This short film, originally shot on 9.5mm film, shows a group of film competing in a wheelbarrow race (one person holding another’s ankles while they walk with their hands); running; collecting water in a pail; playing with dogs; rowing on a river or lake; and picnicking and lounging on the grass with 1920s cars behind. The film then shows people on a golfcourse and three women and a dog in the gardens of a large home.
John Robertson Duigan (1882–1951) was an early aviator and engineer. With the assistance of his brother Reginald Duigan, John built the first Australian-made aircraft to successfully fly, in 1910 at their family’s sheep station, Spring Plains, in Mia Mia, Victoria. Inspired by a postcard sent from a friend in London featuring a photo of Wilbur Wright flying his Model A aeroplane, John successfully built, tested and flew his own biplane and was one of the pioneering aviators in Australia who paved the way for the adventurous pilots of the 1920s. In 1920, John donated his original biplane to the Industrial and Technological Museum in Melbourne (now Museums Victoria). John and Reginald were commemorated as ‘pioneer aviators’ on a 6 cent stamp issued by Australia Post in 1970.
