Caught on film: Moments from Australia's past

The Australian Axemen Associations is the governing body for all things wood-chopping and sawing that goes down, down under. Exhibits and contests have been running since 1870, when the first-known competition took place.

Fun fact: Australian recently won their fifth title at the International Timberspots Tournament.

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Sun hat with a different perspective -

This spectator at a Brisbane cricket event in 1962 took a newspaper and made it into a hat. If taking care of skin was the concern, she may have forgotten about the arms.

That said, the tunnel vision the hat must give may have made it easier to follow the game and not need sunglasses at all!

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Boomerangs for The Beatles - The Beatles fan and Brisbane native Jack Bonwell is photographed giving the rock group's press officer Derek Taylor a set of quintessential Aussie boomerangs during the band's Australian Tour on July 29, 1964.

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Prince Charles' salute -

An interesting capture of a very young Prince Charles giving spectators a wave on his Royal Tour of Australia in 1968.

This photograph was taken from his visit to Perth on January 6th that year.

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Who can fall the best -

Stuntmen during practice take-off from a sand dune near Perth on April 4, 1977, as part of their schooling.

Falling the wrong way can cost a stuntman the audition or the job, it can hurt too!

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Holiday smiles for the camera -

A group of Aboriginal youth, aged 11 to 18 and who just returned from a trip to Asia and are photographed with their chaperones and souvenirs at Perth Airport (1975). Look at those happy kiddos!

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Bette Davis down under -

What was she saying? We'll never know.

However, what we do know is that this is Bette Davis sitting in the back of a car driving through Perth on April 8, 1975.

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Lifeguard training -

A striking and somewhat cinematic photograph of lifeguards practising saving methods on St Kilda Beach in Melbourne.

Synchronicity is key to saving lives, it seems. Makes a gorgeous photo too.

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A politician who doesn't exist, having barbie -

To the average eye it looks like an Aussie having a barbie in his Melbourne home. However, this man was not who he claimed to be!

He went under the alias of Clive Muldoon in Australia, but was later found out to be British Labour MP John Stonehouse who had faked his own death!

After 'drowning' in Miami on November 20, 1974, the politician was reportedly arrested on December 24, 1974, and charged with forgery, conspiracy, and fraud.

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Bowler jumps of joy -

Aussie bowler Max Walker cheers and jumps in happiness after successfully bowling out Lever of England at the Sixth Test held in Melbourne in 1975.

What a day to remember.

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Federal celebration - On January 24, 1927, both Australian federal members and British delegates came together to celebrate the new Federal Parliament House in the new Federal Capital of Australia; Canberra.

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Sacked and bombarded -

Remember the crisis of 1975 and when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed?

This is him being bombarded with the press and their questions outside Parliament on November 11, 1975.

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A young Aussie backpacker -

Three's a crowd! Here's a young Noel Burnet being one with Aussie fauna.

Burnet is the man (and environmentalist) behind the Koala Park Sanctuary in Sydney, which he opened in 1930.

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Signing out religion -

It looks like the average service at a church in Sydney in 1931, but there's more to the image.

The woman on the right is, in fact, using sign language so all church-goers can understand the worship.

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The face of anticipation -

Here is cricketer William H Ponsford being treated medically at Sydney's Cricket Ground on December 12, 1932, for what was allegedly a severely broken ankle.

That said, it did not stop Ponsford from play in the upcoming Test Match.

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The Duke in Wollongong -

Prince Philip, a.k.a the Duke of Edinburgh, was 32 years old when he visited Australia in 1954.

Here the Prince is seen talking to former servicemen in a city outside of Wollongong called Coledale that same year.

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Outback rodeo in full motion -

An unnamed rodeo rider shot in action at what used to be the annual Alice Springs rodeo.

Rodeos were a bit hit in the 70s and 80s, and events of the kind in Alice Springs were held until 2013.

According to AB C, Alice Springs rodeos made a comeback in 2017 and revive the fond rodeo memories of locals and visitors.

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A warm welcome -

Aboriginal men in their traditional attire, but holding and waving Union Jack flags.

It was for the welcome of Queen Elizabeth II to Townsville, QLD, on March 12, 1954.

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Spot the Queen! -

Yep, that's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the very front, with a backdrop of hundreds of crew members of the HMAS Australia battle-cruiser, photographed in Cairns, QLD, on March 13, 1954.

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Long flight debut - Aviators Captains Ross and Keith Smith pose for photographs before embarking on the first-ever Australia-London flight from Port Darwin in 1919.

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Native protection - Aboriginal men photographed in front of Aussie adventurer Mr Francis Birtless's car, who drove from Darwin to Adelaide in 1920.

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Chop chop -

Men caught in action at the annual wood chopping contest in Brisbane, in 1937.