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Australia

Description

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast.

The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770 and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century.

On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The current population of around 20.4 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia [Dec 2005]

Oceania

Oceania is a geographical (often geopolitical) region consisting of numerous countries and territories – mostly islands – in the Pacific Ocean. The exact scope of Oceania is controversial, with varying interpretations including East Timor, Australia, New Zealand, or none of these. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania [Dec 2005]

Australia and censorship

Possibly the country with the most banned films. The Queensland Film Office, for example, has banned atleast 174 films since 1974. Australia's OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification, now also responsible for the banning of computer games) can be blamed for much of the censorship, however each state and territory is free to make additional legislation.

  • 1907 Victorian Chief Secretary bans screenings of The Kelly Gang in Benalla and Wangarratta.
  • 1911 exhibition of The Kelly Gang film banned in Adelaide.
  • 1912 NSW police department banned the production of bushranger films.
  • 1928 to 1941: Chief Censor Creswell O'Reilly and his board ban many movies in this period, including Dawn, Klondike Annie (starring Mae West), Applause (it contained chorus girls), Compulsory Hands, Cape Forlorn, The Ladies Man (sexual overtones), White Cargo (interracial theme), The Five Year Plan (discussed communism), All Quiet on the Western Front, Gang Bullets, Each Dawn I Die, Hell's Kitchen (three US ganster films), The King and the Chorus Girl, The Brith of a Baby ("not in the public interest"), Green Pastures, Susan and God (blasphemy), Reefer Madness and Of Mice and Men (sex and violence in combination).
  • 1942 - The Monster and the Girl, The Man with two Lives, The Invisible Ghost, and King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula plus their respective sequels.
  • 1964 to 1970: Mr. R. J. Prowse is appointed Chief Censor and Campbell goes into the Appeals Board. During the liberal 1960's many more films were being banned including The Miracle, Viridiana, La Dolce Vita, Satyricon, The Silence, Blow Up and Zabriskie Point.
  • 1971: Customs Minister Don Chip begins the development of a new classification system, which includes the much-needed R rating for adult content. Movies that were once banned are gradually released. The X rating is later introduced to cope with the upsurge in hardcore pornographic films.
  • 1976 Pasolini's Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma banned in Australia
  • 1984 (?): A governmental conference is held, resulting in the later abolition of X rated material in most Australian states. Ownership of hardcore porn remains legal.
  • 1990: Gail Malone and the Queensland Film Board of Review, which had banned 174 films since 1974 (including Dawn of the Dead, Near Dark, Prison, Day of the Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Re-Animator and the M rated A Nightmare on Elm Street III) are abolished when the new Labour State Premier Wayne Goss is outraged that the Board banned an already censored version of Bad Taste after a three-week run in cinemas.
  • 1992 The previously banned 1981 Chinese gore film Dr. Lamb is released with 11 minutes cut; it's poster is banned.
  • 1993 Australian ban on Pasolini's Salò lifted
  • 1995 Twelve queer films banned from Tasmania's Queer film festival, including Spikes and Heels (about the Gay Games in New York, broadcast on French, Swiss, Belgian and US TV), and Coming Out Under Fire (about the discrimination faced by US lesbian and gay personnel during World War II, which SBS has just bought to screen on SBS TV). Other titles include What a Lesbian Looks Like, Mad About the Boy, 21st Century Nuns and Sex Fish.
  • 1996 Pasolini's Salò again banned in Australia
  • 2000 Romance banned Nationally.
  • 2002 Baise Moi (french for "Kiss/Rape Me") banned in Australia
  • 2003 Ken Park film banned in NSW
  • Other films reportadly banned in Australia, but its unclear when: American Psycho, Final Exit, Cannibal Holocaust, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_films#Australia [Oct 2004]

    Russell Mulcahy

    Razorback (1984) - Russell Mulcahy [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Highlander (1986) - Russell Mulcahy [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    The Fatal Shore : The epic of Australia's founding (1987) - Robert Hughes

    The Fatal Shore : The epic of Australia's founding (1987) - Robert Hughes [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

    Amazon.com
    An extraordinary volume--even a masterpiece--about the early history of Australia that reads like the finest of novels. Hughes captures everything in this complex tableau with narrative finesse that drives the reader ever-deeper into specific facts and greater understanding. He presents compassionate understanding of the plights of colonists--both freemen and convicts--and the Aboriginal peoples they displaced. One of the very best works of history I have ever read. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

    From Library Journal
    For 80 years between 1788 and 1868 England transported its convicts to Australia. This punishment provided the first immigrants and the work force to build the colony. Using diaries, letters, and original sources, Hughes meticulously documents this history. All sides of the story are told: the political and social reasoning behind the Transportation System, the viewpoint of the captains who had the difficult job of governing and developing the colonies, and of course the dilemma of the prisoners. This is a very thorough and accurate history of Australian colonization written by the author of the book and BBC/Time-Life TV series The Shock of the New . A definitive work that is an essential purchase for both public and academic libraries. BOMC and History Book Club main selections. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Libs., W. Lafayette, Ind. --Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

    The Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes, published 1987, is a history of the United Kingdom's settlement of Australia as a penal colony. It won the prestigious WH Smith Literary Award in 1988. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fatal_Shore [Dec 2005]

    Robert Hughes is also the author of The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change, Thames & Hudson, 1981. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert Hughes

    See also: UK - history

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