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A BIT OF HISTORY ON 9.5 mm Mike Trickett

Some time back, I came across a short length of 9.5 mm film which looked interesting,
so I transferred it to a digital file. Upon closer inspection the words Stawell Coffee Palace
on one of the buildings could be seen. The film showed the main street of the western
Victoria town of Stawell in approximately 1930. I have no idea who made the film, or even
how I came by it.

I also made a DVD copy of it and sent it to the Stawell Historical Society, a thank you
letter was received a week or so later. Noting the usual dozen of so views on YouTube
over time, I thought that was the end of it.

The film has been on YouTube for about a year, but was recently “discovered” by people
in Stawell and has received a large number of “hits”. The local Stawell newspaper heard
about the film and made some enquiries, and the following report appeared in the paper.
Historic film on Stawell outlines the Main Street in 1930
By Cassandra Langley (from The Stawell Times-News )
A historic film collector's YouTube video was trending on social media on Friday. The film
which lasts more than a minute outlines the Main Street of Stawell. The 9.5mm home
movie was shot by an unknown cameraman but digitalised by Mike Trickett and placed
onto his YouTube channel. Mr Trickett, of Geelong, has collected films for about 50 years
from auctions, deceased estates, and the like.

"Quite honestly I can't remember
where I picked up this film from,"
he said. "It's only a small bit of film
and I suspect it was in with one of
the many collections I have bought
over the years." Mr Trickett said his
intention is to pass all the films he
has onto the National Sound and
Film Archive once he finishes
cataloguing them. "I have about
3000-4000 films in my collection,"
he said.

"A lot of those films are entertainment pieces, not documentaries like the Stawell film.
Something like the Stawell film is very rare and very unique."
Mr Trickett said he uploaded the video more than 12 months ago and sent a copy to the
Stawell Historical Society. The video has had almost 1000 views.

To see the film go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yay5vp89EFU
PS: I’m not sure about the “Historic Film Collector” is the word “historic” referring to the
film or the collector?

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