The Museum holds a number of films and videos that document events, activities, performances and places. Some of these films are presented on the Living Museum youtube channel. We are currently preparing more films from the archives to upload for public viewing.
‘Go West Young Woman’ – full-length video (1986)
The Living Museum carried out an extensive oral history program interviewing a number of people, mostly women, who worked in the munitions industry in Melbourne’s western suburbs in the 1980s. There was a social shift in Australia after the Second World War because so many women joined the workforce to produce ammunition and took roles in management for the first time. A group of young women from the VCA studied the Museum’s research material and made contact with some of the women interviewed to produce a play that told something of the story of women working in munitions. This is a video of this play.
The original film is the opening night of the play, Go West Young Women, directed by Rachel Fenham and written by a group of three young actors, Kate Kantor, Michelle Howard and Lee Kennedy, about women working in the munitions factories in Footscray during the war. The cast interviewed women who worked at the factories, and those interviews informed the script and their performances. The play is a musical, with songs written specifically to accompany the script with live piano accompaniment.
Go West Young Women (14 min short version)
This 14 min version features a few scenes from the play and an interview with the cast and director after the opening night performance.
‘With a Song in my Kazoo’ – full length video (1985)
In another time in another world more people took a more proactive role in participating in large local intrumental bands. We are all familiar with the larger brass bands and garage bands but in the past there was considerable diversity in local bands. This video was produced in 1985 in the western suburbs, showing some unusual bands and interviewing some local people who explain something of their passion for being in a band.
‘With a Song in my Kazoo’ (14 min short version)
This 14 min version features a few scenes from the video including the Western Region Concert Band’s performance on New Faces.
‘Under the Peppercorns’ – The Video
The Newmarket Saleyards operated in Kensington for 126 years selling sheep and cattle and other livestock to meat processors and breeders in Australia. Stock trails from all over the country led to this busy marketplace which was at one stage the largest in the world in terms of turnover of stock. This video attempts to give some insights into the inside story of this crucial segment of Australia’s history.