucks and houses
00:14:53:00 the Pier Hotel with Mrs Rankine on a balcony and then in a window knitting with the blue and green sea in the background
00:15:15:00 scenes around the foreshore, out over the water, yachts, small boats and jettys and grassy shorelines
00:16:20:00 Mrs Rankine on shore in the blustery winds
00:16:55:00 a rail crossing on a sandy road with a ‘Commonwealth Roads’ sign warning of a ‘£50 penalty’
00:17:27:00 a wonderful ageing and long pier with a lighthouse at the end
00:17:42:00 a building bearing the name Port Pirie followed by views of the town and port, including a tugboat pulling a large ship into dock
00:18:15:00 another ship, named Pioneer Reef New York
00:18:18:00 a closer view of one of the tugboats followed by the Rankine family car parked on a dusty road
00:18:40:00 four big draught horses pulling a plough and then seven pulling a cultivator
00:19:07:00 Port Broughton Post Office with a sign for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and then the Hotel Broughton
00:19:25:00 Mrs Rankine sits on a seat outside the hotel in front of a stained glass window sign for the ‘Parlor’ (interestingly, the American version of spelling), which would have been the hotel’s ladies parlour when women were not allowed in the public bar of a hotel
00:19:44:00 the Point Broughton War Memorial
00:19:58:00 a friend with their cat
00:20:05:00 a roadsign for Port Victoria followed by son-in-law Bob Wootten and grandson on a pier, who then join Mrs Rankine and Bettye (Rankine) Wootten
00:20:55:00 sign for Kadina flashes by and a train carriage, named ‘Pelican’ which was part of the ‘Bluebird Railcars’ that travelled around South Australia at the time; passengers board the carriage while luggage is loaded from a truck parked alongside
00:21:29:00 Kenneth’s grandson in his stroller and some quick scenes around the town