Research facilities of the C.S.I.R. (1946)

[Music plays and the Australian Coat of Arms appears on screen, with the title: C.S.I.R, Council for the Scientific and Industrial Research, Research Facilities, produced by Information Service C.S.I.R in collaboration with Chiefs of Divisions, Officers in Charge of Sections and their staffs]

[New text appears: C.S.I.R Introduction and Organization]

[New text appears: This is the first of a series of five films which aim to depict in some measure the organization and scientific facilities of the C.S.I.R of Australia. It does not in any way purport to illustrate the Council’s achievements.]

[New text appears: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was established by the Commonwealth Government of Australia in 1926 and functions under the Science and Industry Research Act 1926-1945 for:- “the initiation and carrying out of scientific researches in connexion with, or for the promotion of, primary or secondary industries in the Commonwealth; “the training of research workers and the establishment and awarding of industrial research studentships and fellowships; “the making of grants in aid of pure scientific research; “the recognition or establishment of associations of persons engaged in any industry or industries for the purpose of carrying out industrial scientific research and the co-operation with and the making of grants to such associations when recognized or established; “the testing and standardization of scientific apparatus and instruments, the carrying out of scientific investigations connected with standardization of apparatus, machinery, materials and instruments used in industry; “the establishment of a Bureau of Information for the collection and dissemination of information relating to scientific and technical matters and also that of acting as a means of liaison between the Commonwealth and other countries in matters of scientific research.”] [Image changes to a map of Australia with C.S.I.R. sites highlighted]

Narrator: Distributed throughout Australia, the Council has established 26 main divisions and sections, together with a number of field stations. The work is Commonwealth wide, and many of the divisions and sections have investigators working in various districts, cities, and towns.

[Camera cuts to close up of sign: Commonwealth of Australia Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and cuts to wide shots of various buildings and sites as narrator describes each one]

The Headquarters of the Council are located in Melbourne, and comprise the main administrative offices which include the Executive Committee and the Secretariat. In the field of primary industry the Council has established the Division of Soils, which is housed at the Waite Institute, Adelaide; the Commonwealth Research Station at Mildura, Victoria; the Irrigation Research Station at Griffith, New South Wales; the Divisions of Plant Industry and Economic Entomology; and the Dickson Field Station at Canberra, in the Federal Capital Territory; the Division of Fisheries at Cronulla, New South Wales, seen from the land and the sea; the Division of Food Preservation at Homebush, New South Wales, with a branch laboratory at Cannon Hill, near Brisbane, Queensland; the Division of Animal Health and Production in Melbourne, with its associated McMaster Laboratory in Sydney, and McMaster Field Station at Badgerys Creek; and the Division of Biochemistry and General Nutrition in Adelaide.

[Images continues to change to each building as narrator describes each one]

In the secondary industry field there is a mineragraphic section housed in the Geology Department at the University of Melbourne, and ore dressing laboratories in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Kalgoorlie; Divisions of Industrial Chemistry and Aeronautics in Melbourne; the Division of Forest Products in Melbourne; the Section of Tribophysics housed in the Chemistry Department at the University of Melbourne; the Divisions of Metrology, Electro Technology and Physics housed in the National Standards laboratory, Sydney; the Radio Research Board located in the Electrical Engineering Department University of Sydney, with branches at Canberra and Brisbane; the Radio Physics Laboratory in Sydney; the Building Material Section, and the Flax Laboratory at Hyatt, Victoria; and the Information Service, which is closely related to the Head Office of the Council, and is occupying temporary premises in Melbourne.

[Image changes to people inside the library]

The Head Office library co-ordinates the work of all divisional libraries, and maintains a central catalogue of holdings of all the libraries which are associated with the various divisions and sections, and of which these views are representative.

[Music plays as the camera continues to pan around the inside of the library showing people reading, studying and replacing books onto shelves]