Constructing Australia
Triumphs and tragedies in building a nation

The Constructing Australia series website is now online at at http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/learning/constructingaustralia/

Companion book to the series by Richard Evans and Alex West available at ABC stores.

Download Teachers Notes here: The Bridge, Pipe Dreams and A Wire Through the Heart.

Episode 1

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, this is the definitive story of how a giant steel arch resembling a coat hanger became one of world's most recognised structures and an engineering triumph.

Massive, majestic and breathtaking, the bridge was the greatest engineering challenge of its day anywhere on earth. Nothing like it had ever been attempted in Australia. It not only altered the life of a city forever, it became a symbol of a bold young nation and a changing world.

And it was certainly visionary. At a time when there were only 30,000 cars and trucks in the entire city, the Bridge could carry 6000 vehicles and 160 trains every hour and all of Sydney's people could have easily crossed it in a single afternoon. With its graceful arch rising high above the famous harbour, it remained the tallest structure in the city until the late 1960s.

The tale of its construction combines immense practical problems and intense human drama; personal conflicts and political intrigues.

Completed during the dark days of the Great Depression and opened in March 1932, it is the legacy of a fateful partnership between two very different men—a brilliant engineer, JJC Bradfield and a maverick politician, Jack Lang—who shared a relentless ambition to create "the people's bridge". Along the way, they managed to stir up more than one hornets' nest, both at home and in Britain.

Today, it is impossible to imagine Sydney, and Australia, without it, but as the film reveals, the bridge the world has come to love may not only have been utterly different, but may never have been built at all.

Developed with the assistance of the New South Wales Film and Television Office. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A Film Australia Making History Production in association with Real Pictures.

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Photographers: Ross Coffey, Peter Coleman, courtesy of the State Records, courtesy of the Collection of the National Library & Cazneaux Family.

This is a story of personal tragedy, political rivalries, corruption and trial by media that nearly tore apart Australia at the moment of its birth.

In the late 1800s, two men shared a vision for opening up Western Australia by pumping a river of water through pipes across the desert. Isolated goldfields were ripe with precious metal, but the people were dying of thirst.

The state's first Premier and leading explorer, Sir John Forrest, had a vision to take water to the goldfields. In Charles Yelverton O'Connor, he found the man he needed to turn his dreams into reality.

At the time, the biggest and most ambitious engineering project of its kind in the world would save thousands from disease and drought, unlock untold riches in gold, and allow the ‘Cinderella’ state of Western Australia to take her rightful place in Australia's Commonwealth.

But the five long years of the pipeline’s construction would be dogged with controversy, destroy reputations and push an individual to breaking point.

As Australia voted for Federation, becoming the new Australian Commonwealth, the dream of water in the goldfields finally became a reality, but it was at a huge personal cost.

Produced with the assistance of ScreenWest and Lottery West. Developed and produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A Film Australia Making History Production in association with Prospero Productions.

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Photographers: David Dare Parker, Brydie Lee Sheen.

The story of the struggle to cross a vast continent and build the telegraph line that would bring Australia to the world and the world to Australia.

Australia in the mid 1800s was a land isolated by distance and divided between two very different cultures. John McDouall Stuart, a migrant from Scotland, was determined to cross the centre of Australia and reach the north coast. His success would pave the way for a communications revolution.

Charles Todd had dreamed of constructing a telegraph line through the heart of the continent and in Stuart he found the man who could prove the inhospitable centre could be crossed. The telegraph’s construction heralded the start of a new communications era every bit as revolutionary as the internet. News from overseas arrived in hours rather than months, securing Adelaide's position as the centre for early colonial communications.

It made Todd a hero, but Stuart, the man who made it possible, was destroyed by the hardships he had endured and died in obscurity.

Developed with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A Film Australia Making History Production in association with Piper Films and the South Australian Film Corporation.

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Photographers: Corey Piper, Simon Stanbury.

Companion book to the series by Richard Evans and Alex West available at ABC stores.

The DVD of the series will be released on the ABC label for home users and will be available at ABC Shops & Centres, department stores and other selected retailers in June 2007. For all educational sales contact Film Australia.

More about Constructing Australia or http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/learning/constructingaustralia/

See Film Australia's other showcases

The Bridge

Executive Producer

Alex West

Producers

Simon Nasht, Renee Kennedy

Director

Simon Nasht

Writer

Simon Nasht

Narrated by

Wendy Hughes

For Teachers

Level: Upper Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Lifelong Learning

Curriculum links include Australian History, Studies of Society and the Environment, Australian Studies, Civics and Citizenship, Technology & Applied Design, Town Planning, Politics, English and Media.

Download Teachers Notes here .

What the Critics Have Said

"A fascinating tale that should be required viewing for every Australian."

Chris Hook, Daily Telegraph, 14 March 2007

"This marvellous documentary, part high-quality reconstruction, will surprise as it tells of a nation brought to the brink of para-military insurrection with the bloody street confrontations of the pro-fascist New Guard... A terrific story, wonderfully told."

Michael Idato, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 2007

Pipe Dreams

Executive Producer

Alex West

Producers

Julia Redwood, Ed Punchard

Director

Franco Di Chiera

Writers

Franco Di Chiera, John McCourt

Narrated by

Wendy Hughes

For Teachers

Level: Secondary, Tertiary, Lifelong Learning

Curriculum links include Australian History, Studies of Society and Environment (WA: Culture, Active Citizenship, Place & Space, Resources, ICP, TCC), Australian Studies, Civics and Citizenship, Technology & Applied Design, Town Planning, Politics, English and Media.

Download Teachers Notes here .

A Wire Through the Heart

Executive Producer

Alex West, Mark Hamlyn

Producers

Mike Piper, Simon Nasht, Corey Piper

Director

Darcy Yuille

Narrated by

Wendy Hughes

For Teachers

Level: Secondary, Tertiary, Lifelong Learning

Curriculum links include Australian History, Studies of Society and the Environment, Australian Studies, Civics and Citizenship, Technology & Applied Design, Town Planning, Politics, English and Media.

Download Teachers Notes here .