• Major projects
  • R6132 Laying pipes across the Darling Ranges, c1902
  • R8135 Across the Trans-Continental Railway, c1917: Laying the railway line
• Primary industry
  • R8006 Pacific Islander labourers clearing land, c1895
  • R8179 Chinese farm workers planting cane, Cairns, 1890s
  • R3951 Maize silo stack, Hilltop, Tilba Tilba, c1895
  • R8118 Wheat Harvesting with Reaper and Binder at Jimbour, Qld, 1899
  • M002600 Three men on horseback, droving sheep with dogs, c1910
  • R3595 Shearing by machinery, 1890-1917
• Small business
  • R9150 Living Hawthorn, 1906: Businesses and street life, Hawthorn
  • R6154 Scenes in Hamilton, c1915 - asset 2
• The clothing industry
  • R7338 For Love or Money, 1983: First women's union
• The post office
  • R2997 Telephonists at the Brisbane telephone exchange, 1910
  • R2418 Yorketown Post Office technology
• Newspaper production
  • R2078 Carting paper to the stores
  • R7073 The Sydney Morning Herald, 1911: Stereotyping at Fairfax
  • R7074 The Sydney Morning Herald, 1911: Preparing the printing machine
  • R2080 Newspaper printing press in action
  • R7075 The Sydney Morning Herald, 1911: Folding mechanism of print machine
• Working with haulage animals
  • M000437 Wagon loaded with wheat, 1880-1900
  • M000808 Bullock team moving a road roller, 1880-1900
  • R6160 Scenes in Hamilton, c1915 - asset 8
• Mining
  • R4735 Dryblowing in Coolgardie, c1894
• Logging
  • R3208 'Geeveston Saw Mills and wagon load', 1890s
• Working at home
  • R3222 Washing clothes in an iron tub, c1890s
  • R3377 'Kitchen at the old King Street bakery'

R6160 Scenes in Hamilton, c1915 - asset 8

Educational value

The circus was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Australia from the 1850s to the early 20th century, with itinerant circus troupes travelling from town to town, often by wagon but later by train, to bring the circus to a widely dispersed population - troupes presented various acts, including equestrian and other animal feats, acrobatics, clowning, flying trapeze, contortion and displays of the 'weird and wonderful'.

Elephants and other exotic animals were a popular part of the circus from about the 1850s - elephants were trained to do tricks, including kneeling, balancing alternately on two legs, using their trunks to pick up and carry their keepers around, lying down, sitting up, rising and bowing on command; one circus performer was famed for tug o' war acts with elephants.

Circus elephants were also used as working animals as well as for performance, often pulling the circus wagons from one town to the next - these wagons carried the canvas and tent poles for the big top, as well as the performers, animals and equipment; elephants also helped to erect the big top.

The opening intertitle 'CIRCUS IN DIFFICULTIES' suggests that the large wagon shown in the excerpt may be bogged, with its back wheels stuck in the mud, or that at least the muddy condition of the track is making it heavy going for the elephants and their handlers - intertitles were used in silent films in place of dialogue, to indicate to the audience what was happening or to give context to the scene recorded on film.

The horse-drawn vehicle is possibly a 'phaeton', a covered four-wheeled carriage drawn by one or more horses and able to carry two to four passengers - although motor cars first appeared in Australia around 1900, horse-drawn vehicles were still the main form of transport; the high cost of cars meant that car ownership did not become widespread until the 1920s, when assembly-line production made cars more affordable.

Four-wheeled wagons of various designs were manufactured in Australia at this time, which, in order to cope with rougher terrain and the long distances travelled, tended to be heavier and hardier than wagons made in Europe - these Australian wagons were usually pulled by bullock or horse teams.

In this period men wore suits with waistcoats, stiff round collars and ties, and sometimes overcoats, while boys wore three-piece outfits that consisted of coat, vest and tight-fitting knee pants, which were teamed with stockings and boots - both men and women wore hats outside or in public places, as a bare head was considered immodest.

This example of early film footage is typical of the period, when films were silent and in black and white - the size and weight of the camera meant that films tended to use long, static takes, although in this excerpt there are also panoramic shots, when the camera is turned on a fixed axis; early film cameras were hand-cranked and if the camera was under-cranked during shooting, the action was accelerated, making it appear unnaturally fast or jerky, as in this excerpt; short actuality films recording daily life in Australian cities were made and screened as early as 1896.

Topics

Circus

Elephants

Trade shows

Rights

© Education Services Australia Ltd and National Film and Sound Archive, 2011, except where indicated under Acknowledgements