Bolex H16 Reflex movie camera and manual, 1960s-1970s

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Movie cameras
Place: Antarctica
Materials: Adhesive tape, Glass, Ink, Leather, Metal - non specific, Paint - non specific, Paper, Plastic - non specific
Collection: National Antarctic Heritage collection
Accession number: 2024.0001.0176

Description

A film camera and accompanying manual. The film camera consists of an aluminium body covered in a textured black material, possibly leather. At the front is a Macro Yvar 100mm lens, turret lever and mounts for two more lenses. On one side are a series of mechanisms including a motor winding handle, frame counter, spring motor clutch lever, speed control, and electric motor and crank shaft. On the top is a viewfinder with eyepiece setting ring, closing lever and flash shoe mount. There is a printed label on the side that reads 'BOLEX / H16 Reflex / MADE IN SWITZERLAND' and an adhesive sticker on the back with handwriting in blue ink that reads 'CAMERA / 2'. The accompanying manual is titled 'BOLEX H 8 MOVIE CAMERA' featuring an illustration of a camera. It is stapled and consists of a fold out front and back cover with diagrams, and 24 pages containing information under the title 'Instructions for Use'.

This is a classic Bolex 16mm camera dating to the c.1960s and still in use by ANARE in the 1970s. There is a picture of Phillip Law at Heard Island with one, and they can be seen in a number of AAD photos. Phillip Law was very aware that Australia should be able to see the work that ANARE was doing in Antarctica and so from early on cine cameras were used to record the work of the expeditioners. Bolex was a Swiss manufacturer of cameras and lenses between 1925 and 1981. The H16 cine camera introduced in 1935 was very popular with film makers because of its precision, light weight and robustness.

About the collection

This collection comprises approximately 600 objects acquired by the Australian Antarctic Division and its predecessors between the 1940s and 2010s. It includes scientific and communication equipment, navigation and cartographic equipment, specimens, commemorative objects, building fabric, field support vehicles, clothing and field work supplies relating to Australia’s long and distinguished tradition of research and exploration within the Antarctic region. These objects are the largest and most diverse assemblage of surviving material culture demonstrating Australia’s relationship with the subantarctic islands and Antarctic continent between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. The collection offers remarkable natural and historical significance, notably nineteenth century commercial activities and the early twentieth century expeditions of Sir Douglas Mawson and other explorers that expanded scientific knowledge and laid the foundation for Australia’s enduring presence in the region. From the 1940s, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions undertook major exploratory and scientific work to understand and protect the Antarctic landscape. Australia took a leading role in the International Geophysical Year and the negotiation of a comprehensive environmental protection regime for Antarctica with the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System from 1959. It records how the Australian Antarctic Division continues to manage Australia’s interests in the Antarctic region, overseeing world-leading research at three permanent continental research stations - Mawson, Casey and Davis - and at subantarctic Macquarie Island.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:44:32 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-08. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.