Red Matildas

Australia, 1984

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Through the lives of three women, Audrey Blake, May Pennefather and Joan Goodwin, “Red Matildas” explores the social and political conditions in Australia during the Great Depression - conditions of massive unemployment, widespread malnutrition and growing militarism at home and abroad, that provoked many people to political activity. May Pennefather served 12-18 months in the Spanish Civil War. Cinematographer: Laurie McInnes

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

co-producers/directors

Sharon Connolly

Trevor Graham

production company

Yarra Bank Films

Duration

00:50:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1984

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

016806

Language

English

Audience classification

Subject categories

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Australia - Social conditions - 20th Century

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Blake, Audrey

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Communism

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Depressions - 1929

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Goodwin, Joan

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Pennefather, May

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Politics - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Protest movements

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Women in politics

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Women political activists - Australia

History → Australia - History

History → Blake, Audrey

History → Depressions - 1929

History → Goodwin, Joan

History → History

History → Pennefather, May

History → Protest movements

People → Blake, Audrey

People → Goodwin, Joan

People → Pennefather, May

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Preservation Print (Section 5)

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

Wikidata

Q111286680

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/78247--red-matildas/ |title=Red Matildas |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=22 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}