The television set in Australian homes during the 1950s and 1960s

A television brought moving pictures into the home, but its arrival was uneven. This history follows the black-and-white set as a household possession through surviving objects, documented purchases and the spread of broadcasting.

An arrival that depended on place

Regular television broadcasting began in Sydney in September 1956, followed by Melbourne that November. Services reached Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia in 1959, Tasmania in 1960 and the Australian Capital Territory in 1962. These milestones mark the beginnings of services, not universal household access. The early story therefore differs considerably by location. National Museum of Australia, TV and Melbourne Olympics.

A screen housed like furniture

Powerhouse preserves an AWA Radiola television made in Sydney in 1956, object B2015. It has a 17-inch black-and-white screen and a maple-finished cabinet on a stand. The complete object measures 925 mm high, 585 mm wide and 555 mm deep. These dimensions help explain the space a household needed to allocate to this particular set. Its furniture-like finish also suggests an object designed to sit visibly among domestic furnishings. That interpretation concerns this surviving model; it does not establish what every Australian television looked like. Powerhouse, AWA television receiver.

Buying a set and sharing the picture

A documented purchase connects television to one family’s life: the Burgi family bought a Ferris Challenger at Bennett Bros in Lilydale in 1956 for their grandmother to watch the Melbourne Olympics. Old Treasury Building also describes television as a substantial expense and notes that households paid an annual viewer’s licence. Owning the receiver therefore involved more than its purchase price. Old Treasury Building, Television.

Ownership and viewing were different things. At Sydney’s launch, people watched shop-window sets, while retailers and owners hosted viewing parties. Advice in the Women’s Weekly about rearranging living rooms shows that finding space for television became a practical domestic concern. These examples document shared viewing and changing interiors without implying that every family acquired a set immediately. National Museum of Australia, TV and Melbourne Olympics.

Making time for television

Early stations broadcast for limited hours, with test patterns occupying other airtime. Watching a programme consequently meant fitting viewing around the broadcast schedule. Old Treasury Building describes communal watching among families and friends during the 1950s and 1960s. Its Melbourne examples include the police drama Homicide, beginning in 1964, and the ABC serial Bellbird, beginning in 1967. These named programmes show some of the locally produced entertainment available during the decade; they do not establish any individual household’s preferences. Old Treasury Building, Television.

Children's programmes on a black-and-white screen

The ABC first broadcast the Australian Play School on 18 July 1966. The National Museum preserves props associated with the programme, including its familiar windows and clocks. These objects provide identifiable evidence of television made for young viewers, although they cannot tell us which children watched or how often.

The distinction between decades matters: colour television arrived in Australia in 1975. A reconstruction of ordinary viewing in the 1950s and 1960s should therefore show black-and-white pictures. The museum also dates Play School’s rocket clock to the later colour era, so it should not be projected back into the programme’s beginnings. National Museum of Australia, Play School collection.

What the evidence can tell us

A surviving receiver establishes the features of one manufactured object. A documented purchase connects a set to particular people and a purpose. Broadcasting dates establish when services began, while decorating advice records expectations about domestic arrangements. None alone proves a typical national experience. The evidence used here is strongest for Sydney and Melbourne and for specific objects and families; it should not be treated as a complete account of rural, remote or otherwise undocumented households.

Explore the Everyday Objects collection for other material approaches to daily life.