Chifleys of Busby Street, The (ATOM Study Guide)

The Chifleys of Busby Street (Andrew Pike, 2008) is a 72-minute 'people's documentary' of Ben Chifley and his wife, Elizabeth. The film takes us to key places in Chifley's life – his home at Bathurst, other Bathurst sites associated with his political and personal experiences, his hotel room in Canberra – and we hear from nearly fifty people who have memories of him.

The film tells us about Chifley, but it also raises issues about how we know about him, the nature of evidence, especially oral evidence, and the problems caused by people's 'misremembering' events or details.

It also raises important questions about interpreting objects and heritage sites, and the ways different generations can see the same objects differently, and draw different messages and meanings from them.