Prowlers in the darkened cinema: Australian church women’s associations and the arrival of the motion picture in Australia

This article explores the responses of three Christian women’s organisations, the WCTU, YWCA and the Anglican Mothers’ Union, to the arrival and development of the motion picture industry in Australia. It argues that, as Christian mothers, members of these organisations felt a particular moral responsibility to ensure that the film industry was regulated and censored appropriately. The article charts the evolution of their campaigns which, despite their unease at various elements of the “modern” world about them, encouraged women to act both individually and in organisational groups to make their concerns and demands known both to local cinema owners and political figures. Their responses and engagement with the complex, gendered world of the cinema ultimately changed their view of roles and responsibilities of modern Christian mothers.