Notable Australian Films

Originally 70 minutes in running time, only 17 minutes of the world's first full-length narrative feature film survived in stills and other fragments and tell the story of Ned Kelly, an infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw.

Harry Earl is in love with the station owner's daughter. The manager makes advances on her, but Earl beats him up. The overseer urges some Aborigines to kill Earl but one of them, alerts the station men by writing a message on a spear.

A down-at-heal ex-convict undergoes an epiphany as he experiences the love of a good woman for the first time.

A convict, wrongfully accused and sent a harsh prison colony, attempts to escape.

A former member of the crew of the HMS Bounty recounts the story of the mutiny aboard ship.

Three young Australians join the army at the beginning of World War I and are assigned to the Australian Light Horse cavalry, which is serving in Palestine. The three eventually take part in the attack during the Battle of Beersheba, which was the last cavalry charge in modern warfare.

Cameraman Damien Parer has just returned from the front in New Guinea, where he's documented Australian troops in action. He explains this to us in a prolog. We then see air drops of supplies, wounded men being carried on stretchers by native porters, and men leaving camp to go to the front. There's a tiny bit of possibly staged combat footage. A narrator explains that the Japanese soldiers are expert at disguise, and how important support from the home front is.

Set against the harsh natural surrounds of outback Northern Territory, Jedda captures a rare and honest glimpse into the heart and history of indigenous Australia. Young Jedda is caught between two cultures forbidden from learning about her indigenous heritage and never fully accepted by the other.

'I, the Aboriginal' is an Australian television film based around the autobiography of the same name and the life of Alawa Aboriginal man Phillip Waipuldanya Roberts. The film covers his traditional upbringing and his training as a skilled medical assistant for the Department of Health at Darwin Hospital. The film was the 1964 winner of the AFI Best film.

A killer on the run is found lying flat on his face in a wet clay bank. He is rescued by potters who shelter him within their community. There he falls in love with a woman. Unfortunately, another man who has been calling upon the woman gets jealous and turns the fugitive in to the cops. The woman gets revenge.

An Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia but finds no work. The only employment he can find is as a builder's labourer. At first, he cannot comprehend the culture, but eventually he finds mateship and romance.

Jack, a working class biker, meets Gillian, a middle-class kindergarten teacher from the other side of the Maribyrnong Creek, and they start to go out together, despite their different interests.

Head Ranger Matt Hammond (Ed Devereaux) and Flight Ranger Jerry King (Tony Bonner) dealing with two suspicious divers seeking permits to fish off the coasts of Waratah National Park. Their real motives, however, are more nefarious.

Three stories, each presenting a young Australian at a moment of decision about their future.

Guests arrive at an expensive private guest house on a remote island near Sydney. The guest house and weird activities, like theatre sports and orienteering, are run by a leery eccentric. One of the guests is a loner and the only way to fit in with the crowd is to participate in the questionable events. Some of the games border between comedy and horror - like the murder mystery.

Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.

A gangly, awkward, would-be revolutionary loses his virginity to the vivacious hippie girlfriend of his two flatmates, and becomes hell-bent on sabotaging her wedding to one of them.

After a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.

Marco Polo Jr., the descendant of the legendary explorer, goes on a daring journey in search of his own destiny.

Explores adultery and jealous fantasies, the end of innocence, the moral and spiritual conflicts of a priest and a nun in love. The stories define the exploration of women and the cultural upheaval of the early 70s.