Kokoda Frontline Academy Award on display at Museum of Tropical Queensland
With the Academy Award presentations on next weekend Australia’s first ever academy award is on display at the Museum of Tropical Queensland. See which film brought it home.
Townsville
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Some of the glitz and glamour of this year’s Academy Awards are currently sparkling in Townsville.
With the Academy Award presentations on next weekend Australia’s first ever academy award is on display at the Museum of Tropical Queensland (MOTQ) as part of the Australian War Memorial’s Action! Film and War travelling exhibition.
The award was given on March 4 in the 1943 ceremony in the Best Documentary category for the film Kokoda Frontline, shot in PNG during WWII, and Saturday marked the 80th anniversary of that date.
The film was shot by famous war correspondent and photographer Damien Parer who was later killed by Japanese machine gun fire while on assignment on the Pacific Island of Peleliu.
Museum programming and engagement manager Claire Speedie said Townsville was the first stop for the exhibition about photography and film and how the war is portrayed in news with Damien Parer heavily featured in the exhibition.
She said the academy award winning film showed exploits of the Kokoda campaign.
“It is a very short film about eight minutes called Kokoda Frontline and was filmed in Papua New Guinea.”
She said the award had a special inscription.
“To Kokoda Frontline for its effectiveness in portraying simply yet forcefully the scene of war in New Guinea and for its moving presentation of the bravery and fortitude of our Australian comrades in arms”.
Ms Speedie said with Townsville being a garrison town the current exhibitions resonated within the city’s defence community.
“I think it resonates with everybody we have so many connections with PNG.
She said the original Oscar given at the 1943 ceremony was a cheap copy.
“Because the Oscars were in 1943, which was in the middle of WWII, they said we are going to give you an Oscar but we are not going to give you a proper statue because we have to use the metal in the war.
“So they made a gunmetal facsimile which was presented and a few years later they presented the real Oscar.”
She encouraged the Townsville community to come and see the Oscar on display at the exhibition.
“Come and see the whole exhibition it is really interesting and is object rich, and there are wonderful stories not only about Damien Parer but other famous war photographers.”
The exhibition runs till May 25.
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Originally published as Kokoda Frontline Academy Award on display at Museum of Tropical Queensland
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