The Pearlers

The Pearlers
Directed by	Lee Robinson
Produced by	Stanley Hawes
Cinematography	Frank Bagnall
Edited by	Jack Rogers
Music by	Dulcie Holland
Production company	Australian National Film Board
Release date	1949 (1949)
Running time	12 mins
Country	Australia
Language	English

The Pearlers is a 1949 documentary film from director Lee Robinson about the pearling industry off the coast of Broome. ^[1] Robinson later used a similar background for his feature King of the Coral Sea (1954). ^{[2] [3]}

The film was released to cinemas as a support feature, which was not common at the time, ^{[4] [5]} and has since come to be regarded as a minor classic of Australian documentary filmmaking. ^[6]

References

1. Robinson, Lee (15 August 1976). "Lee Robinson" (Oral history). Interviewed by Graham Shirley. National Film and Sound Archive.
2. Richard Kuipers, King of the Coral Sea at Australian Screen Online
3. Vagg, Stephen (5 June 2025). "The Lee Robinson-Chips Rafferty Story Part Two: King of the Coral Sea". Filmink. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
4. Lee Robinson interview with Albert Moran, Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)
5. "TALKING OF FILMS". The Australian Women's Weekly . 13 August 1949. p. 42. Retrieved 30 August 2015– via National Library of Australia.
6. 'Touring Australian Films 2011' at Broome Movies

External links

• The Pearlers at IMDb
• Copy of the film on YouTube
• The Pearlers at National Film and Sound Archive
• The Pearlers at Ozmovies