Although experimental television transmissions were conducted in Australia as far back as 1929, it was the 1940s before the government of the day considered the full scale introduction of television — and with a World War currently in progress, any further development was put on hold. Progress after the war was slow, but the upcoming 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games would ensure that TV would arrive in time for the Opening Ceremony — and it did, only just!
1950:
- The Menzies Government decides that television services will initially consist of a national service (ABC) in Sydney with expansion to follow into other areas as funding allowed – and a commercial station in each of Sydney and Melbourne and ‘any other capital city where it is felt that the applicant’s capacity to provide a service justifies the issue of a licence’
1953:
- Following public pressure, the Government appoints a Royal Commission into the introduction of television in Australia.
1954:
- The Royal Commission reports that television services should be introduced gradually – initially an ABC station and two commercial stations in each of Sydney and Melbourne with other areas to follow.
1955:
- The Australian Broadcasting Control Board conducts public hearings into the allocation of commercial television licences for Sydney and Melbourne. Consequently, the first commercial television licences issued to Herald and Weekly Times (Melbourne), General Television Corporation (Melbourne), Amalgamated Television Services (Sydney) and Television Corporation (Sydney).
Bruce Gyngell
1956:
- July: Test TV transmissions commence from TCN9 Sydney and HSV7 Melbourne
- September 16: TCN9 Sydney becomes the first TV station to begin regular transmission. Station announcer John Godson introduces the station on-air at 7.00pm, then Bruce Gyngell (pictured) introduces the first program, This Is Television.
- September 27: GTV9 Melbourne conducts its first test transmission with a one-hour broadcast of programs on Thursday 27 September at 4.30pm hosted by Geoff Corke. From Monday 1 October the station commences daily test pattern transmission.
- October 27: TCN9 is officially opened.
- November 4: HSV7 Melbourne is officially opened.
- November 5: Opening night of the ‘national television service’ with the first ABC television station, ABN2 Sydney.
- November 19: ABC’s second television station, ABV2 Melbourne, is launched
- ABV2, HSV7 and GTV9 (conducting test transmissions) televise the Melbourne Olympic Games.
- December 2: ATN7 Sydney is officially opened. The following day, ATN launches Australia’s first current affairs program At Seven On Seven with Howard Craven, and the first ‘tonight’ show, Sydney Tonight with Keith Walshe.
- 5% of Melbourne households and 1% of Sydney households own a TV set.
1957:
TV Week
- January 19: Sir Dallas Brooks opens GTV9 Melbourne
- March 2: Bob Dyer’s Pick-A-Box, a radio quiz since 1948, launches on ATN7/GTV9 and runs until 1971.
- April 20: The Victorian Football League (VFL) is televised for the first time, with Melbourne channels ABV2, HSV7 and GTV9 permitted to broadcast live coverage of the final quarter of league matches.
- May 6: GTV9 launches Graham Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight, a live variety program that lasted 13 years.
- TCN9 forms an affiliation with HSV7, and GTV9 lines up with ATN7.
- December: The first edition of TV Week goes on sale in Melbourne.
1958:
- June: ABC launches its own TV magazine, TV News, in Sydney.
- November: TCN9 launches Brian Henderson’s Bandstand, a variety music program that launched the careers of many Australians. It lasts for 14 years on Nine.
- TV Week launches its own annual TV awards, initially known as the TV Week Awards but would later be named the TV Week Logie Awards, after television pioneer John Logie Baird, the following year.
1959:
Johnny O’Keefe
- New TV stations: QTQ9 Brisbane, NWS9 Adelaide, TVW7 Perth, BTQ7 Brisbane, ABQ2 Brisbane, ADS7 Adelaide.
- January 9: Melbourne and Sydney are linked by microwave for the first time, enabling television programs to be screened simultaneously in both cities.
- ABC launches Six O’Clock Rock with Johnny O’Keefe
- Australia’s first TV serial drama Autumn Affair begins a 10-month run on ATN7/GTV9.
- August: ABC’s TV News-Times (formerly TV News) expands circulation with the launch of a Melbourne edition in competition with TV Week.
- HSV7′s weekly sports program World Of Sport begins on Saturday mornings. It soon moves to Sunday afternoons and continues every week for 28 years.
Loading tweets...
16 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
Peter Stone
3 October 2012 at 10:38 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
1957 April 20. Was it not the FIRST quarter telecast live, not the last. The VFL were afraid that showing the last quarter would greatly diminih attendance at the games.
