26 January 1974: Number 96
26 January 1975: Pete Smith (The Ernie Sigley Show)
26 January 1980: Zoe Bertram (The Restless Years), Michael Caton (The Sullivans), Daryl Somers, Ossie Ostrich, Jacki MacDonald (Hey Hey It’s Saturday), Don Lane and Bert Newton (The Don Lane Show).
26 January 1991: Nicole Kidman
26 January 2002: McLeod’s Daughters, Stingers, The Secret Life Of Us, Always Greener
26 January 2008: Kate Ritchie and Josh Quong Tart (Home And Away)
26 January 1975: With the official launch of colour television still a month away, Sunday afternoon sport includes test colour telecasts of cricket, table tennis and motor racing.
26 January 1976: The premiere of the two-part ABC drama Arena, starring John Meillon, Ray Barrett, Julie Hamilton, Chelsea Brown, Vincent Ball and Brian Blain. Arena told the story of a Sydney lawyer who works for an advertising agency and becomes disillusioned after seeing the exploitation of his sporting hero in making a television commercial. He sets up his own agency to represent the interests of sporting celebrities.
26 January 1980: The premiere of Lawson’s Mates (ABC), a series of plays based on the stories of Henry Lawson and adapted for television by Cliff Green. Each of the six episodes contain between three and eight of Lawson’s stories. Featured in the series are George Mallaby (pictured), Frank Wilson, Sigrid Thornton, John Wood, Sean Myers, Frank Gallacher, Robbie McGregor, Caroline Gillmer, Maggie Millar, Monica Maughan, Tony Bonner and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell.
26 January 1981: ABC’s prime time line-up for Australia Day includes The Governor-General’s Australia Day Message, the Australia Day Live concert from Melbourne and the premiere of the six-part comedy And Here Comes Bucknuckle, starring Peter Curtin, Noni Hazlehurst, John Bluthal and Reg Evans. The series screens over six consecutive nights. Later, there is a repeat of the three-part 1980 drama Players To The Gallery, starring Peter Sumner, Kate Fitzpatrick and Richard Moir.
26 January 1982: Channel 0/28‘s special programs to commemorate Australia Day include Aussies From All Over, taking a look at Australians from various cultural backgrounds who are combining their traditional cultures to the Australian way of life; and the 1938 comedy, Tall Timbers.
26 January 1985: Australia Day 1985 includes the opening ceremony of the inaugural (and only) Australia Games, formed as part of Victoria’s 150th anniversary celebration. Over the next ten days the Australia Games included over 2000 competitors from 25 countries in 23 sports. Other Australian programming on the day includes the Australia Day Concert from Melbourne, The Governor-General’s Address To The Nation and movies The FJ Holden, On Our Selection and All At Sea — Who remembers the Australia Games? [2015]
26 January 1988: The ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks all present special coverage throughout the day of events and activities from across Australia as Australia Day commemorates the bicentennial of European settlement. SBS‘ coverage of the day includes a half-hour highlights program, The Twenty Sixth Of January 1988, a re-run of the 1982 series Women Of The Sun, and the 1940 movie 40,000 Horsemen.
26 January 1990: Today is broadcast live from Admiralty House, Sydney, for the presentation of the Australia Day Awards, including the announcement of Australian of the Year by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
26 January 1991: ABC‘s Australia Day program line-up includes The Governor-General’s Australia Day Message followed by The Very Best Of Aunty Jack, the mockumentary Barbakiueria and the 1940 Australian movie classic Dad Rudd MP.
26 January 1995: The second stage in the launch of pay-TV provider Galaxy includes the expansion of Premier Sports Network to a 24-hour channel and the addition of international news channel ANBC — Paying for TV’s new Galaxy [2015]
26 January 1996: Tim Ferguson hosts the Australia Day Concert (Nine) from Sydney’s Domain, including performances by Christine Anu, Diesel, Past To Present, Kulcha and DIG.
26 January 1997: Andrew Daddo and Samantha Riley host Australia Day Live: A Gift To The Nation, from Darling Harbour on Seven. The 2-hour concert includes performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, James Reyne, Richard Clapton, Ian Moss, The Seekers, Glenn Shorrock and CDB.
26 January 1998: Eddie McGuire, Simon O’Donnell and Darren Bennett host Nine‘s live coverage of the Superbowl XXXII from San Diego. The event is also covered live on pay-TV channel ESPN with an evening replay on Fox Sports.
26 January 2002: SBS debuts four-part Australian comedy series DIY TV, with each episode featuring a parody of different TV genre. The first episode, Video Dare, is a mock reality show where members of the public are encouraged to air their grievances against a neighbour, an ex or even the pizza delivery man. Once they do, a crew of workers go about avenging the wronged in “the most entertaining way possible,”
