In Europe, the moving picture industry was pioneered by the Lumière family, who had already made a fortune manufacturing photographic equipment. In Australia, it began with Joseph Perry, a hard-up Salvation Army Lieutenant stationed in rural Ballarat. Surprisingly, it was the latter who proved the more enterprising and creative and, while the Lumières were still showing short ‘actualities’ – moving pictures of people doing nothing in particular – Perry and the Salvationists were developing narrative fiction films and cinematic extravaganzas combining film, lantern slides, fiery preaching and musical interludes. For a period between 1898 and 1911, the Salvation Army was a world leader in short narrative fiction films and documentaries of national significance.

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