[John Anderson Home Movies: Reel 6]

John Robert (Jack) Anderson (1924–1993) was a film distributor, cinema owner and photographer as well as an enthusiastic filmmaker in and around Ballarat in Victoria. Jack developed an interest in film very early at cinema shows and gained his first film experience while serving in WWII, photographing wartime conditions and aircraft involved in the defence of Australia’s north, including the aftermath of the Darwin bombing raid.

It was whilst working in photographic studios that Jack met his future wife, business partner and fellow film enthusiast Marie Bourke. Starting out by hiring films and showing them around regional Victoria, Jack and Marie established cinemas such as the Astor Cinema in Ararat, Bell Post Hill Drive-In in Geelong and the Southern and Northern Drive-Ins and Vegas 70 Cinema in Ballarat. In the 1970s, the Anderson family acquired and restored the Regent Theatre in Ballarat which would then become the first multiplex in regional Victoria.

Along the way, Jack filmed his family and friends activities and outings, horse racing, Ballarat street scenes, motorcycle scrambling and travel scenes on the road – an unusual and wonderful look at life in regional Victoria during the 1940s to the 1960s.

This film is all about the Anderson and Bourke families at home and out and about. The title cards introduce this film as being photographed by Jack but also directed by Marie Bourke (using her pre-married name). Marie has the family going about their everyday activities, sometimes surprising them with the camera and sometimes directing them to hold a pose. She films the family fishing, dining, cutting flowers and modelling their clothes. The family appear in their workday clothes as well as being dressed in their best.

This aspect of the film is a reminder of how people dressed in the 1940s to 1950s, when more expensive outfits were kept for outings such as church or shopping or special outings leaving working clothes for the day to day. It is a captivating look at the members of this extended family who obviously enjoyed each other’s company, their hometown of Ballarat and their individual pursuits and as always, there is a little comedy along the way.

This film was originally made using 9.5mm film.

Selected highlights list:
00:02:00:00 three title cards ‘Pathescope/ Safety film’, ‘Directed by M. T. Bourke’ and ‘Photographed by J.R. Anderson’
00:00:13:00 a young woman in the garden, holding flowers and looking at a book
00:00:38:00 street scenes filmed from a moving car
00:00:52:00 a couple in a backyard under the washing line, somewhat surprised by the camera
00:01:31:00 a cockatoo in a cage in a backyard
00:01:46:00 one of the women in the family wrestling with a clothes line, then fleeing from the camera
00:01:48:00 a bicycle and a motorcycle on a house verandah
00:01:58:00 one of the family men strikes a pose on a motorcycle
00:02:17:00 the woman who ran from the camera earlier now dressed for outing and filmed strolling along the street and in a close-up
00:02:30:00 a family group pose for the camera
00:02:45:00 two infants on a blanket with their toys
00:03:31:00 preparing lines for fishing
00:03:40:00 showing off the fish that have been caught with a little comedy
00:04:06:00 a river and fast flowing waterfalls
00:05:01:00 two men sitting on the grass waiting for the fish to bite
00:05:20:00 a little girl in a rocking duck
00:05:45:00 a woman chatting over a backyard fence
00:05:45:00 a little girl rides a tricycle (trike) and then plays with her dog
00:06:07:00 members of the family play around in front of the camera
00:06:13:00 a rider in uniform (possibly for the post) on motorcycle
00:06:17:00 two of the family members we have seen earlier hug for the camera
00:06:26:00 an older woman and a younger woman (possibly mother and daughter in the extended family) hold poses in their front verandah
00:07:08:00 a couple of men chat over the fence and are shy in front of the camera
00:07:19:00 beautiful 1940s style car
00:07:50:00 a lovely tree, the sky overhead, houses and flowers
00:07:50:00 three older women of the family chat on a front verandah
00:08:20:00 sisters or cousins pose in winter coats and matching shoes
00:09:15:00 scene of two generations in the family where the older couple are squabbling until a younger man behind them knocks their heads together. They seem slightly dazed
00:09:46:00 a young boy plays with a tennis ball and racquet then smiles in a close-up
00:10:10:00 the young woman whom we know from earlier, holding a baby who is crying, rather than smiling, for the camera
00:10:37:00 a family come out of their house including two little girls who have close-up scenes on a seat in the garden
00:11:24:00 two older men in the family (film is out of focus from here)
00:11:34:00 a couple pose for the camera, very close-up, joking, kissing, rubbing noses
00:12:10:00 a man tunes a radiogram
00:12:15:00 several family members eating at a dinner table; interesting to note a much smaller table than current dinner tables and smaller plates
00:13:14:00 a family group scene on a verandah
00:13:23:00 a man reading a newspaper in close-up
00:14:03:00 older woman we have met earlier who was so shy of the camera, now strikes a pose with a bunch of gladioli flowers from her garden