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BOOK REVIEW
| Constructing Australia: Complete Series (videorecording), Film Australia, Lindfield, NSW, 2007. 165 mins. $29.95 DVD.Richard Evans and Alex West, Constructing Australia: A Companion to the ABC TV Series, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2007. pp. 162. $34.95 paper.
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| During the 2004 federal election campaign, the Federal Liberal party announced that if re-elected, it would give Film Australia $7.5 million to produce a series of high-quality documentaries on Australia's history. This became the basis of Film Australia's 'Making History' initiative, headed by British producer Alex West. West was keen to stimulate new ways of producing television history in Australia, inviting historians (including myself) to a workshop for filmmakers to talk about Australian history and the ways it might be depicted on screen. In a hint of things to come, he also featured a masterclass from British producer Liz Hartford, who specialises in documentary re-enactment. (See <http://www.filmaust.com.au/production/default.asp?content=history> for more information on the workshop, and the Making History initiative generally.) Television is where most Australians find out about the past. In the 2004 Australians and the Past survey, 84 per cent said they had watched historical movies or television in the past year (see Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, 'At Home with the Past', Australian Cultural History, vol. 22, 2003, p. 11). Making History aimed to tell historical stories to a broad audience. So what are we to make of its first production, Constructing Australia? |
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Constructing Australia is a three-part series documenting three epic feats of Australian engineering and construction, nicely scattered across the continent: the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Perth-Kalgoorlie Pipeline, and the Overland Telegraph. At a time when infrastructure (or, more correctly, our lack of it) is a hot political issue, these engineering feats seem even more remarkable. The series is clearly based on the BBC series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, which was screening on the ABC while I was working on the history series Rewind. ABC management were enamoured of Seven Wonders, the hallmarks of which were big budgets, lots of CGI (computer-generated imagery), an emphasis on achievement and innovation, and an eye for human drama. Constructing Australia echoes the tone of Seven Wonders, but with greater use of re-enactment rather than CGI. In a cultural climate torn over the question of 'guilt' in history, and the then Prime Minister John Howard's call for historical narratives of achievement, Constructing Australia was perfect for its times – and for the ABC. |
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The programs use the conventions of historical documentary well: interviews with historians, journalists and eyewitnesses, archival footage and photographs. However, the fact that two of the three programs depict events that took place over one hundred years ago means that there is minimal archival material available, so the producers have used re-enactments – actors deliver speeches, recreate correspondence, or restage key moments. The re-enactments reinforce the character-driven narratives, but they are occasionally stagy – never fully believable as drama, the actors are reduced to illustrative ciphers, self-consciously bearing their burden of historical significance, rather than standing as fleshed-out characters. The actor playing Jack Lang in 'The Bridge' resembles Lang, sure, but it is his famous acolyte Paul Keating who gives us a real sense of the flash and fire of Lang himself in the program. Wendy Hughes supplies a voice-over narration, told in the present tense to add immediacy and providing a counterpoint to the mainly masculine dramas on-screen. Beautiful cinematography throughout and clever use of CGI (especially in 'The Bridge') gives the series polish and movement. |
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'The Bridge' (directed by Simon Nasht) is most compelling in the series, with the richest material – not just a determined engineer (J.J.C. Bradfield), but the Great Depression, political crisis, and the New Guard as well. The program also makes the most of the range of archival footage and photographs of the bridge. While historians like Andrew Moore are interviewed, it is journalists who provide the hyperbole: for example, Peter Lalor describes a dispute as 'the Bodyline of engineering'. (All the programs are to some extent guilty of over-egging the pudding in this way). The program tells a gripping story, and while the human dimension of the bridge's construction (the resumptions of homes without compensation, the deaths of 16 men during its construction) could have been dealt with in more detail, they are at least mentioned, which is an improvement on 'A Wire Through the Heart'. Directed by Darcy Yuille, this program suffers from a shortage of archival footage more than 'Pipe Dreams'. The story of the construction of the overland telegraph is a remarkable one, dependent not only on the abilities of engineer Charles Todd but the exploration skills of John McDougall Stuart. Re-enactments carry the bulk of the narrative, and they are often rather limp. The telegraph connected Australia to the world, and the importance of this is emphasised by the story of Todd's wife Alice, missing her English family. Historian Susan Magarey speculates on Alice's loneliness, but Alice herself utters barely five words in the entire episode (showing that re-enactment is not useful for all kinds of historical stories). The politics of exploration are barely touched upon: it seems clear that Stuart had a fatal encounter with Indigenous people in one of his failed exploration attempts, but the implications of this remain undeveloped. |
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Yet Indigenous perspectives are taken into account in 'Pipe Dreams'. Directed by Franco Di Chiera, the story of the construction of the longest freshwater pipe ever built is couched within the narrative of Western Australia's development and its late decision to join the Federation. Amid a story of political intrigue and personal tragedy (the talented engineer behind the project, Charles O'Connor, committed suicide just months before the pipeline was complete, which the program blames on a media smear campaign against him), the film also makes clear that the pipeline was being built through Aboriginal land. These achievements were heroic – but at times nuance is lost in the quest for narrative drive. |
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Constructing Australia is celebratory history that manages (mostly) to avoid the difficult questions of identity politics or history wars. This is not necessarily a bad thing – we need more Australian history on television in order to cultivate greater demand and variety. This series has been handsomely packaged with an eye for the education market but also general viewers and readers. (The series' website <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/constructingaustralia> contains teacher's notes, clips and historical sources.) The accompanying book, by Richard Evans and Alex West, is replete with beautiful historical photographs and images, an affordably priced companion to the series. |
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Constructing Australia personalises its stories of achievement – these are tales, we are told, of great men with ambitious and visionary plans to change Australia's landscape. However, the emphasis on personal drama threatens at times to take us back to a 'great men of history' approach, where great structures were built without workers. As Brecht asked in his famous poem, 'A Worker Reads History': 'Who built the seven gates of Thebes? The books are filled with names of kings. Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?' |
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| Macquarie University |
MICHELLE ARROW | |
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