• 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'

R7074 The Sydney Morning Herald, 1911: Preparing the printing machine

Educational value

The clip illustrates an aspect of the production of the 'Sydney Morning Herald' newspaper in 1911, specifically the process of 'furnishing' a large printing machine with paper and stereotypes (metal printing plates). A roll of blank newsprint, approximately 1 tonne in weight, is lifted by a mechanical hoist and inserted onto a reel in the printing press. The printing cylinders are fitted with the curved stereotypes and when the paper runs through the press, the cylinder presses the stereotyped image into it.

The footage is from an industrial documentary produced for the Commonwealth Government and made when cinema was becoming a mass medium for information as well as entertainment. These documentaries, screened in Australia and overseas, were intended to show the progress Australia had made since European settlement. Intertitles, which were frequently used in silent cinema, were particularly useful in industrial documentaries, where the audience may not have been familiar with the technology or process being shown.

The 'Sydney Morning Herald' began as the 'Sydney Herald' in 1831, when it comprised four pages and had a weekly print run of 750 copies. John Fairfax bought the newspaper in 1841, beginning a dynasty that lasted almost 150 years. It was Fairfax who renamed the newspaper the 'Sydney Morning Herald'. The newspaper went into receivership in 1990 with debts totalling $1.7 billion. After changes to its ownership structure, the Fairfax group was relisted as a public company on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1992.

The 35 mm cellulose nitrate film used to shoot the film has become damaged over time. This type of film was first used as a base for photographic film by George Eastman in 1889, and was used for 35 mm motion pictures until the 1950s. Nitrate film is highly flammable and, as partially decomposed nitrate film can spontaneously ignite at temperatures as low as 49 degrees C, archival material shot on 35 mm nitrate film needs to be stored in controlled conditions and handled carefully in order to be preserved. Many films shot on cellulose nitrate have been lost or damaged.

The original Pathé logo of a crowing rooster, which features at the beginning of the clip, was used at the beginning of film reels to identify Pathé as the producer. The company was founded in France by the three Pathé brothers, and became the largest film equipment and production company in the world. It was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1897, and in 1902 acquired the Lumière brothers' patents to design its own improved film equipment and produce its own stock. The company captured a significant portion of the international market and expanded its production facilities and chain of cinemas to other cities throughout the world. It is estimated that prior to the First World War (1914-18), 60 per cent of all films were shot with Pathé equipment.

Topics

Newspapers

Printing industry

Typesetting

Rights

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