Tony Charlton (1929-2012)     The veteran sports broadcaster Tony Charlton has died after battling bowel cancer for more than a year. He was 83. The veteran broadcaster passed away on Monday morning 17th of December, surrounded by his family.     Tony came from a broadcasting family with his father Conrad Charlton describing the opening of the Sydney Harbour bridge for The Australian Broadcasting Company’s 2BL on March 19th 1932. Then on July 1st 1932, The Australian Broadcasting Commission was launched when his father introduced Prime Minister Joseph...

The passing of Athol Thomas (12/5/1924 – 17/11/2012) Athol Thomas was a journalist and popular columnist in Western Australia and also TVW’s first Publicity Officer in 1959. Athol Thomas in 2009 at the TVW Reunion He joined the RAAF at 18, and, after training as a wireless-air gunner, served in Papua New Guinea, and later, as an air controller directing Catalina pilots along a clear path into Perth’s Matilda Bay at Crawley, where they operated during the second world war until September 1st, 1944. Catalina Flying Boats in Matilda Bay during the Second World War While...

Photo Flashback: TVW Secretaries and Peter Dean (in drag) help celebrate the retirement of Sir James Cruthers in 1981 with their take on the Mickey Mouse Club song     A group of former TVW secretaries and production ladies enjoyed reminiscing together on Sunday November 4th 2012. It was planned as a picnic on the foreshore at Crawley, but unfortunately the weather deteriorated and the gathering moved indoors. The ladies in attendance were… Mignon Birch (nee McCurry) Helen Malloch (nee Boyes) Lesley Bradford (nee Mills) Nola Bradshaw, formerly Bosoni (nee Cressey) Jan...

The 2012 Channel Seven Perth Telethon Weekend will be held on 10th and 11th of November at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The live 26 hour appeal is held annually on the stage of the 2,500 seat Riverside Theatre at the Centre, and is televised on Channel 7 Perth and on the Golden West Network throughout Regional WA. Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre Riverside Theatre Before moving to the Centre, it was held at TVW Channel 7’s studios at Tuart Hill (later known as Dianella) after being established in 1968 by a group of senior television executives. Telethon...

We wish to advise that Perth science-teacher-turned-history-author and founder of the Light and Sound Discovery Centre, Richard Rennie, has produced an exciting new reference to everything old in relation to Western Australia wirelesses and gramophones. NEW PUBLICATION The Encyclopedia of Western Australian Wirelesses and Gramophones by Richard Rennie. In the first half of the twentieth century, various companies and individuals manufactured and sold gramophones and wirelesses in Western Australia. Cut off by distance from the rest of Australia, it was necessary for Western Australia...

Glenys Gill (nee Andrijasevich) started at TVW Channel 7 in 1969, to join the elite team of secretaries employed by Seven. They had to be elite as Managing Director Sir James Cruthers insisted on perfection, when it came to the typing of letters and memorandums. He was trained as a journalist and possessed well tuned shorthand skills, enough to intimidate any stenographer, as he could read their notation upside-down and correct them. Seven News Unit Manager Lesley Bradford (Mills) recalls Glenys joining TVW… “I remember her first day at 7 … it was October 15, 1969 …. I...

As retirees and broadcasting history enthusiasts our intrepid researchers Richard Ashton and Gordon McColl have one rule which determines every task: “If it ain’t fun, we ain’t doing it !” There’s so many people to catch up with, who have a shared history, and so many interesting and exciting things to do, that anything otherwise tends to get a miss. The fun occasions often involve veterans getting together to share fond memories and describe events they witnessed first hand. Mingling which mainly happens in a relaxed social setting, tends to reinvigorate the camaraderie...

Sunday 30th of September, 2012 was the culmination of a series of events to celebrate the centenary of Wireless Hill this year. Scheduled events prior included a Sculpture Walk in February/March; an outdoor film night in March; a history of Wireless Hill talk in March; National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) week activities during July; a wildflower walk in September, and coming soon, the launch of Richard Rennie’s Encyclopaedia of Western Australian Wirelesses and Gramophones set for 14th October. The day was celebrated with free entertainment,...

The National Theatre Company at the Playhouse (1956 – 1984) Live entertainment in Perth went well beyond the bounds of the Playhouse Theatre (1956), and its predecessor the Repertory Club (1919), for live theatre was being conducted at many venues in Perth and Fremantle from the earliest years when the Mechanics Institute (1851) on corner of Howick (Hay) and Pier Street, the Perth Town Hall (1870) and St George’s Hall (1879) in Hay Street attracted audiences. Not to mention the many balls, dance venues and cabarets which sprung up. There was Ye Olde Englishe Fayre, an open air venue...

The Perth National Theatre Company was liquidated in 1984. According to Australia Council figures, the National Theatre Company in Perth was struggling with operating deficits of $8,000 in 1981, $198,000 in 1982 and $672,000 in 1983. In February 1984 the National Theatre Company was liquidated and the Perth Theatre Trust took over the building and the running of the Playhouse Theatre, which then became the home to The Playhouse Theatre Company [1984–85], then briefly the Threshold Theatre Company before a name change to the XYZ Theatre Company, and finally adopting the title Western Australian...