[Orwell Michaelis Home Movies: Reel 4]

This collection of home movies, originally filmed on 8mm and 16mm film, was taken between 1938 and 1956 by Orwell Michaelis. The collection was donated to ACMI by Michaelis’s daughter, Sally Cohen, and her husband Sheldon Cohen. The films show life in Melbourne including the 1956 Olympic Games, a fishing trip to Bermagui in NSW, and holidays in Indonesia.

This film shows an amateur game fishing trip that appears to take place in Bermagui. We see images of the pier with people boarding the small boats and preparing for the fishing trip. Once they set sail, we see seals on the rocks and dolphins swimming alongside the boat. The fishing expedition is a great success. A 250lb marlin is caught and brought on board. The catch of the day is taken back to the pier and admired by impressed onlookers. It is weighed, hung from a wooden scaffold, and put on public display. The flank of the fish is tattooed with the name of the fisherman, (R. Michaels), the marlin’s weight and the date of the catch – 6 February 1938. Various locals stop by and pose with the fish to have their photos taken. In the background are vintage cars and a Shell petrol pump alongside a general store which offers hardware, motor accessories and fishing tackle.

This film shows fashion, cars, buildings and amateur fishing boats. It is a snapshot of game fishing and all that it entails in Bermagui.

Selected Highlights List (timecodes from Access Overscan)

00:01:00:00 fishing boats moored at a pier in what could be Bermagui; people board the boats in readiness for a fishing trip
00:08:00:00 people standing and walking along the pier; good details of the boats
00:25:00:00 two men organise equipment and provisions on the boat
00:48:00:00 a man is seen shooting film footage from a passing boat called Marlin
00:03:17:00 Orion passenger liner sails past the fishing boat
00:03:32:00 game fishing from boat, a marlin is hooked on the line and reeled in
00:03:43:00 fisherman reeling in the marlin
00:04:13:00 marlin is reeled in to the side of the boat and thrashes around in the water
00:04:24:00 the marlin is pulled on to the deck
00:05:33:00 the fishing boat arrives back at the pier
00:05:56:00 the marlin is winched onto the pier watched by onlookers
00:06:23:00 weighing the marlin on the pier
00:07:21:00 the marlin hangs from wooden hoist/scaffold showing handwritten sign on the flank of the marlin: 6/2/38 R. Michaelis 250lb Bermagui
00:07:44:00 a man stands and poses beside the hanging marlin
00:08:05:00 man stands beside hanging marlin in front of an old Shell petrol pump and Plume signage; General Hardware shop front advertising motor accessories and fishing tackle