THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
The information on these pages has been gathered from numerous resources over many years, a list of some of these resources is listed here
THE SIXTIES |
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| 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
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As could be expected, television was warmly received in Australia. While a lot of the faces on our screens were still predominantly imported, the Australian identity was slowly but surely making itself known in the new medium. Hit shows like Bandstand, IMT, Homicide and The Mavis Bramston Show were making their mark in Australian popular culture. |
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| 1960 |
Highlights of Graham
Kennedy's
In Melbourne Tonight
are screened interstate as The
Graham Kennedy
Channel Nine Show New TV stations: ABS2 Adelaide, ABW2 Perth, ABT2 Hobart, TVT6 Hobart TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Graham Kennedy (In Melbourne Tonight, GTV9) |
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| 1961 | August 19: ABC’s acclaimed weekly current affairs program Four Corners premieres. December: Regional television commences with the launch of commercial stations GLV10 Traralgon, GMV6 Shepparton and BCV8 Bendigo. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Bob Dyer (Pick A Box, ATN7). The first national awards, and edited highlights telecast on ABC. |
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| 1962 |
New TV
stations:
BTV6 Ballarat,
NBN3 Newcastle,
TNT9 Launceston, WIN4 Wollongong, TNQ7
Townsville, DDQ10 Toowoomba, ABC3 Canberra,
CTC7 Canberra, RTN8 Lismore, and CBN8 Orange. March: The Government announces that an additional commercial television station will be licenced for each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. July 1: Station affiliations change. GTV9 and TCN9 align to form the National Television Network (now the Nine Network) along with QTQ9 and NWS9; HSV7 and ATN7 align to form the Australian Television Network (now the Seven Network) along with BTQ7 and ADS7. TVW7, being the sole commercial TV station in Perth, remains independent of network affiliation. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Lorrae Desmond (The Lorrae Desmond Show, ABC) |
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| 1963 | New TV station: RTQ7 Rockhampton. ABC launches its first regional stations TCN9 and GTV9 are connected via coaxial cable, allowing the instant sharing of news stories and programs between both cities. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Michael Charlton (Four Corners, ABC) |
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| 1964 | New TV stations: AMV4 Albury, RVN2 Wagga Wagga. August 1: Melbourne’s third commercial TV station, ATV0, is opened by Ansett Transport Industries. The first program is This Is It! presented live from studios in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading. October: Coverage of the 1964 Olympic Games from Tokyo is provided by ABC and commercial stations, in co-operation with the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), compiling daily 30-minute reports from Tokyo and rushed to Australia for transmission within 24 hours. October 20: HSV7 screens the first episode of a new Melbourne-produced police drama Homicide. It becomes a huge success and runs on the Seven Network for 510 episodes over 12 years. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Bobby Limb (The Mobil Limb Show, Nine) |
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| 1965 | New TV stations: TEN10 Sydney, TVQ0 Brisbane, SAS10 Adelaide, STW9 Perth, WBQ8 Maryborough, NEN9 Tamworth, NRN11 Coffs Harbour, CWN6 Dubbo, MTN9 Griffith, STV8 Mildura. TV Spells Magic, a lavish variety production with over 150 performers and extras, is the highlight of opening night for TEN10 and is relayed to ATV0 and regional stations. The Independent Television System, Australia's third commercial television network is formed between TEN10, ATV0, TVQ0 and SAS10. The network is later re-named the 0-10 Network. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Jimmy Hannan (Saturday Date, Nine) |
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| 1966 | New TV stations: FNQ10 Cairns, ECN8 Taree, SDQ4 Southern Downs, SES8 Mt Gambier Australia starts to receive daily news reports via satellite. An Australian version of Play School, based on the BBC production of the same name, begins on ABC. Here's Humphrey begins its long run on Nine. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Gordon Chater (The Mavis Bramston Show, Seven) |
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| 1967 | New TV stations: BTW3 Bunbury, GSW9 Albany. April 10: ABC’s controversial nightly current affairs program This Day Tonight begins. June 15: ATV0 produces the first colour TV program on Australian television when it televises the Pakenham racing in colour. August 28: ABC’s popular evening series, Bellbird, premieres. A huge hit in the country, but only a moderate success in the cities, it ran until 1977. Australia takes part in two global satellite telecasts: Our World, a two-hour telecast screened simultaneously in 30 countries and included segments produced in 18 countries including Australia, and Expo 67 a live telecast highlighting Australia's contribution at Expo 67 in Montreal. TV Week Gold Logie Winners: Graham Kennedy (In Melbourne Tonight, Nine) and Hazel Phillips (Girl Talk, 0-10). The first TV Week Logie Awards presentation hosted by Bert Newton. |
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| 1968 | New TV stations: BKN7 Broken Hill, GTS4 Port Pirie, MVQ6 Mackay. Perth's TVW7 produces its first annual Telethon The Government announces that Australia will adopt the European PAL colour TV standard, instead of the American NTSC system. TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Brian Henderson (Bandstand, Nine) |
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| 1969 | March 11: Crawford Productions and GTV9 launch Division 4, a new police drama. Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go with Judy Banks and Fredd Bear starts a successful run on ATV0. Australian television broadcasts live coverage of the Apollo II moon landing. GTV9's coverage enters the record books as the longest continuous live broadcast on television. December 23: Graham Kennedy presents his final In Melbourne Tonight TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Graham Kennedy (In Melbourne Tonight, Nine) |
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