Commonwealth Film Unit

Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia. Its mission was to create an audio-visual record of Australian culture, through the commissioning, distribution and management of programs that deal with matters of national interest or illustrate and interpret aspects of Australian life.

The agency consolidated operations into Screen Australia in 2008. Administration of the Film Australia Collection was transferred from Screen Australia to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia on 1 July 2011.

In 1945, the Australian National Film Board was established to produce documentary films. In 1956, the Board was renamed the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit. Stanley Hawes was the Producer-in-Chief from 1946 to 1969. In 1973, the Unit became Film Australia. That year it gained its first female producer, Suzanne Baker, who in 1977 became the first Australian woman to win an Academy Award, for Best Animated Short Film, for Leisure, animated by Bruce Petty.

Some of Michael Thornhill's first films were short documentaries made for the Commonwealth Film Unit, including The Esperance story (1968) and Cheryl and Kevin (1974). One of Film Australia's most successful films is A Steam Train Passes. It has won many awards and is generally regarded as Australia's finest railway film.

Film Australia also created one of Australia's most successful children's television programs, Johnson and Friends, which ran for four series. The program sold to over 50 territories and ran from 1990 until 1995. This venture also lead to the creation of further children's programs, including The Girl from Tomorrow / Tomorrow's End, Boffins, Escape from Jupiter / Return to Jupiter and Spellbinder / Land of the Dragon Lord.

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