On the Line

Australia, 1985

Film
On the Line thumbnail image.

It’s a harsh, lonely life for the men, mostly European migrants, who work maintaining the railway around Redmont in north-west Western Australia. Labouring through searing heat over 426 kilometres of mountainous, desert region, these men talk candidly about their lives, providing psychological and social insight into what it is to be living in “isolation”.

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How to watch

This work has been digitised and can be viewed in the display above.

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

22 April 2019

ACMI Viewing Booths

Credits

director

David Greig

editor

David Greig

producer

John Richardson

production company

Kestrel Films & Video (Australia)

SBS-TV

Duration

00:53:55:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1985

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B2002596

Language

English

Audience classification

Mediatheque - all ages (ACMI classified)

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

DVD; Access Print (Section 1)

MOV file H264; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI External Digital Access Copy

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/117279--on-the-line/ |title=On the Line |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=23 March 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}