Lynsey Martin: a case study of 1970s Australian experimental animation

The history of experimental animation in Australia remains largely unknown outside its borders. Although Norman McLaren and Len Lye’s films are recognized internationally within animation practice such experimental hand-made cinema generally sits less comfortably under a traditional animation umbrella. Such work occupies its creative and innovative margins. Australian experimental animation’s obscurity can be further explained by this activity being embedded in and framed by the avant-garde, non-narrative experimental film cultures present in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1960s and 1970s rather than being presented publically under an animation banner.