Presented here are 2 minutes and 24 seconds of a film entitled 'VC Hero of Lone Pine'. It was made during the award ceremony at Parliament House in Melbourne on 9 June 1916 during which Lieutenant William Dunstan was presented with the Victoria Cross by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson. The original film lasts for 10 minutes and 19 seconds and edited highlights only are shown here. The event was fully described in the two leading Melbourne papers – The Age and The Argus – on 10 June 1916. While the film is a silent one, the main events are introduced by story-boards. The enthusiastic crowd at the end was described in The Age:
When the ceremony was over a determined rush was made at the young soldier, who was very much more nervous then he was when stopping the onset of the Turks at Lone Pine, and thereby saving a very dangerous situation. The men wanted to carry him shoulder high, and the women to kiss him. Four tall constables rescued him, however, and he was then driven to the Overseas Club, where he was entertained by the women's branch. [The Age, Melbourne, 10 June 1916] [AWM F00088]