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A Visit to Ernest Hillier’s Factory: Chocolate packing (c.1926)
Title:
A Visit to Ernest Hillier’s Factory: Chocolate packing (c.1926)
NFSA ID
11310
Year
1926
This documentary details the delicate work and attention to detail required when producing handmade chocolates and sweets for Australian consumers.
In the chocolate packing department, lines of women wearing protective smocks and hairnets, hand select and carefully pack individual chocolates into boxes.
One woman passes boxes of chocolates to another, who then makes a final inspection before folding over the outer paper and fitting the embossed lid on the boxes. The lid has the Ernest Hillier signature on the front. A range of box sizes and shapes corresponds to the different packages available.
Summary by Poppy De Souza
The camera is set up in a fixed position with different angles (close-ups and medium shots) taken to build an overall sense of the work in the factory and the precise care taken to ensuring the confectionary is of the highest standards.
The division of labour along gender lines was accepted as the norm at the time and can also be seen in the 1932 film A Day in a Biscuit Factory.
Notes by Poppy De Souza
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.