'Moomba' 1974 - 'Float parade' thru' the city

The Pallaris Collection contains 16mm colour footage of the Moomba parades in Melbourne from the 1950s to 1970s. Most films were shot by aspiring filmmaker John Christofi Pallaris, while some are credited to Reg Robinson.

Moomba Festival held its inaugural event through the streets and parks of Melbourne on 12 March 1955. The festival was designed as a public cultural event for the city, incorporating a street parade, a carnival and an outdoor art show, among other festivities. Throughout the 1950s to 1970s the grand parade down Swanston Street was at its peak, attracting crowds of hundreds of thousands of people and featuring a stream of decorated floats on flat-bed trucks advertising businesses and community groups, accompanied by marching bands, celebrities, clowns, and performers on stilts. The crowning of Monarch royals who lead the parade has been a tradition since 1955.

This 16mm film shows footage of the 1974 Moomba parade through Melbourne, filmed at the corner of Victoria and Swanston Streets, opposite the City Baths. The parade begins with a marching band, followed by Disney cartoon characters Captain Hook and Mr Smee from Peter Pan, and Goofy. The 1974 Queen of Moomba Marianne Perrott appears on a decorative blue float, seated in a throne behind the distinctive white swan.

The camera then follows the rest of the parade, featuring entertainers, celebrities and characters such as Humphrey B. Bear, Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich, and a particularly impressive display of decorated floats and performances. Some of the notable appearances include Waltons department store, a group of Michelin men, the new Holden Torana with a sign reading “just in time for Moomba”, ATV0 ‘Australia’s Action Station’, Bendigo Pottery featuring a potter making ceramics on a wheel, Jewel Box, the Royal Children’s Hospital Pied Pipers, a Ukrainian Easter float, a Chinese dragon dance, Whittlesea District Mini Bike Club, and the Hungarian Square Dancing Association.