The Wide West

From The National Collection of the NFSA. Made for The Postmaster-General's Department 1955. Directed by Jennie Blackwood. A film surveying the lifestyle and industries of Western Australia and the role of the Royal Australian Mail Service throughout the state.

[@gregsearle7074]

I am a fourth-Generation timber worker and local man from Pemberton. I run a great history site and have added this to the page. I hope to have old locals try identifying those pictured. Thank you for the film.

[@394824]

Dairy farmers in Capel, Harvey etc were very successful and the superphosphate factory in Picton had a huge yellow heap of sulphur you could see from the road. The wharf was long at Bunbury and steam trains went along part of it. We all learned to swim in the harbour nearby. No children wore shoes to primary school then. If it was too hot to sleep at home we’d get fish and chips and sleep on the surf beach until it cooled down later in the night. It took several days to drive across the Nullarbor, sleeping in or next to the car as the potholes and bull dust limited us to about 30 km per hour and there was no motel between Norseman and Eucla (I think). The alternative was to put the car on the train at Kalgoorlie and drive again from Port Pirie. We caught the Australind from Bunbury and sailed in the Oronsay, which was that light coloured ship in Fremantle, to Liverpool in 1958. Went to school on the three week trip, saw beggars in the street for the first time in Ceylon, real Arabs in Aden, soldiers with real guns along the Suez Canal, and the old ports and castles in Naples, Marseilles and Gibraltar.

[@julesmarwell8023]

any Aussie watching this, feels Bloody proud.

[@danrobinson572]

Now these blokes earned a paycheck.

[@johnd8892]

Thanks for this. Interesting how the buses in Perth transported baby prams on the outside of the bus as at 3:28 and earlier at 1:48. Hopefully after the baby had been removed from the pram.

[@annpeerkat2020]

Na, they left them in the prams....those babies grew up to ride motorbikes.

[@darylcheshire1618]

In the US some buses had a frame on the front where bicycles could be mounted.

[@ACDZ123]

Buses in Perth had hooks for prams up until the late 80s early 90s

[@stephenvelden295]

I remember those. The bus driver would even get out and put them on and take them off for the ladies. Imagine that! People actually helping each other!

[@johnd8892]

This clip illustrates the pram hooks on the back of the bus. Did they also later get put on the front of the bus and used in preference? I seem to remember photos of that. Any compensation for damaged prams in collisions?

[@danrobinson572]

I like how the different parts of the country and the work people do.

[@simonf8902]

Great film. Beautiful colour.

[@rmw250]

That was great. Thank you

[@NFSAFilms]

You're welcome!

[@svenomick5857]

Hard People there will never be a time like that again, love the old films thanks.

[@phil6506]

not on this planet, but who knows what wonders the stars hold for us.

[@danrobinson572]

Awesome video

[@josefbuckland]

Simply marvellous.

[@rods6405]

Good Film Thanks!

[@poeterritory]

Love how the health issues were glossed over for asbestos, even though they were known well before 1955.

[@davidau8455]

Probably not known by the filmmakers.

[@HGCUPCAKES]

The Government still reacts this way with Agent Orange and how it affects Vietnam vets, their wives, kids, grandkids etc.

[@amandajane8227]

How thin and fit all those working men were.

[@hamlltonhope8123]

Now settle down Amanda, it was terrifically hard work.

[@royphillips4751]

Great Video. Unfortunately I can remember flying in one of those MMA Anson aircraft as a young passenger. They were good days---I think.

[@bungarraoz254]

Me too, 1959 Cue to Perth Douglas DC3 mail packet.

[@BrassLock]

One of the last Avro Ansons to fly regular services in WA was (Jimmy) *_Wood's Airways_* to Rottnest Island. I was delighted to sit next to Jim and wear a pair of headphones on my trip to "Rotto", not realising that the cost of that seat entailed cranking the undercarriage up and down to enable safe take off and landing 😮

[@stevephillips8719]

Those Mullock heaps of "gold exhausted muck" were put back through the modern extraction plants by WMC and tons of gold recovered.

[@CT-vm4gf]

The good old days, working with asbestos, cyanide, chopping down the old Karri, wood heating, leaded fuel haha

[@Splits-man]

If only they knew then what we know now about asbestos!

[@bungarraoz254]

@@Tolpuddle581 Also, moved their HQ to Europe before the lawsuits started getting too heavy. That was what "Blue Sky Mine" was about, by Midnight Oil.

[@danrobinson572]

They used that method over here in America 🇺🇸 as well to clear the land

[@eshayba]

15:16 is the best part

[@ACDZ123]

Crazy to think Perth only had 350 thousand people in 55 and now its nearly 2.3 million

[@bobeden5027]

An era of innocence, long since past, hey?

[@erickvonengelwalten8568]

A Magical Era!

[@danrobinson572]

Wow I never knew the used a lead ball like that to clear the land. Very interesting 🤨

[@robertfoster7807]

some things are worse now somethings are better give me those days any day

[@simonf8902]

And whaling. 😮

[@Danger_mouse]

Ah, blue asbestos... Now there's a great resource worth recovering. I'll bet none of the people in the video lived out a long life 😔

[@trevorzzealley2670]

Where men grew muscles before brains . I know , I was one of them .

[@SANDYFRECKLE]

No you wernt

[@carmelbrain7399]

poor forests

[@MikeyMacPerth]

kills me !

[@damienluxford7482]

Rattle and grin, Few skulls more thin With a grinning skull You're sure to win

[@bertskidmore5506]

I bet none of those gold miners that worked underground lived to be old, cyanide isn't something that promotes healthy living environment!

[@johnstaring3210]

Nothing flash or healthy with the way they were handling that asbestos either. Many, if not most of them, would have died from asbestosis., including the members of their family who joined them in Wittenoom.

[@BrassLock]

​@@johnstaring3210In a few years you'll be seeing "historic" films of fit young men working in the *_Kitchen Top Industry_* grinding and cutting silica-based manufactured stone tops for modern houses and restaurants. Hundreds will die of a similar lung disease _silicosis_ in a few years time

[@mrboogang]

If anyone has a proven method of time travel, I'm willing to sell my soul to go back. I'll even settle for the early 80's. I promise I won't talk of the future, or invest in Apple or Google stocks. They HAVE to have this technology at Pine Gap. How else do you explain the Mandela Effect! PLEASE! Anyone??

[@robertfoster7807]

to much land was cleared only 50 %of a given area only should have been cleared and all uncleared land connected

[@HandyAndyTechTips]

"These geological formations mean much to a civilised community"... proceeds to talk about blue asbestos mining without any safety precautions. Yes, very civilised indeed 🤣

[@bungarraoz254]

Apparently, "They" had long known about the dangers of asbestos, before even Wittenoom.