[Brookes Family Home Movies: Reel 5]

Most of this film shows a family enjoying the Falls Creek snowfields circa 1966/1967. There are also scenes of children playing in a Mirror or possibly a Sabot sailing boat dry-docked in a suburban back yard.

There are sequences of slalom ski events, chair lift and poma lift rides, and family leisure time spent inside the ski lodge.

We see ski races with slalom pole banners with “Molony Ski Shop” signage, and “Start” and “Finish” banners and flags with “Henke Schuhe” signage. A ski instructor wearing a red Parka teaching parallel turns. The old ski jump is visible down the valley.

A group of family and friends go down the Valley of the Moon ski run. A child navigates the tricky bits, then skis along the narrow raceline to the village. We see currawongs in the trees, a village, and return on the chairlift.

The filmmaker experiments with some in-camera slow-motion techniques, and amongst the crowd of onlookers and prize givers, we see people using what could be a Standard 8 camera or a 16mm Bolex camera, as well as 35mm SLR cameras.

There are some beautiful ski scenes filmed against blue skies amongst eucalypts and beside streams. A high shot provides an excellent view of the slalom course with flags and banners. We see a lovely panorama of green hills patched with snow in the background and views of the ski feild from the Snowhaven deck.

The film shows some great scenes of a man in charge of a “Snow mobile” as he starts it up and tows four skiers behind him. They traverse the beautiful snow-covered countryside in formation, across towards Mt McKay. Looking down over Sun Valley and a very long tow queue.

In a suburban backyard seemingly far from the snow fields, the film shows two children playing in a dry-docked Fireball sailing boat. We see the young boy strapped into the boat’s flying trapeze harness as he swings from the edge of the boat. The children play with a toy ambulance and ride down the street (Cleeve Court) on their bicycles. Along the street, we see vintage cars and suburban houses.

This film has good examples of ski fashion, winter snow fashion, snow vehicles, ski techniques, recreation, and leisure activities particular to the era.

The footage of the Falls Creek landscape is a good historical reflection of the topography of Falls Creek during the 60s. There are also good examples of a suburban street scape, children’s toys and sailing boats used for recreation.

This film was originally made on 16mm.

Selected highlights list:
00: 05:22:00 High shot of finish line, flags and skiers
00:13:47:00 Skiing alongside a stream
00:14:00:00 Skiers in single file navigate a narrow path
00:16:37:00 Women and children ski downhill towards the ski village
00:20:16:00 A young boy boards the poma tow
00:20:53:00 Children playing in Fireball sailing boat
00:23:05:00 Snow Cruiser driver starts the engine
00:23:57:00 Skiers in formation behind Snow Cruiser
00:25:20:00 Skiers single file behind Snow Cruiser