Wyndham Weekly, June 2013

I often scoff at people who attend events and spend all their time filming or photographing it.
If you go along to experience something – a concert, airshow, fun-run – I’ve always thought you should enjoy it, not worry about whether your smart phone is capturing it all.
However, I’m glad no one told Eric Thompson to stop messing around with his video camera.
A Werribee local, Eric would talk his new-fangled recording machine along to events throughout the 1940’s and 50’s and capture them for posterity.
Watching them now is like stepping back in time, a Tardis ride through our local history.
He captures the simple things in life, like Masonic Lodge picnics in the country and the opening of the Presbyterian Church Hall.
But the best is a short video of the day a wide-load placarded truck got stuck crossing the Werribee River at the ford on Cottrell Street.
The first thing you notice is the fashion; men and boys in woollen trousers, short sleeved shirts and trilby hats, women in full length dresses, hair curled and pinned to perfection.
The local bobby walks his bicycle up the hill, handlebars curled in an upwards “c” shape, as small boys run alongside the truck cheering its progress.
People are gathered in their hundreds, standing on small hills to get a better view of the truck as it tries to negotiate the tight dipping curve in the road.
It’s incredible to think that such an event could be the source of such interest for so many people.
The film is full of life, muted retro colours and has the raw graininess anyone interested in film seeks to emulate.
So keep recording those simple moments in life, one day they could bring endless enjoyment.