Dr Peter Harries describes himself as “an entertainment host, poet, musician and raconteur”. He is a well known Perth celebrity, having spent many years in the TV and entertainment industries, among many others ventures. Peter Harries reminisces about his television origins at STW Channel 9 Though Peter gained formal training in television techniques, it was in front of the camera and on stage that brought him to the public’s attention, appearing in, presenting or producing shows for STW Channel 9 in Perth from 1965 to 1970. Such shows as the adult satirical program ‘All...

It’s interesting how allegiances can change with time. For example, Jim Cruthers’ licence application beat Rupert Murdoch’s Western Television bid to operate the first television station in WA, which was won by TVW Limited. Yet Cruthers became personal adviser to Rupert Murdoch on retiring as Chairman and Managing Director of TVW Enterprises in 1981. Sir James was not the only TVW manager to join Murdoch, as Max Bostock ran Network Ten and Bill McKenzie ran ATV Channel 0 (later 10) whilst owned by News Investments Pty Limited. The shift in allegiance was motivated by the takeover...

Andrew Bayley of TELEVISIONAU (http://www.televisionau.com) posed a question regarding a TV Week article from 1973 showing the Number 96 star Abigail, on a visit to Perth. Andrew was curious as the T-shirt she was wearing was emblazoned with the Circle 7 logo. A logo Andrew was familiar with in the eastern states, but not aware of its use that early in WA. Andrew then asked if TVW-7 ever used the Circle 7 logo, before the advent of colour TV? His understanding was that TVW adopted the network 7 Circle logo in the late 70s, as a colour version? The TV show Number 96 came from the TEN network, but...

TVW veterans Richard Ashton and Gordon McColl joined Professor Mark Balnaves of Curtin University, on Friday 17th September, 2010, for lunch to discuss TVW’s origins and history. Professor Balnaves and Professor Tom O’Regan (University of Queensland) are writing a biography on Sir James Cruthers, TVW’s inaugural general manager and co-founder with Brian Treasure. In the process, Professor Balnaves have been given access to Sir James’ personal archives. These archives are extensive and have significant details about different periods in Sir James’s life. In addition,...

Veronica Overton-Low (1944-2010) Today, Dr Peter Harries conveyed the sad news of the passing of his long time friend Veronica Overton-Low. Her sister Jacquie said that she suffered a fatal heart attack this morning. Peter reports that they remained very close over the years and that Veronica was his wife Patricia May’s best friend. Veronica Overton was a young actress when she appeared in Coralie Condon’s television production of ‘The Good Oil’. A musical comedy directed by Max Bostock in which she performed as a singer and dancer for...

TVW in 1973 Western Australia’s first television station TVW Channel 7 opened on October 16th, 1959. The second commercial station STW Channel 9 commenced full program broadcasts on June 12th, 1965. There was a long pause before the third commercial station NEW Channel 10 opened on May 20, 1988. STW in 1988 All commercial stations are located in the Dianella area, whilst the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ABW Channel 2 studios are in East Perth. A little more than six months elapsed between the launch of TVW and ABW opening on May 7th, 1960. Perth’s...

Bert Shaw 15/5/1930 – 24/8/2010 Mr. Bert Shaw (1930-2010) was a talented dancer, choreographer and teacher, who spent many years performing on the stage and on television. He passed away in Melbourne on Tuesday 24th August, 2010. Bert was the principle dancer in the 1958 Playhouse stage version of Coralie Condon’s The Good Oil, where he met his wife Dorothy Wilson. Bert referred to Dorothy as ‘Dottie’, for it was common for Bert to give everyone a nickname. Diana Briggs, Reg Whitman and Dorothy & Bert Shaw Bert and Dorothy joined with Judy Schonell...

The Golden West Network (GWN) began life as a group of smaller, independent stations – South West Telecasters won the license for Bunbury and Albany, being the development of nine prominent Bunbury businessmen and four prominent Western Australian companies. BTW3 Bunbury launched 10 March 1967, TX at Mt Lennard (co-sited with ABC) GSW9 Southern Agricultural (servicing Albany and Great Southern) launched 29 August 1968 TX at Mt Barker (co-sited with ABC) GSW10 Southern Agricultural (servicing Albany blind spot) launched August 1974 -...

The STW Channel 9 roll call of past and present staff is now available. While every effort is made to preserve the correctness of the details, some errors or omissions may slip through. Please inform us via our Contact page of any anomalies. . List of all identified present and former STW staff. If you worked for STW Channel 9 or any other Western Australian television station and wish to appear on the appropriate Roll-Call then please click on the button below to register your details now!

Eric Walters (born 4 July 1937, died 18th August 2010) was an Australian journalist, media trainer and former television presenter who worked for all commercial television channels (Seven, Nine and TEN) in a on-air career, including radio, which spanned more than forty years. Eric died following a three and a half year battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 73. Eric Walters presented the TVW News during the 1960’s John Cranfield reports that Eric started in broadcasting at the age of 16, working in several country radio stations in NSW before embarking on a round Australia...