[Tibor Zoltan Koller Home Movies: Reel 2]

Tibor Zoltan Koller (1920-1975) was an amateur filmmaker who made home movies in Australia and overseas from the 1940s to the early 1970s. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Tibor lived in Melbourne, Victoria with his family. His wife Merna Koller was a frequent collaborator on these films, showing a shared interest in filmmaking.

Tibor captured suburban family life in Melbourne, including family celebrations, urban scenes and regional holidays. Tibor was actively engaged in the lapidary society of Australia. Several of his films show opal fields and gemstone artisans at work, as well as the 1969 ‘Gemboree’ in Beechworth, Victoria, a national festival organised by the lapidary clubs of Australia. Tibor also travelled to Idar-Oberstein in Germany, historically known as a gemstone town, and to Japan.

The Tibor Zoltan Koller Home Movie Collection has been donated to ACMI by the filmmaker’s daughter Vicki Koller. The films were made on Standard 8mm and Super 8mm film.

This film depicts a trip to Andamooka Opal Field in South Australia. Andamooka was established following the discovery of opal there in 1930, and largely consisted of scattered miners’ camps. The film includes footage of the mines, the miners, the dugouts and shacks that comprised the settlement, and close-ups of opals in display cases.

This film was made on Standard 8mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:29:00 bus ride through the South Australian outback
00:02:19:00 handpainted sign reading ‘Welcome to Andamooka Opal Field’
00:03:01:00 mine shafts
00:03:15:00 group of people examining the opal field, including a young girl in a pink pinafore
00:04:51:00 a mine shaft with pulley system
00:05:20:00 man skipping down the hill
00:05:33:00 the Andamooka Post Office
00:06:33:00 shanty structures
00:07:00:00 Aboriginal children playing
00:08:30:00 a man being hoisted out of a mine shaft
00:09:41:00 two miners chatting
00:10:11:00 close-ups of opals in display cases
00:12:26:00 sunset over the opal fields