“‘Away to the South Seas’ takes us to the fabulous and romantic Polynesian islands that have enchanted painters and writers for generations. French Oceania; British and American Samoa; exotic Tonga, ruled by Queen Salote; the Cook Islands, named for the great navigator-- Captain James Cook; are all included in this array of idyllic tropical isles. Bathie Stuart brings the culture of Polynesia, its customs and ways of life, the arts and crafts of the Coral Isles, and the smiling faces of Fiji. You will be entranced with your journey.” - from the programme to the ‘Travel and Adventure Series’ presented by the Monroe Rotary Club (1965-66).
Opening title; map of the Pacific, focusing on Hawaii; women in leis holding a sign reading ‘Hawaii’; Hawaiian women dancing; a city building; a temple; a statue bearing the name ‘Kamehameha’; street scenes; a small off-shore island and people on the beach; a man talking to the camera; waves on the shore and blowholes in the rock; views from a hilltop of peaks, valley, towns and coastline; boats in the sea; beach side resorts and sunbathers; man playing a ukulele; surfers in action; tourists on an outrigger canoe; close ups of flowering plants; women dancing in front of a large crowd; men in dresses (tourists?) mimicking the dancers; women holding signs reading ‘Aloha’ and ‘Pau’; sunset and palm trees.
005:37 Map with an arrow pointing to Samoa; a large town by the sea; street scene with sailors walking down the street; churches; a large building with an expanse of lawn; a monument inscribed in Samoan; a panoramic view of thatched buildings (fale?) beside an inlet; shots showing a fale being built.
008:54 Harvesting cocoa pods (?); bleeding a tree to extract rubber, pouring it out and a man holding a sheet of rubber; Samoan horsemen herding cattle through palm trees; men scooping up coconuts and putting them in baskets worn by donkeys; transferring the coconuts to bullock cart; separating the coconut flesh from the husk.
013:35 Women washing clothes on rocks in a river; close ups of two young Samoans; boys diving off a waterfall; boys in lavalava doing a stick dance by a waterfall; dancing on the shore as a small boat sails away.
015:43 A map with an arrow pointing to Tahiti; a procession through a street, with groups in a variety of traditional costume ; a crowd gathered around a courtyard (French flags are being held by some); close ups on individuals; an outrigger canoe race in the harbour; elaborately decorated boats conveying dancing men and women (a water festival of some kind?); torches on the water and fireworks [all these events may be part of the Tiurai festival held each summer]; music and dancing at Quinns bar; a woman demonstrating Tahitian dancing (and a man ogling her).
019:38 Views of sea and landscape; Europeans relaxing on a water front verandah; a man with showing off some velvet paintings; Tahitians in red skirts and head dresses performing a dance on a lawn; scenes of villages gathered around the waterfront; houses built on stilts over the water; close ups on individuals; fishing with nets, traps and rock pools designed to trap fish; a man carving a canoe; all the Tahitian villages come running (and canoeing) when a conch calls them to an umu (?).
028:52 A seaplane and a ship in the harbour; street scene; waves on a coral reef; bats in a tree and in flight; young girls and women dancing as men play guitar [likely not Tahitian but possibly Samoan?]; a flag flying on an official building.
031:07 Bathie Stuart standing by a map, points to Fiji; a thatched building; a Fijian man spearing fish; a sikh man; street scenes in Suva; unloading bales of kava (yaqona); a man holding suki (tobacco); close ups on individuals; Government building, Grand Pacific Hotel; vehicles and pedestrians on the street; a policeman directing traffic; street scenes (Victoria Parade).
035:34 A thatched house (a bure), with a family outside; children singing; men playing percussion instruments (including a lali) and others in traditional costume perform a dance (a wesi); preparing kava, which is presented to the camera; women dancing in a semicircle (probably at Tamavua village); a fan dance; Adi Cakabau Girls School pupils dancing, and in rompers and tops jumping up and down; the girls weaving baskets; a woman combs her hair; fish in the harbour; boy riding a turtle; moving a load of bananas down stream (on the Rewa river?); making tapa cloths (masi) and woven mats (voi voi); sugar cane being carried by bullock, then barge, then train; a train full of people crossing fields; a Fijian officer outside Government House; an officer (the same one?) stands at attention as a plane taxis by.
043:18 Title “Away to the South Seas”; map of Pacific focussing on Cook Islands; women in leis and grass skirts dance on the beach, men playing music; trees, water and landscape; aerial view of islands; more landscape; women making a wreath, which is worn by a man; a family home, girls showering, doing laundry; a collection of buildings and children playing; horses and children in the surf; women weaving; going to church (?); activity in and around the village.
048:30 NZ flag flying; people gathered for a formal occasion?; different kinds of produce being grown and tended (incl pineapple, bananas, taro); children scaling coconut trees; a group of people coconut husking; diving for shell fish, woman preparing some for decorative use, the others being returned to the water (pearl seeding); a dead octopus; children playing with a turtle; a woman gathered spiny seafood; a man planting shellfish on the reef; men spearing fish; a woman catching a land crab crab; laying an umu and taking bread out of a large earth oven.
055:08 Men working wood and women weave palm fronds, which is then all put together to built a house; wrecked ships on a reef; a large bonfire of coral to make lime; mixing lime; building a mud house and liming the exterior; close ups of people picking oranges; taking small boats out to a ship anchored offshore (in order to exchange cargoes, probably oranges?); exploding a hole in the reef; agricultural scenes (coffee); a man spraying his house against mosquitoes; young children brushing their teeth in the lagoon, watched over by their teachers; scenes at a school (children playing, learning English, older students socialising); montage of shots showing people standing talking in public places.
062:16 Montage of scenes showing technology and modern services; secretary, draughtsmen, phone operator, phone linesman, doctors and nurses, dentist and machinists; a crowd of people gathered to get mail (?); music and dancing.
064:58 Bathie Stuart pointing to a map focussing on New Zealand; aerial view of farmland; Bathie Stuart getting off a TEAL plane, is presented with flowers by a stewardess and waves at an unseen crowd; sheep in the fields; a white sand beach; paintings by early colonials; view of Wellington; a variety of city churches; beaches and trees (incl. pohutukawa?); men fishing; scenes of geothermal activity and Wairakei; Mt Tongariro from the front of the Chateau; aerial views of Mt Tongariro, the crater of Mt Tarawera and White Island.
070:27 Aerial views of the Southern Alps; crossing a mountain lake surrounded with mountains; a Māori carving; Guide Rangi; a geyser; Māori women posing for the camera; a tiki; women making piupui; Māori men performing haka; Tainui waka, hurdling and canoe races on the Waikato river at Ngāruawāhia (?); a boatman riding the rapids on the Wanganui river (?); close ups of a kaumatua and two kuia with moko; performances Waitangi (including haka peruperu and poi); flowers, trees and landscape.
079:13 Last picture frame.