''Passengers Alighting from Ferry Brighton at Manly'' was the first film shot and screened in Australia.

Marius Sestier Marius Ely Joseph Sestier (8 September 1861 – 8 November 1928) was a French cinematographer. Sestier was best known for his work in Australia, where he shot some of the country's first films. Born in Sauzet, Drôme, Sestier was a pharmacist b ...

made a film of passengers alighting from the paddle steamer ferry '' Brighton'' at Manly Wharf. In September 1896, Sestier and

Henry Walter Barnett Henry Walter Barnett (25 January 1862 – 16 January 1934), usually known as H. Walter Barnett, was an Australian photographer and filmmaker. Barnett was a prominent portrait photographer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, establishing ...

opened Australia's first cinema, the ''Salon Lumière'' in

Pitt Street, Sydney Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sec ...

. It was at this cinema the film was first shown on the 27th October 1896 with the promise of more to come. Sestier, together with Henry Walter Barnett, made approximately 19 films in Sydney and Melbourne between October and November 1896, these being the very first films recorded in Australia. There is no known surviving copy of the film.

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* 1890s Australian films 1896 films Australian silent short films Australian black-and-white films 1896 short films Films set on ships Films shot in Sydney {{Australia-silent-film-stub