Sonja Henie and Australian home movies.

Taken from the home movie Farrow, H: Victorian and South Australian Holiday Scenes (c1930). Collection: NFSA

I’ve been spending precious time blogging about art, when I should be concentrating on home movies! I continue to trawl through the vast array of home movie footage available online at Australian Screen.

I’ve been watching movies that are mostly pre-1960. One silent, black and white clip shows a female ice skater (circa 1930) on Lake Catani, in the Mount Buffalo National Park, Victoria.   Wearing a flared, black dress (with an occasional flash of bloomers worn underneath), the lone skater twirls around on the frozen lake, while a crowd of onlookers mill on the edge of the lake. At the end of her ‘performance’, the film cuts to shows many people ice skating, chatting or watching those on the lake. There’s nary a safety fence, crash helmet, or piece of protective clothing in sight; just people strapping on skates and having fun.

Suddenly, I was struck by one thought – Freedom. I began to think just how much freedom we don’t have in contemporary society. I’m not talking about democratic freedom, but the number of rules, regulations and threats of litigation, that now permeate our everyday lives.

A 1 minute 14 sec home movie clip, taken in 1930 succeeds in challenging my notions of freedom and constraint in contemporary times? Interesting. I have no wistful longing for the past, but am fascinated by how it can inform and contribute to present culture and society.

Nearly 80 years since that footage was shot. I wonder, does that lake still freeze in winter?

Sonja Henie , you ask?  She was a famous Norwegian figure skater, who won her first Winter Olympic gold medal in 1928. After turning professional, she did live ice-skating shows (a popular new entertainment) and become an extremely successful Hollywood actress.

Sonja was an international star. Without a doubt, the Lake Catani figure skater knew of her too…