Television.AU – The History of Australian Television

Obituary: Dieter Brummer

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 15:00:06 +0200

Dieter Brummer, best known as Shane Parrish in Home And Away, has died at the age of 45. He is reported to have been found by police doing a welfare check at his home. His death is not being treated as suspicious. Brummer was 16 years old when made his acting debut as Shane Parrish …

Obituary: John Cornell

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 15:00:10 +0200

John Cornell, filmmaker, actor and director, has died at the age of 80. He passed away peacefully, ending a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, with his wife, Delvene Delaney, and eldest daughter by his side at his home in Byron Bay. Born in Kalgoorlie in 1941, he worked at Perth’s Daily News newspaper before becoming …

Seven Gold Coast farewells Rod Young

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:00:45 +0200

Queensland newsreader Rod Young on Thursday night presented his last news bulletin for the Gold Coast edition of Seven News. His retirement ends a career spanning 45 years. He started in radio and made the move to television in 1987 (pictured) as chief newsreader for ABC News in Brisbane. He left ABC in October 2002, …

Obituary: David Leckie

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 10:00:02 +0200

David Leckie, former executive at the Seven and Nine networks, has died at the age of 70 after a long illness. He had a career spanning four decades, rising from the role of sales executive at GTV9, Melbourne, in the late 1970s to becoming one of the most powerful figures in the Australian television industry. …

Obituary: Mary Ward

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:00:58 +0200

Actress Mary Ward, best known as Jeanette “Mum” Brooks in Prisoner, has died peacefully in a nursing home at the age of 106. Born in Western Australia in 1915, she went to the United Kingdom in the 1930s to pursue a successful acting career. She had just signed a long term contract to work at …

Obituary: Jonathan Coleman

Sat, 10 Jul 2021 08:00:23 +0200

Television and radio personality Jonathan Coleman has died surrounded by family after a four-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 65 years old. His son Oscar issued a statement on behalf of the family earlier today: From the family: pic.twitter.com/bAdPHI7Bk9 — Oscar Coleman (@OscarBColeman) July 10, 2021 Born in the UK in 1956, he was …

A New Way to Follow Us!

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 04:00:57 +0200

Since 2008, Television.AU has provided an email feed of blog posts through Feedburner. At the end of June this year, Feedburner retired the email subscription service. Television.AU is now subscribed to follow.it, allowing email feeds to continue and providing additional options for reading content from this site. Any active email addresses subscribed to Television.AU through …

50 years since Pick-A-Box ended

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 23:00:19 +0200

It is 50 years ago today that Pick-A-Box ended an era as Australian television’s first long-running quiz show. It was not the first quiz show on Australian television — though its existence as a radio program pre-dated television by several years — but it was the first to capture a significant national following and it …

Southern Cross confirms Ten deal

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 02:00:31 +0200

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced that it has confirmed a two-year deal with Network Ten for program supply to its outlets in Regional Queensland, Regional Victoria and Southern NSW/ACT. The deal will see SCA’s outlets in those markets switch from a Nine Network feed to Ten, including channels 10, 10 Bold, 10 Peach and …

Ten and WIN confirm Northern NSW deal

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:00:15 +0200

The Ten Network and WIN Television have extended their affiliation agreement for the regional Northern NSW market for the next five years. The deal will see WIN continue to provide programming from channels 10, 10 Bold and 10 Peach to the Northern NSW region, which includes the Gold Coast. Jarrod Villani, Chief Operating and Commercial …

Community TV gets a three-year extension

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:00:43 +0200

Some common sense prevails… for a while anyway. Community TV stations C31 Melbourne and 44 Adelaide have managed to secure a further three-year extension to their free-to-air broadcast licences. The decision, granted by the Federal Government, comes just days before both channels were scheduled to go off-air following the previous 12-month extension granted last year. …

Obituary: Mike Bailey

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 06:00:02 +0200

Mike Bailey, former ABC and Seven Network weather presenter, has died in hospital, surrounded by family, after a recent illness. He started as a cadet journalist at ABC in 1968 before leaving in 1972 for ATN7, Sydney, as news reporter and weather presenter. He returned to ABC as weather presenter in Sydney in 1985. He …

Obituary: Dinah Shearing

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:00:30 +0200

Dinah Shearing, veteran actress from Australian film, stage, radio and television, has died peacefully at the age of 95. Born in Sydney to English parents while they were visiting Australia, Shearing was twelve before she was to return with her family to settle in Sydney. Despite an early interest in art and working as a …

Judi Farr in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 11:00:14 +0200

Veteran Australian actor Judi Farr has been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List for “significant service to the performing arts as an actor”. With a career across film, stage and television, Farr came to fame as Rita Stiller in the 1960s sitcom My Name’s McGooley, What’s Yours? (pictured above with co-stars Gordon Chater …

Obituary: Peter Sharp

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 11:00:24 +0200

Peter Sharp, prominent television and football identity in Tasmania, has died peacefully at the age of 78. Born in Tasmania, Sharp’s early career was in Melbourne — as a sports commentator and reporter at ATV0 in the 1960s and ’70s. He was soon to return to Tasmania, where he appeared as a presenter and commentator …

Obituary: John Gregg

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 15:00:39 +0200

John Gregg, veteran actor on film, stage and television, has died at the age of 82. Born in Tasmania, Gregg was set to take over running the family farm but instead wound up scoring an audition at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Hobart. He had a season with the Melbourne Theatre Company …

Obituary: Mary Rossi

Tue, 25 May 2021 12:00:47 +0200

Mary Rossi, one of the pioneers of daytime TV in Australia, has died at the age of 95. A celebration of her life was held in Sydney on Monday. Rossi was the first host of ABC‘s Woman’s World program that aired in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Beginning during the first week of ABC …