Tony Agapitos Home Movie Collection

A collection of 16mm film of migrant life in Victoria from 1950 to 1970s. Tony Agapitos is a cinematographer and director and the collection of films spans the arrival of Greek migrants in Port Melbourne in the 1960s; Greek Australian cultural celebrations; film of Australian entertainers and rock musicians in the 1960s; the arrival of Gough Whitlam at the Fitzroy Town Hall in 1975.
Appearing in the work are: Gough Whitlam, Andrew Peacock, Normie Rowe, Johnny Young and Lionel Rose’s famous victory parade down Swanston Street and figures from the Greek Pro-Democracy movement.

Tony Agapitos was a Greek immigrant and filmmaker who documented life in Melbourne’s Greek community from the 1950s to the 70s. He focused on significant political, social and religious events, including the arrival of Greek ships at Victoria docks, celebrations and dances, protest marches, political meetings and religious occasions. Mr Agapitos’ material comprises approximately three hours of footage and was shot on 16mm and 35mm film, which is preserved in our collection.

Born in Egypt to Greek parents, Tony gained valuable qualifications in filmmaking during his lifetime. He was involved in cinematography, specialising in documentary and news films, and also worked as a projectionist and technical director.

After arriving in Australia in the late 1940s, he was employed from 1950-1953 as an instrument engineer with S.L.I. Lucas Australia. From 1953–1958 he was with Herschell’s Film Studio where he was involved in film maintenance and production. This included directing, editing, camera work and sound recording. Tony was active in the production of films for D24 Masonic Hospital and he also produced his own films. From 1958 he was at the State Film Centre, employed as a Biograph Projectionist travelling all around Victoria.

Some of Tony’s personal footage was shown in a documentary about the history of Station and Princes Piers in Port Melbourne, as part of a restoration celebration in 2012. Princes Pier in particular played a key role in Australia’s wartime and multicultural history as the first landing in Australia for thousands of post war migrants. Tony’s films capture the pathos of the new arrivals; they are beautiful and emotionally powerful evocations of the experience.

Fragments of Tony’s work have also been used by participants in our Digital Storytelling workshops, bringing strong narrative drive to the participant’s personal stories, enabling them to communicate the complex emotional landscape of arrival in a strange country.