Peter Butt
Australian film director
Peter Butt (born 1954) is an Australian film producer, director, writer and author. He produces investigative documentaries for television about 20th century global and Australian history. Most of his films have been in conjunction with Film Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and SBS. Peter is also a published True Crime author.
Films and books
Source:
No Such a Place (1981) was Butt's first work as a young director. No Such a Place chronicled the rise and fall of the Glen Davis shale-mining town and was selected to screen with Peter Weir's Gallipoli in more than 60 cinemas around the country.
Out of Darkness (1983) explores the origins of the First Australians through archaeology. Produced for ABC.
The Virgin Earth (1984) looks at various scientific theories related to the origin of life on Earth. Produced for ABC.
Life's Labour's Lost (1985) asks whether there is a future for work in the robot age. Produced for ABC.
China—The Long March (1986) follows stills photographer Leo Meier as he travels the route of the Long March for seven weeks to photograph the people and places of today's China for a photographic exhibition commemorating the march's 50th anniversary. The film tells the story of how, in 1934, the Communist Party undertook a massive military retreat circling to the north, eventually covering 8,000 km.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Peter Butt” as australian film director. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as australian film director. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7173104. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 1981, 1983 and 1984.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Peter Butt”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Peter Butt primary sources, Peter Butt archive and Peter research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Peter Butt”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Peter Butt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.