Dad and Dave Come to Town

John Ainsworth helps win a rowing race for Sydney University against Melbourne University. While celebrating at a nightclub, he demonstrates his skill with the violin with one of his original compositions. He also flirts with a young woman, Ann Brady, to the displeasure of a crook, Webster. A brawl results and John is expelled from university. John's sheep farmer father – who is disdainful of culture and wants John to marry a rich girl – is furious and disowns his son.

Filmed at Liverpool Military Camp (Sydney) in 1941 and using national servicemen to lend authenticity, this film was one of many sponsored by the federal government during World War II to boost armed forces recruitment. The film also features recognisable actors of the day including Grant Taylor, Shirley Ann Richards and John Fleeting, who had appeared for director Ken G Hall in feataure films made by the Sydney-based Cinesound Productions.

An Australia propaganda war film documenting the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Nominated for the Academy Award.

Joan (Helen Twelvetrees) is a Canadian, adopted by Ma Dawson (Nellie Ferguson), a struggling horse breeder and trainer. Joan thinks "legs don't make a race horse, it's blood", and so she buys an unwanted thoroughbred colt called Stormalong. Helped by Ma's son Tommy Dawson (Frank Leighton), Joan restores the horse to health and fitness, and soon enough the horse is winning race after race, becoming a favourite for the Melbourne Cup.

A story of rival sheep stations and of the strong-willed squatter’s daughter who wants to unite them.

A down-and-out clerk happens upon a bag of money. Unknown to him, the money is all counterfeit, forcing the innocent man to become involved with gangsters, as well as federal agents.

A young forestry graduate, Jim Thornton, is involved in a race between timber companies to fill a major contract. Jim has joined the crew of a genial timber baron, Burbridge, and foils attempts by a rival, Blake, to sabotage their work. J. Alan Kenyon's special effects are the highlights of the film with comic relief provided by Joe Valli as a Scottish timber-train driver amorously pursued by a shrill-voiced maid of the Burbridge's country house.

This Damien Parer/Ken Hall newsreel was shot at a time remembered as the dark days to Australia's north, with the Japanese still strong and threatening Port Moresby with air raids. The air battle for Port Moresby was a critical time for Australia. From this larger battle the newsreel selects a number of incidents for the visual record, as it looks at the damage to buildings in Port Moresby, the crash landing of an American bomber which had lost its undercarriage, and the sinking of the merchant vessel, the Macdhui, in Port Moresby harbour.

The film looks at the men, their living conditions, the food they eat and their bamboo shower. It shows the men building a radio out of spare parts to re-establish contact with the mainland (contact had been lost after the Japanese victory), the use of florins to pay native helpers, and a raid on a hostile native village which sees huts set on fire.

Daubeney Carshott, a concert pianist, leaves London to dive for pearls on Thursday Island in the South Seas at the whim of Stella Raff, his fiancée. Once there, he discovers that the life he leads as a pearl diver is better in every way than his former existence as a social-lion pianist. He meets and falls in love with Lorna Quidley, after learning this Stella had send other suitors off in quest of a giant pearl for her.

George is a disaster-prone zoo attendant who accidentally discovers a substance that accelerates motion, enabling his greyhound to run faster. This attracts the interest of a gang of criminals, who kidnap George's dog and plan to substitute their own in an important dog race. George and his friends defeat the crooks and their dog wins the race.

An Australian biopic about the life of pioneering aviator Charles "Smithy" Kingsford-Smith. The film is unusually frank about the controversies that occasionally dogged him. PG Taylor and Billy Hughes both make appearances playing themselves.

In a small coastal town, young clergyman Cyril Maitland is involved in a tragedy that could ruin his rising career. After secretly impregnating his lover, Alma Lee, a violent struggle ensues with her enraged father, leaving the older man dead. Maitland denies responsibility and allows his close friend, Dr. Henry Everard, to be found guilty on false evidence and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Two decades later, as Maitland rises to prominence in the church, a bitter Everard is finally released, forcing the church leader to confront his decades of silence and guilt as his old friend seeks ultimate revenge.

Dad Rudd wants the size of a local dam increased for the benefit of local farmers but faces opposition from a wealthy grazier, Henry Webster. When the local Member of Parliament dies, Webster runs for his seat, and Rudd decides to oppose him.

‘Mo’ McIsaac and his sidekick Donald try to find work to support a young orphan girl he finds dancing for pennies in the street, Miriam, unaware she is really the missing daughter of rich aristocrat, Major Burnett. Gangster Al Baloney and Mae West impersonator Kate kidnap the girl and Mo is blamed for her disappearance.

This iconic and Academy Award-winning newsreel shot by Damien Parer contains some of the most recognised images of Australian troops in the Second World War.