"A ghastly, vulgar film" - George Hannan, Liberal Senator for Victoria 1970-74. Reviled by the critics! Adored by fair-dinkum Aussies!In this fan-bloody-tastic classic, Australia's favourite wild colonial boy, Barry McKenzie, journeys to the old country accompanied by his Aunt Edna Everage to take a Captain Cook and further his cultural and intellectual education. Faster than a rat up a drainpipe, Bazza heads for Earls Court to catch up with a...

Born in Shanghai of Russian parentage, Sages came to Australia in 1948. A painter of extraordinary vitality and originality, her work is characterized by complex technique and a profound depth of feeling. After working professionally for thirty years as an illustrator, she devoted herself fully to painting in 1983 after a life-changing journey to the Kimberley in Australia's northwest. "It was an epiphany. There are no two ways around it. It is was...

Agnes Abbott was born at Loves Creek Station in the 1930s. She lived in the bush with her Eastern Arrernte family, travelling across the parts of her homeland which are still accessible to the old people. From her early years born and raised in the bush, learning the survival tools and the ways of their culture, Agnes' life underwent many and expansive changes. More of her homelands became inaccessible to families for hunting, and finding new ways...

Based on the principle that the more one knows about a work of art the better one can appreciate it, this series makes a detailed examination of many of Australia's most outstanding paintings. Besides scrutinising one key work in close detail, each film reveals, wherever possible, the artist's drawings and studies for that work, and shows other related works. Many little known paintings from private collections have been included. Living artists have...

Storymakers features internationally known Australian writers and illustrators of children's books. The series is designed to develop children's awareness of how books are conceived and created, and to encourage a love of books and reading. Each film in the series highlights different aspects of the process of creating a book. A Film Australia National Interest Program. 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Executive Producer: Janet Bell....

Told over 5 episoides, this is the story of the people who lived for thousands of years in Australia's deserts. They comprise vast seas of sand and spinifex encompassing an area of Central Australia large enough to contain the British Isles twice over. In these areas known as the Gibson, the Great Sandy Desert and the Great Victoria Desert people lived for more than 40,000 years, and adapted to survive in one of the harshest environments known to...

'Savannah country' tells the story of a collaborative exhibition between North Queensland artists Julie Poulsen and Jenny Valmadre. On the road from Cairns and Cooktown lies savannah grasslands and the Desailly Range, the country which was the starting point for these artists. This documentary gives rare insights into the artistic processes as the filmmaker shadows the artists as they move from early conception to completion of a significant body...

Jeffrey Smart is one of Australia's best known painters with his stark portrayals of the contemporary world. His paintings feature recurring motifs of highways, construction sites and apartment blocks. "Jeffrey Smart: master of stillness" sheds light on his formative years as an artist in Adelaide, revealing the influences that have formed and driven his work for more than seventy years. Filmed partly on location in Smart's home in Tuscany, with observations...

Images of the outback and indigenous culture have been used to sell Australia for decades, yet few Australians have had significant contact with either. In this episode, two sets of tourists seek an authentic Aboriginal cultural experience: one a busload of 38 Americans on a whirlwind package tour; the other, a small group of mainly Australians heading for a remote desert community where they will take part in five days of traditional song and dance...

Enter the fun and mayhem of the Puckeridge family - mum, dad and five very active children aged two to ten.. Life in this household is a constant juggling act, as Sally and Dave negotiate with their kids over food, haircuts, baths and bed, and with each other over school and religion. These are familiar scenes of bills, endless washing, weekend sports, the frenetic noise of games, the strange quiet of sleep.. Dave leaves for work at six in the morning,...