People are probably wondering when the old ABC building in Perth will be cleaned up and made presentable. Veterans who worked there lament its deteriorated state since the ABC vacated, whilst youngsters with no sense of nostalgia most likely want it gone altogether. It looks like many heritage sites, such as the burnt out […]

    A friendly gathering of television veterans and cinema folk was kindly hosted by the Australian Museum of Motion Picture and Television (AMMPT) on Wednesday 21st of August, 2013. A 51 minute video covering the golden era of TVW was screened on this occasion. AMMPT President (WA) John Fuhrmann introduced the event     Gary Carvolth […]

“The Western Australian TV Pioneer and philanthropist Sir James Cruthers is the subject of the next AMMPT ‘inFocus’ presentation. On screen, we will see Sir James Cruthers himself, presenting anecdotes about key events from 1959 until his retirement in 1981. Other early TV personalities will add ‘behind the scenes’ stories to enrich the presentation. Sir […]

This article will try to remain non-technical, though it is important to know what forms of knowledge were required for television to happen. The sources of these discoveries are often buried in ancient history and the many efforts of numerous people that were made over the centuries. Part 1 deals with the sources of our […]

PART 2 This part shows how imagination played an important role in not only arriving at new concepts but predicting where the future may lead. The science fiction of yesteryear soon became the reality of today as the properties of light were explored and substances that reacted to it led to photography and the electric […]

PART 3 This part tells how all the ingredients gradually came together for television to become a reality. The discovery of cathode rays, wireless propagation, the gadgetry and people who made it all happen. The Cathode Ray Tube In 1838, the English scientist Michael Faraday (1791–1867) discovered cathode rays. His main discoveries include those of […]

PART 4 This part tells how some of the early devices were primitive, being made from bicycle parts, until overtaken by advances in the electronics field. There were many people who contributed to the development of television and it was not alway fair in who benefited most from the discoveries. As isolated as Australia was […]

PART 5 This part explains how the competition between the mechanical method of sending images soon gave way to the superior electronic system, with practical applications gradually becoming mainstream as broadcasting organisations embraced this new field. Cathode Ray Tube technology gains prominence Manfred von Ardenne (1907–1997) a German research and applied physicist and inventor gave […]

PART 6 This part tracks how television has evolved since the end of World War II with its spread through Britain, the United States and Europe until politicians in Australia started to take notice and contemplate how it should be introduced here. When it arrived in the capitol cities between 1956 and 1959, all licences […]

PART 7 – The long and winding path that led to television This part explores how television came to Western Australia and the battle to get enough viewers to make the industry viable. It really was the pioneering days, as the exchange of programs between other countries, with different television systems, was fraught with technical […]