Life in Australia - Perth (1966)
Produced by The Australian Commonwealth Film Unit

Made by the Department of Immigration in the mid-1960s to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this series visits state capitals and regional centres around the nation to promote an idyllic picture of life in Australia. Part travelogue, it tours points of interest around the towns, but the emphasis is on providing a visual record of “typical” daily life, from work and education to home and recreation.

Run time 18 mins
Rated G

The Coolbaroo Club (1996)
Dir. Roger Scholes

A portrait of the Coolbaroo Club, an Aboriginal-run dance club which operated in Perth from 1946 - 1960. The story is told through the memories of those involved, stills, archival images and records and by extensive dramatisation.

Restored in 2023 by, the NFSA Restores program of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia from the original film negatives. The Club was the only Aboriginal-run dance club in a city which practiced a form of apartheid, submitting its Aboriginal population to unremitting police harassment, identity cards, fraternisation bans, curfews, and bureaucratic obstruction.

During its lifetime, the Club attracted Black musicians and celebrities from all over Australia and occasionally from overseas - among them Nat 'King' Cole, Harold Blair and the Harlem Globetrotters. Although best-remembered for the hugely popular Coolbaroo dances attended by hundreds of Aborigines and their white supporters, the Coolbaroo League, founded by Club members, ran a newspaper and became an effective political organisation, speaking out on issues of the day affecting Aboriginal people.

Run time 55 mins
Rated G

Films provided by Kanopy. Total run time for both films: 1 hour, 13 mins 

Date:   Friday 2 April 2027
Time:   2pm - 3.30pm
Venue: City of Perth Library - 573 Hay Street Perth 
Cost:    Free, Bookings Essential