Fighting films stars Jack Thompson

Writer Lisa Milner with Jack Thompson

Australian actor Jack Thompson joined a gathering of mining and maritime workers, film makers, actors, artists and academics at the Australian Maritime Museum on November 19 for the launch of Fighting Films: A History of the WWF Film Unit.

The book launch and screenings were a celebration and a renewal of the union links with the arts community, which spanned a half-century.

It all began in 1953 when two struggling filmmakers working under the hook on the Sydney wharves were put on the union payroll to make films 'by workers, for workers and about workers'.

"Progressive unions of the day recognised that cultural issues were inseparable from industrial and economic issues," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "This is still the case today."

Paddy Crumlin joined Australian icon Jack Thompson on the day to call on the Government to protect our cultural heritage against the Australia/US Free Trade Agreement. It was a struggle which he compared to the union battle for Australian seafarers to have the right to work in Australian waters.

Jack Thompson established his left wing credentials as the adopted son of card-carrying communists, star of TV mini-series Waterfront and an Australian who found the Government/Employer conspiracy against the Maritime Union in 1998 'appalling'.

"This book is a fabulous example of Australian culture and has been researched lovingly by the author," said Thompson. "I believe that the dignity and nobility of the working man and the working woman in this country can be presented to the society in a way that will enable them to understand that it is they who rule the community if they will take that into their hands. It is our duty to be the people of Australia governing the people of Australia."

Recalling his childhood and the cultural cringe of that era, Thompson said he was very proud to be part of the rebirth of an Australian film industry and that we must not "surrender culturally" to the US.

"Film is the lingua franca of our age," he said. "That's where people learn who they are, what we are, and often learn what to think and how they should say things. Without a voice in film and television, we'd end up being the 52nd state of the US. We are militarily within the American sphere of influence, totally, and it might be said of foreign policy, but if we surrender culturally within a generation there will be no understanding of (Australian identity). It is only by retaining our right to regulate aspects of new media that we will be able to ensure that Australia determines Australian culture, not Hollywood."

In congratulating writer Lisa Milner for her work, Crumlin also lashed out at the government for now targeting universities and academics like they targetted the waterfront in 1998.

Fighting Films is a tribute to labour culture. Both surviving filmmakers Jock Levy and Norma Disher joined writer Lisa Milner for the launch and screenings of the old films.

Jock Levy spoke of the intrinsic value of the films and their niche in Australian history while Norma, recorded their thanks to writer Lisa Milner.

A segment of the documentary FilmWork produced for SBS TV in the eighties by John Hughes highlighted the key member of the unit, cinematographer and director, the late Keith Gow. It was screened as a special tribute and recognition of his genius. Keith died in 1988.

Retired waterside worker, a member of the union cultural unit of the day and now national secretary of the Veterans' Association, Harry Black, recalled the political climate of the era -- the Cold War, the attempts by PM Bob Menzies (better known to wharfies at the time as Pig Iron Bob) to outlaw the Communist Party; the ASIO raids on the union rooms in both Sydney and Melbourne and the national strike of November 1954.

But he also remembered it as a time of flourishing activism and culture, a time when Paul Robeson performed in the union hall and when the first film Pensions for Veterans was screened in Leichhardt Stadium at a stopwork meeting of 6000 wharfies.

"These were the golden years of the maritime industry," said Harry Black. "Movies were screened to members at midday; we had book and art exhibitions, piano recitals, ballet, opera and a performance of the Sydney Civic Orchestra; the songs, music and drama of New Theatre and the magnificent mural. All of these rich and exciting events formed a vital part in the development of a high social industrial and political consciousness in maritime workers."

John Maitland, CFMEU, said he was inspired by the work of Jock, Keith and Norma, especially as the filmmakers had insisted on working down a mine before embarking on the documentary Hewers of Coal. He described the book as a wonderful contribution to the history of the trade union movement.

"We should never forget, and never forgive the suffering of miners," he said. "Their struggle is something we can be proud of."

Special guests included actors Michael Craig and Leonard Teale's widow, actor Liz Harris. Leonard Teale worked with the film unit in the fifties doing the voice over on many of the productions.

The book was jointly funded by the MUA, CFMEU (Mining and Construction divisions) and the AMWU, which also commissioned films from the unit in the fifties.

Author Lisa Milner (pictured above with Jack Thompson, Norma Disher and Jock Levy) is a writer and academic specialising in Australian film history and cultural studies. She has written extensively on left wing documentaries and filmmakers and is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Australian Film.