Island of Madeira

Dr Catherine Delano-Smith captures the local colour of Funchal, Madeira, during the ‘Oxford University Women's Expedition Madeira 1961’.

Film by Dr Catherine Delano-Smith taken during the ‘Oxford University Women's Expedition Madeira 1961’. Shows scenery and local people mainly at or near Funchal. Includes rural landscape views (mountains, rocks, forests and vegetation), urban landscapes, market scenes, the port area and shipping, merchants selling crafts from boats, views of a smoking crater and people engaged in agricultural work of various kinds.

The expedition was led by Catherine Delano Smith with Julia Papworth (geographer) as treasurer and Anne Coleridge (botanist) as quartermaster. The other members were Ann Hailes (biochemist), Janet Carruthers (geographer) and Henrietta Cooke (ornithologist). Originally, the team planned to visit the Cape Verde Islands, but due to political circumstances had to relocate to Madeira. Most of their research was on the remote north side of the island. They spent four weeks at Queimadas, up in the mountains above Santana on the north-east coast and two weeks on the south-eastern side, which included Funchal.