{"id":437335,"date":"2026-01-25T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437335\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:17:11","slug":"national-film-and-sound-archives-restoration-of-mount-gambier-edition-of-life-in-australia-film-given-new-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437335\/","title":{"rendered":"National Film and Sound Archive’s restoration of Mount Gambier edition of Life in Australia film given new life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darryl Bruhn remembers he was about 10 years old when his dad Brice was filmed by an out-of-town crew while working at a limestone quarry near Mount Gambier, in SA’s south east.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“For him it was just a normal day and the fact there was a film crew there \u2026 he would have been concentrating on his job,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Little did he know the film would be distributed around the world and seen by people who would end up moving to Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Darryl Bruhn has travelled the world but still feels a strong connection to Mount Gambier where he grew up. (Supplied: Darryl Bruhn)<\/p>\n

The film crew was part of the Commonwealth Film Unit (now Film Australia), and was visiting the town to create a Mount Gambier edition of the Life in Australia film series.<\/p>\n

The films \u2014 commissioned by the Department of Immigration in the 1960s \u2014 screened at embassies and High Commissions, particularly in the United Kingdom, to encourage migration to Australia.<\/p>\n

Mount Gambier was one of 12 locations around Australia highlighted in the series, including major capital cities and other regional towns.<\/p>\n

A glimpse into regional life<\/p>\n

Released in 1964, the Mount Gambier film<\/a> follows a local family through the rhythms of work and leisure in the region.<\/p>\n

It showcases local industries like forestry and cheesemaking, and highlights important locations including the hospital, Commercial Street and Brownes Lake.<\/p>\n

Mr Bruhn does not remember much about the film from when he was a child, but parts of it were immortalised in the region.<\/p>\n

“They had a whole lot of photographs that were taken at that time as part of that series and there was a photograph of [my dad] cutting limestone on a billboard on the entrance to Mount Gambier,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think I did see the footage at some time later on, and then it was only probably 12-18 months ago when it popped up on Facebook.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Mount Gambier Life in Australia film captured many places in the region 60 years ago, including the Valley Lakes precinct. (Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive)<\/p>\n

Mr Bruhn moved to Adelaide about 20 years ago, but still visits family in the region about once a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“When I [drive] in, I’ll come in from Millicent and I’ll look up on the hill and see the lake and the tower … that’s always when something happens in my stomach,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When you enter the pine forest areas, that’s what tells you that you’re home in Mount Gambier.<\/p>\n

“I guess there is some nostalgia about things that [people] remember and things that you’ve forgotten until you see something that triggers your memory.”Selling regional Australia to migrants<\/p>\n

Towns featured in the Life in Australia films were chosen because they were considered attractive for migrants.<\/p>\n

Professor Kate Darian-Smith from the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne said they were intentional marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

“The one on Mount Gambier, for instance, really highlights that this is a regional place where there is industrial growth,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’re not documentaries in the sense that they’re not including those who are excluded; there is really no reference or mention of First Nations people \u2026 [and] no real addressing [of] any social or class divisions.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Life in Australia films showcased an idealistic view of what it was like to live in Australia. (Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive)<\/p>\n

Post-World War II migration in the 1950s and 60s was lower than expected, and the Australian government wanted to boost numbers.<\/p>\n

“Those coming from Britain were always seen as the most desired cohort and the group of people that Australia really wanted to attract,” Professor Darian-Smith said.<\/p>\n

“The key message is there are jobs there for migrants \u2014 both skilled and unskilled \u2014 and that the economy itself is modernising.”<\/p>\n

Professor Darian-Smith said the series was effective, but many did not stay longer than a few years.<\/p>\n

“A lot of British migrants who were lured by films like this \u2026 found when they came, the reality was somewhat different,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Up to about 25 per cent of all migrants coming in the ’50s and ’60s returned back to Britain or other countries of origin because the hype didn’t quite live up to their own experience.”<\/p>\n

Restored for modern viewing<\/p>\n

The Life in Australia films have now been re-released on YouTube in 4K by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The old hospital in Mount Gambier was a major employer for residents in the 1960s. (Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive)<\/p>\n

Senior manager of the enterprises team with the archive, Bronwyn Dowdall, said digitising the archived film was not typical.<\/p>\n

“The process is known as scanning and grading \u2014 not a restoration as such,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’re really interesting time capsules; definitely a portrayal of an idealised Australia \u2014 the Australia that the government at the time wanted the world to see.”<\/p>\n

The videos have been popular for those interested in looking back to the 1960s as well as the locals who featured in the films.<\/p>\n

“We’re really hoping that people are able to engage with the material to look back and reflect on what their town was like at that time,” Ms Dowdall said.<\/p>\n

“It’s always fun to see places that you’re very familiar with \u2026 decades ago.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The National Film and Sound Archive’s project allows people to see what the famous Blue Lake looked like 60 years ago. (Supplied: National Film and Sound Archive)<\/p>\n

While the Life in Australia series has not been recreated since, its legacy lives on in the form of a booklet distributed by the Department of Home Affairs to new migrants.<\/p>\n

Ms Dowdall said she would like to see what a modern version of the films would look like.<\/p>\n

“The Commonwealth Film Unit doesn’t exist anymore, so it would be interesting if anybody had that as a project,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There could be production companies that are interested \u2026 but productions like that can be really expensive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darryl Bruhn remembers he was about 10 years old when his dad Brice was filmed by an out-of-town…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[227999,227998,64,63,134,68713,227996,127646,344,227997],"class_list":["post-437335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-1960s-documentries","tag-archival-film","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-immigration-policy","tag-life-in-australia","tag-migration-policy","tag-movies","tag-national-film-and-sound-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}