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The first "Cinematographe," The Real Thing – Fred Wills's "Cinematographe" No.
was designed and built by the 96 made by Jules Carpentier in Paris c. 1897. (For the
Lumiere Brothers, Auguste Lumiere Brothers.)
and Louis in 1894. In that Photo: Courtesy of the Queensland Museum.
year they had seen a
demonstratio
n of Edison's world's first
Kinetoscope Government
in Paris. They promotional
returned to film.
their father's
photographic We are
factory at standing in the
Lyon in forecourt of
Southern Queensland's P
France greatly arliament
excited by the House waiting
idea of making a for the arrival of
Moving Picture Machine: They felt certain the Governor, Lord Lamington,
they could improve on Edison's design. to open Parliament – a very important
occasion. As the Guard of Honour lines up
For months their attempts were unsuccessful- opposite the entrance Fred checks that his
none of their ideas seemed to work - until one tripod is quite secure in the grooves between
hot summer's afternoon Louis developed a the slippery flagstones of the forecourt. The
severe migraine. He took a large dose of Lumiere has been screwed firmly to the tripod
medication and went to bed. During the
night he had a number of feverish dreams and Queensland's "Man of Vision ", Frederick Charles
nightmares. In the early hours of the morning Wills, Pioneer Film Maker.
he leapt from his bed shouting "Auguste!
Auguste! Come here quickly. I've got the
design for the Moving Picture Machine -
I dreamt about it. I'm sure it will work!" He
was right. (I wish I knew what medication be
took). The Lumiere cam and shutter system he
designed is still in use today - with some
modifications. It is the intermittent heart of
the world's best Motion Picture equipment.

Fred Wills, Pioneer Film-maker
In the last issue of Reel Deals, I described and
illustrated the workings of my replica
"Cinematographe" so, rather than cover that
ground again, let us briefly step back just over
100 years and stand beside one of our
pioneer Film-makers, Mr. Fred Wills,
Artist/Photographer for the Queensland
Department of Agriculture and Stock, as he
uses his brand new Lumiere Cinematographe
to capture one of Queensland's first films. It is
May 1899 and Fred is about to shoot the

REEL DEALS March 2022 7