They're a Weird Mob, a movie filmed at Bondi, is credited with revitalising the Australian film industry. The piece also represented the difficulties of multiculturalism in the 1970s and assimilation policies of the time.

'They're a Weird Mob', was an important Australian film based on the best-selling book by John O’Grady, published in 1957. 'They’re a Weird Mob' was a comedy depicting the immigrant experience in Menzies-era Australia. It was extremely clever for its use of Australian slang.

The story centres around Nino, who is fresh off the boat from Italy. Nino thinks he has a solid understnading of English but has never heard anything like the language of the Australians he encounters. In Bondi, he encounters romance. Nino is initiated into the ethics of courtship on Bondi Beach, and is rewarded with a stylishly modern wife, Kay Kelly (Clare Dunne).

The film was a huge local hit, earning $2 million. The first Australian film to be made in 7 years, its success meant that the Australian Government was pressed to provide money for further film funding. 'They’re a Weird Mob' is sometimes credited with reviving the Australian film industry.

The film has been criticised for its approach to multiculturalism and for making fun of assimilation policies in Australia of the time but it also reflects the migrant experience of the 60s and 70s. Nino needs to give up any aspects of his home culture which make him appear different.

From the late 1940s to 2006, more than 6 million migrants from more than 200 countries came to Australia. In the 1960s, their arrival coincided with a surge of Australian nationalism as the idea of an Australian identity, as distinctly different from that of Britain, was beginning to be acknowledged.

Images courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales.