This clip is from a documentary filmed in Queensland detailing the growing, harvesting, distribution and processing of peanuts. Days of footage – harvesting, drying, threshing and packing

This actuality footage from 1899 shows a horse-drawn load of cane arriving at a conveyor belt at a sugar mill in Nambour, Queensland.

Scenes of wheat harvesting are accompanied by commentary full of metaphors of nation-building based on ‘harvesting the benefits of a great past’.

An animated sketch demonstrates how the harvester elevates, tops and collects cane, illustrating all the major parts of the machine that aid this process.

A close-up of a ‘modern stud’ sheep is shown to be the product of a ‘century’s breeding’.

This silent actuality footage was taken by the official photographer of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Frederick Charles Wills, and his assistant Henry William Mobsby in 1899.

A look at how science is involved in the commercial cultivation of mushrooms. Made by The National Film Board and directed by Jack S Allan.

Farm workers feed wheat sheaves into a threshing machine. A conveyor belt transports the processed wheat to a large stack.

The Lumière Collection includes some of the oldest footage in the NFSA collection: over 30 short films made in 1899.

Discover the history of Southern Queensland through these films and songs from the NFSA collection.