![SOUNDTRACK TO A NEW LIFE](https://cdn.magzter.com/1416370653/1680134579/articles/vzrzsvYFz1680236554312/SOUNDTRACK-TO-A-NEW-LIFE.jpg)
DULCIE HOLLAND’S EARLY piano lessons as a six-year-old always started with an impromptu botany lesson. She would take some of the native flowers that flourished in her garden along to her piano lessons, where her teacher’s father would identify them. Throughout her life she took pride in reciting the curly botanical names of Australian plants.
Decades later, she would play her own role in educating immigrants about this strange and faraway land. She composed the music for a series of postwar documentaries that promoted Australia as a place to live and educated would-be migrants about the virtues of their new home.
Dulcie Holland was my grandmother, and it was through discussion of these films around the family dinner table in suburban Sydney that I first recall learning about her musical career. The notion of new Australians” sailing from Europe and watching these films on board ships sounded impossibly exotic to me.
Between 1945 and 1965 more than 2 million people emigrated to Australia mostly from war-torn countries as part of Australia’s great populate or perish” push. Although the government initially targeted Great Britain, it quickly realised that to sufficiently increase the population they would have to widen the net. Arthur Calwell, minister for information 1943-49) and Australia’s first minister for immigration 1945-49) embarked on a program of promotional documentaries aimed at recruiting more immigrants.
The films were initially made by the Department of Information’s Film Division, which had wartime filmmaking experience, before becoming part of the Australian News and Information Bureau within the Department of the Interior. In 1956 the Film Division was renamed the Commonwealth Film Unit, the precursor to Film Australia.
Bu hikaye Australian Geographic Magazine dergisinin January - February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Australian Geographic Magazine dergisinin January - February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
![Loveday Internment Camp, SA A](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/8pOBGzzEV1720610674716/LOVEDAY-INTERNMENT-CAMP-SA-A.jpg)
Loveday Internment Camp, SA A
DURING WORLD WAR II, civilians n Australia deemed \"enemy aliens\" - mostly those of German, Italian and Japanese descent were housed in internment camps.
![THE STORYTELLERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/WHSAxDSPt1720610442232/THE-STORYTELLERS-OF-THE-GREAT-BARRIER-REEF.jpg)
THE STORYTELLERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
More than 100 dedicated Master Reef Guides are sharing the GBR's most important stories with visitors in a bid to inspire its greater protection.
![A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/NZNv016_x1720609712329/A-BEAUTIFUL-DISASTER.jpg)
A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER
Does last summer's mass coral bleaching event sound a death knell for Australia's beloved Great Barrier Reef? \"Not on my watch!\" is the message coming from he army of heartbroken, but resolute, marine scientists who've responded to the crisis by doubling down on their research.
![AROUND AUSTRALIA IN 44 DAYS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/0QML8xZ481720609103064/AROUND-AUSTRALIA-IN-44-DAYS.jpg)
AROUND AUSTRALIA IN 44 DAYS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first aerial circumnavigation of Australia. Aviator Michael Smith retraces the flight in his unique amphibious flying boat, Southern Sun, starting and finishing at RAAF Base Point Cook, on Melbourne's Port Phillip, taking in 15,000km of vast, diverse and stunning coastline in between.
![CLEAR-CUTTING KOALA COUNTRY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/2vFaQE1FB1720608238442/CLEARCUTTING-KOALA-COUNTRY.jpg)
CLEAR-CUTTING KOALA COUNTRY
More than 3000sq.km of forests on NSW's Mid North Coast have been earmarked for the Great Koala National Park. But there's still work to be done before this proposed reserve becomes the safe haven koalas desperately need.
![MORE THAN QUOKKAS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/KYd8yW3-S1720607671434/MORE-THAN-QUOKKAS.jpg)
MORE THAN QUOKKAS
Sure, you can't avoid those cute little marsupials that made Rottnest Island world-famous, but there's so much more to life on this ocean-ringed jewel off the Western Australian coast.
![A WILD POLO TUSSLE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/sbNLOorXP1720607036737/A-WILD-POLO-TUSSLE.jpg)
A WILD POLO TUSSLE
It's an event reminiscent of a Banjo Paterson poem. For 35 years, in the High Country 200km east of Melbourne, city polo players have gathered annually at Cobungra, Victoria's largest cattle station, to vie with a rural team for the Dinner Plain Polo Cup.
![Ancient know-how meets a modern challenge](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/YyhXHxaSs1720606873667/ANCIENT-KNOWHOW-MEETS-A-MODERN-CHALLENGE.jpg)
Ancient know-how meets a modern challenge
Contemporary marine park management is infused with traditional knowledge to tackle new threats on the Great Barrier Reef.
![LOOKING FOR TJAKURA](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/MR-1B9mAt1720606489592/LOOKING-FOR-TJAKURA.jpg)
LOOKING FOR TJAKURA
The search is on across Australia's deserts for a culturally important vulnerable lizard.
![RESCUING THE CHUDITCH](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/znbEvHilK1720605744857/RESCUING-THE-CHUDITCH.jpg)
RESCUING THE CHUDITCH
After intensive planning, recovery for this endangered marsupial species is being stepped up to secure its future.