Peter, Yarra, Vic.
Andrew
4 October 2012 at 12:29 AM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hi Peter. I double checked and it was the Final Quarter. According to The Age at the time, on Saturday 20 April 1957, all 3 Melbourne channels were to broadcast the final quarter of the Collingwood v Essendon match starting at around 4.00pm. The channels were originally intended to broadcast a different game each but a last minute pay dispute led to them all covering the same game.
Source: The Age, 20 April 1957 (via Google News Archive)
Jimbo
13 April 2013 at 7:39 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Does anybody remember the Teenage hour in the fifties I think it was on at about 2.00pm Saturdays in Melbourne
Peter Stone
4 October 2012 at 10:54 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
You are absolutely correct Andrew. I see from my diary as a kid that on 31 August 1957 I watched the 4th quarter of the first semi-final with Carlton v Hawthorn. I have a feeling though that sometime later, next season, it was only the first quarter shown because of the concern for ground attendance. I have no record of this however. Great website by the way. Thankyou.
Peter Stone, Yarram, Vic.
Steve Ellis
11 October 2012 at 12:27 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Is there anywhere where I view the cartoon that opened GTV9 each day (guy runningthru the studio turning everything on) and a similar one at the end of transmission?
Regards
Steve
Andrew
11 October 2012 at 11:10 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
There might be something of that footage on YouTube but I am not aware of any I’m afraid.
Carol
9 November 2012 at 2:56 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Does anyone know how long that first show, ‘This is Television’ was? I am trying to find out exactly what was telecast that first evening, 16/9/56, and also where people could watch it in Sydney as there were so few TV sets.
Peter Cox
29 November 2012 at 8:32 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
In reply to Carol’s question re day one Channel 9 Sydney. The opening program “This is Television” commenced at 1900 and lasted for 30 minutes – it was a mix of 16mm and 35mm film with brief studio bridges. Briefly the evening was as follows:
19.30 – Johnny O’ Connor Show
19.45 – Patti Page Show
20.00 – What’s My Line
20.30 – Douglas Fairbanks Show
21.00 – Air Force Show
21.15 – Accent on Strings
21.30 – Father Knows Best
22.00 – I Love Lucy
22.30 – Robin Hood
22.50 – Tivoli Show
23.00 – National Anthem
Carol you are perfectly correct there were very few receivers, with the result that many people got their first taste of television by crowding around the windows of retail shops – yes they actually did that!
Andrew
29 November 2012 at 9:03 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Peter, many thanks for your fantastic reply
laurie
28 December 2012 at 11:53 AM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hello .I am looking for photos or film of a show called dance party in 1966 in hobart has any one any infomation on this show
Thankyou Laurie
Gabrielle
9 January 2013 at 2:41 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hello,
I am wondering if there is any footage of GTV9 ‘s program “Thursday at one”
I think it was the first live afternoon show?
(I appeared on it !!!)
Thanks a million…
Gabrielle
Andrew
10 January 2013 at 12:27 AM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hi Gabrielle.
Unfortunately, as per the Contacts page, there is unlikely to be any surviving footage from shows of that vintage. The ability to archive programs then was limited and even if material was archived we don’t necessarily have compatible technology to be able to retrieve it. Copyright is another issue as well.
Interesting to hear about you appearing on Thursday At One, though. What was your role in that program? You may have also read recently that host Binny Lum passed away at the age of 97.
michaela
28 January 2013 at 1:45 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hello,
my dad is trying to find any clips from a show called The Youth Show. It showed in 1958 or 1959 he thinks. With Keith Walsh and Carol Finlayson.
I hope you can help.
Cheers
Michaela
Andrew
28 January 2013 at 1:49 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hi Michaela,
Unfortunately, as per the Contacts page, there is unlikely to be any surviving footage from shows of that vintage. The ability to archive programs then was limited and even if material was archived we don’t necessarily have compatible technology to be able to retrieve it. Copyright is another issue as well.
Chris
1 February 2013 at 11:50 AM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
I am inquiring on the singer named Bill Mc Cormick, who appeared on early telivision.
Thank you.
ellie
24 February 2013 at 5:48 PM (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Hi
I am looking for any footage/images or information from the Coles 3,000 question quiz. My father John Carew was one of the first big winners on the show with a specialist subject on boxing Perhaps there are some memories out therel,
thanks
Ellie