The Pearlers (1949)
11m
Running Time
August 12, 1949Release Date
Plot.
Beautifully filmed in black and white, this classic short film looks at pearling in the late 1940s. It goes on board the boats that work off the coast of Broome, Western Australia, from March to December each year. Crewed mainly by Aboriginal, Malay and Chinese men, they work six days a week from sun up to sun down—replenished occasionally by supply boats that also take away their hauls of pearl shell. The film captures the atmosphere, the detail and the danger involved in the search for shell as the divers in huge metal helmets and layers of clothing under their suits dive two at a time, each with one person tending their airhose and another their lifeline.
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Details.
Wiki.
The Pearlers is a 1949 documentary film from director Lee Robinson about the pearling industry off the coast of Broome. Robinson later used a similar background for his feature King of the Coral Sea (1954).The film was released to cinemas as a support feature, which was not common at the time, and has since come to be regarded as a minor classic of Australian documentary filmmaking.