[Tibor Zoltan Koller Home Movies: Reel 15]

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 contains footage of a visit to the Gresswell Sanatorium in Mont Park, Victoria, which at the time housed and treated male patients with tuberculosis. Mont Park was an area north-east of Melbourne comprising several health institutions, including the Gresswell Sanatorium which was named after Dan Gresswell, a public health administrator. The film provides an insightful look at life in the sanatorium, including recreational activities and health care.

This film was made on Standard 8mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:00:02:00 great example of a handpainted sign reading ‘Repatriation Sanatorium, Drive Slow, Gresswell Sanatorium’
00:00:13:00 a 1940s style bus with logo ‘Heidelberg Motor Omnibus Service Pty. Ltd.’
00:00:40:00 a woman in 1940s style dress disembarks the bus
00:01:22:00 three men walking down the road
00:01:58:00 a man using a grinding wheel in a work shed
00:03:11:00 meal time at the sanatorium
00:04:07:00 a cheeky group of people in conversation, with several poking their tongue out to the camera
00:06:18:00 playing cricket with branches amongst the trees
00:07:22:00 a patient being treated with an injection and valve, presumably to relieve air from the lung, a common treatment for tuberculosis at the time
00:08:56:00 nurse in uniform of the era with a long veil