Life in Australia: Cairns (1964) – now in 4K – offers a postcard-perfect snapshot of life in Far North Queensland during the mid-1960s. The Life in Australia series, produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit for the Department of Immigration, was designed to promote Australia to prospective migrants. Each film in the series highlighted the destination's natural beauty, industry and leisurely pace of life.

In Cairns, we see a tropical city framed by cane fields and coastline, where the rhythms of sugar harvesting meet the seasonal buzz of winter tourism. As with other films in this series, Cairns presents a highly polished version of daily life: a vision of Australia shaped by optimism, uniformity and the government agendas of the time.

These films are fascinating cultural artefacts – not just for what they show but also for how they show it. Viewed today, Life in Australia: Cairns offers insights into Australia’s postwar identity and values, and the idealised image the country wanted the world to see.

Find out more about the Life in Australia series