Such conceptual complexities are addressed in the opening chapters of this book, allowing the writers to tell a basically chronological story, but one that loops and leaps across time and through genres and institutional histories. So they begin at the beginning, with the earliest film records of actual events, such as the Melbourne Cup in 1906. Acknowledgment is made of early ethnographic film-making, and of early commercial and government production units, but the story quickly passes from silent film to sound, and from film to television.

Now the institutional histories take over. One line is drawn from the Australian Film Commission/Corporation through the Film Finance Corporation to Screen Australia, another from the Commonwealth Film Unit through Film Australia and again into Screen Australia, a third through the rivalries between commercial television and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. These discussions can be dry, but in most cases, just as tedium is in danger of setting in, a case study appears to enliven the narrative. These cases illustrate how dependent the production process is on the serendipitous conjunction of individuals with ideas, institutions with funds, and audiences with interest in the subject matter.

Through all of these, the history of technological development weaves and erupts, leading to seismic shifts in how documentary stories can be told. In production, one such shift was the introduction of light-weight, hand-held cameras. In editing, there was the shift from physically cutting film to manipulating video. For audiences, there was the introduction of the World Wide Web and the possibility of direct input into documentary product.

The three authors all have specialised knowledge in the documentary field. However, their individual voices are beautifully blended here; it is impossible to tell who has written what. This narrative seamlessness is a strength of the book, but it also means that an opportunity is lost, as objective reporting dominates the story: their own experience in making films is treated with the same objectivity as that of any other film-maker.

Because of that connection to the real world, ‘documentary’ can encompass every possible subject – and that is what it does in this story. Among a huge variety of subjects, Australians have made documentaries about nature (e.g. Among the Hardwoods [1936] and Cane Toads: an Unnatural History [1987]); about politics (Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth [1901] and Mr Prime Minister [1965]); about general social issues (Nobody’s Children [1989]) and specifically women’s issues (Maidens [1978]) or Indigenous issues (Mabo: Life of an Island Man [1987]); about war and peace (Frontline [1979] and Gallipoli: the First Day [2009]).

Some threads continue right across the more than a century encompassed by this book. Ethnography was there from the very beginning, in the films of Alfred Haddon and Baldwin Spencer: it is still there in the twenty-first century, often in a more popular form on television, and given a large section towards the end of the book. These later chapters address questions of genre, covering such areas as science documentaries. In more recent times, Australian documentary has spread its wings – not only embracing digital technology but also incorporating stories that come from outside Australia, even though they are assumed to resonate with Australian audiences. These began in the 1980s (Nicaragua No Pasaran [1984]), but have been more numerous in recent times (Landmines: a Love Story [2004]).

However, this book is not primarily about content or style: there is very little about the subject matter of the documentaries discussed and almost nothing of textual analysis. So the authors have not achieved their stated aim of demonstrating ‘the various purposes for and ways in which documentary makers have borne witness to, analysed, and preserved the myriad facets of experience, memory, and personality which have made up Australia’s developing national culture’. This would require another – very different – book.

But another of their stated aims has been achieved very thoroughly: to explore ‘the dynamic field of interactions between filmmaker practices; institutions and processes of support, production and distribution; and relationships with surrounding cultural organisations, groupings, and audiences’. The book’s main concern is the story of how documentaries managed to be made and shown, where the funding came from, how individuals and teams worked within various production contexts, and eventually how the films or television programs reached audiences. Its greatest achievement, perhaps, is to acknowledge the changing definitions of ‘documentary’ across periods and institutions, and the current ‘genre drift’ which is fundamentally reshaping the concept.