Australian television's forgotten history revealed in Channel 7 archives

As Channel 7 celebrates 70 years on air, a hunt through the archives has turned up extraordinary old footage exposing a long-forgotten story about the start of television in Australia. Since 1956, Australians have been told the first face on Australian TV was Bruce Gyngell with his famous greeting: “Good evening and welcome to television.”

Australia’s forgotten first television broadcast from 1934 But decades earlier, silent movie star Janet Gaynor actually claimed the honour in 1934. The discovery reveals Australia’s first TV station operated over 90 years ago, holding the first full television licence not only in Australia but also in the Southern Hemisphere.

X-ray technician Tom Elliott broadcast pictures from Brisbane with viewers in Sydney and Melbourne. “And then I loaned him a piece of film which showed Mickey Mouse playing the piano. And of course, when that came over [the air], we got a terrific thrill,” Elliott’s friend Alan Campbell recalled. The footage shows what TV looked like then — a tiny screen with a big future. The station broadcast two hours a day, from 7.30pm till 9.30pm, with various programs. Television became a casualty of the Second World War, but peacetime gave it a reboot.

By then, the early days had been forgotten. By the time of the 1956 relaunch, there wasn’t enough room in the cramped studio. “The chair wouldn’t move any further, so I had to sit like this to get on camera,” Gyngell recalled. “So I sat the entire night with my left shoulder dropped and my right shoulder up saying, ‘good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to television’.”