The concept is for the residents of Parkes Shire to rummage around and if they find any reels of film that might be in boxes, sheds, under the house or in cupboards to contact Conrad Mill on 0431 967 365 for an assessment on the contents.

“There are two types of film that maybe hanging around and tucked away gathering dust,” Conrad said.

“There are home movies which are usually on the standard 8, super 8 or 9.5mm and for the real enthusiast who could afford it, on 16mm reels.”

The commercial films that were screened in cinemas or at events were generally 16 mm and 35 mm.

These come in small and large metal reels, usually in film cans but some maybe just the reel themselves.

For any commercial films you find, Conrad can assess with no charge.

“I’m working with the National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA) in Canberra which preserves our film history and they interested in anything from newsreels, commercials, to full or partial feature films,” Conrad said. 

“They are not interested in home movies unless it is of national significance like the opening of the Opera house for example.”

It should be noted that the NFSA does not buy films.

They rely on donations and the goodwill of the public.

Once preserved and transferred, the NFSA give the original films back to the donor and a DVD of the contents (if you want them back) and will give you recognition as the donor in their catalogue.

Conrad said the NFSA is an agency of the Federal Government and is not that well-funded.

“It’s main job and cost is the preservation, cleaning and transfer of old films for cataloguing, which the public can view at their headquarters,” Conrad said.

“We have a fairly poor history of archiving our old films and many are still lost or missing.

“In 1982 the NFSA launched the national ‘Last Great Film Search’ and some surprising results turned up.”

In film history, Australia is credited with making the very first feature film in the world.

In 1906 ‘The story of the Kelly Gang’ was produced, a six reeler, running for over an hour and ten minutes, the longest film in the world at the time and made for a whopping 1000 pounds, a considerable amount of money back then.

The NFSA in 1975 only had a few seconds of the film.

In 1978 another 64 metres was found in a collection belonging to a former exhibitor (The entire film is 1200 metres long).

During the last great search in 1982 someone found more of the film on a rubbish dump!

More of the film was also discovered in London in 1996.

“Who knows, maybe some of the still missing footage is here!” Conrad said.

“The last film search received wide publicity in the major cities but perhaps not so much in rural Australia.

“We may have some real gems tucked away.”

Conrad became interested in staging a film search from the surge of clients wanting their old home movies transferred to DVD to share with friends and relatives.

“While I can transfer super 8 and standard 8 here digitally, larger formats such as 16mm and 35mm has to be done at the NFSA and preserved properly as they have the expertise,” he said.

There is also a safety issue in finding these films.

Many cinema prints of films up until the early 1950’s used nitrate film.

Although there maybe very little of it around today, any schoolboy with basic chemistry can tell you nitrate is highly flammable and explosive.

“Over the years as the stock becomes more unstable it can suddenly burst into flames and stored in cans can act like a hand grenade once set off,” Conrad said.

“It wasn’t uncommon for cinemas to burn down from nitrate films bursting into flames as it was put through a hot projector in the 1920’s and 30’s.

“Most film found is on ‘safety film’ which is non -flammable but there maybe cans of nitrate film still lurking around.

“Nitrate film hates heat and begins to ‘sweat and swell’ as it breaks down and we know how hot Parkes can be. 

“So it’s best if you find any films to get me to assess it and have it removed from your house.

As for Ned Kelly, it was previewed for two weeks in the country areas of Australia and was a smash hit.

The film did extremely well in the major cities but in 1912 the NSW state Government in a fit of conservatism outlawed the portrayal of Bushrangers in cinema.

So get cracking you might discover a lost Australian classic to enhance our cultural heritage.