Patineur Grotesque | 1896 Film

Filmed in Sydney in 1896, Patineur Grotesque is the OLDEST film shot in Australia and has finally been shown here after more than a century of obscurity.

Documentation now held at the National Film and Sound Archive suggests this is Australias earliest surviving film believed to have been filmed by Marius Sestier in Sydney between 29 and 31 October 1896. This was prior to his recording of the Melbourne Cup 1896.

Patineur Grotesque

1896 | Rollerskater in the park
A bearded man smoking a cigar rollerskates before a ring of onlookers in a park. While skating, he lifts his jacket to display to the crowd a white hand on the seat of his trousers.

The skater may have been a professional stage skater performing in a nearby theatre or circus. He may also have been hired by a proximate venue to entertain crowds which was a common practice in those times. Unfortunately details about individual skaters or other performers of the time is sketchy at best and sheds no further light on this footage.

While the Melbourne Cup race footage has become of the best known early films shot and exhibited in Australia Le Patineur Grotesque was shown nearly everywhere but here in Australia.

The film premiered in Lyon on 28 February 1897. Le Patineur Grotesque remained unknown to Australia until 2005 when Coralie Martin (NSFA) recognised the film. It had its first Australian screening at the National Film and Sound Archive in March 2010.

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Curators notes

This is a short extract from a longer piece of actuality footage. Later in the act the skater trips and falls then drops his hat. While attempting to retrieve it he continues to fall about. When finally the hat is restored to his head the act is completed and he skates off screen. The camera remains on the crowd for a few moments.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia INITIALLY believed it was filmed in Melbourne, but later discovered it was Sydney. This information was published on our website.

Patineur Grotesque location identified

In the publics response to our call for help, Mark Matheson replied that the location was Prince Alfred Park in the South Sydney-Redfern area.

Around 14 months ago, the public were asked to help identify the location of Australias earliest surviving film Patineur Grotesque (Sestier, Australia/France 1896) as both the film and its location were a mystery. While known documentation indicated the film was made in Melbourne there was a question mark over the exact spot. Now I am pleased to confirm it is NOT Melbourne but Sydney.

While available images showed mainly the Exhibition Building there was nothing conclusive. Howe'ver, recently, Tony Martin-Jones found an image of Cleveland Street taken from Prince Alfred Park and - voila! - a perfect match. So I visited Prince Alfred Park to see for myself. Although the park has changed substantially the skyline we see in the film still exists. It was an emotional moment standing on the spot where the film was made! All thanks must go to Mark and to Tony for their generosity in sharing their knowledge with us. The image in question (above) is from the City of Sydney Archives and is a Christmas-New Year postcard of Cleveland Street between Pitt and Regent Streets.

The knowledge that the film was shot in Sydney has implications for the thinking on the date it was made. Previously thought to have pre-dated Melbourne Cup 1896 by just a few days to take the title as Australias earliest recorded moving image, this is now not certain.

But this is not the end of the story as its now possible to identify the rollerskater. Preliminary research indicates there were two skating rinks near Prince Alfred Park: the Elite Skating Rink on Elizabeth Street and the Redfern Palace Skating Rink at 185 Cleveland Street, corner of Walker Street. Howe'ver,

it is not clear if either was operating in 1896, the last mention found of each being 1890 and 1895 respectively. Skaters known to be working around this time were Fred Norris, Harry Williams, Harry Steele, Professor Bass, Professor Taylor and AG Agincourt.

As Prince Alfred Park had no skating rink of its own, the person in the footage may have been practising their act or perhaps entertaining patrons visiting the Exhibition Buildings.

If the rollerskater is someone in your family or if you can shed any light on his identity, please let us know.