Australian history

A film by cartoonist Bruce Petty using graphics and animation to present a satirical view of Australian history from early settlement to the present.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Bruce Petty

production company

Petty Film Productions

Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative

Duration

00:19:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1971

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

012370

Language

English

Subject categories

Animation

Animation → Animated films - Australia

History → Australia - History

History → History

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Preservation Print (Section 5)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/75114--australian-history/ |title=Australian history |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=6 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1971

Please note