00:00Good evening and welcome to television. On September 16 1956 those words launched
00:06Australia's broadcast history. The arrival of television came just two
00:11months before Australia hosted the first ever Olympic Games in the Southern
00:15Hemisphere.
00:18Now the sacred flame, lit in Greece some 12,000 miles away, carried halfway around the world by
00:24teams of runners in relay. By 1957 more than 200,000 televisions had been
00:30sold to households nationwide. Australia was now connected in witnessing
00:35history as it happened alongside the world.
00:38That's one small step for man,
00:43one giant leap for mankind. And then came colour TV in March 1975.
00:55Come on in, it's lovely!
00:57I can't hold it on very long!
01:00Here it goes, Albert!
01:05Oh, what a beautiful room!
01:07Australians join the world on the front row, watching all the horrors and glories unfold,
01:12from the Vietnam War, to the Royal Wedding, to the death of Princess Diana.
01:20The world is in shock. Diana, Princess of Wales is dead,
01:23and Britain is in mourning.
01:25The first major event in Australia to be given rolling news coverage happened in 1997,
01:31with the devastating landslide at Thredbo.
01:3413 people still unaccounted for, but this is Stuart Diver who has been released from his hole,
01:41underneath it collapsed, the two collapsed skiloges.
01:44Yeah, there's the chair, there's the chair going up, they've suddenly realised around here, they know that he's out.
01:51These were the events the world witnessed in real time.
01:55Now to some breaking news, just through, and CNN is reporting tonight,
01:59that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Centre.
02:02That is all the information we have just now.
02:04We will bring you an update as soon as the details come to hand.
02:08But a major breaking story in the United States.
02:11New York, as we speak, you can see the pictures there coming in now, live from CNN.
02:29Along with local and international news came soapies and Aussie comedies.
02:40I'll let you, Kimmy, Kimmy, now look at me, look at me, Kim, look at me, look at me.
02:46Now I've got one word to say to you, Kim.
02:48Polly put the kettle on.
02:54Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on.
02:58Widely considered one of the saddest moments in soapy history,
03:012.2 million people watched the death of Molly Jones on A Country Practice when it aired in 1985.
03:11Molly!
03:12And in 1987, 2 million people in Australia tuned in to watch Scott and Charlene marry on Ramsey Street.
03:20Nearly 20 million people watched it when it was later aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom.
03:26By 2000, television had well and truly taken its place as king of entertainment in Australia,
03:33just in time for the Sydney Olympics.
03:38Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sydney 2000 Games of the 27th Olympia.
03:478.8 million people, or roughly 46% of the nation's population at the time, tuned in on September 25,
03:562000,
03:57to watch Cathy Freeman run 49.11 seconds in her historic gold medal winning 400 metre sprint.
04:10The race remained Australia's most watched television broadcast for 23 years until it was eclipsed by the more than 11
04:18million audience
04:20that tuned in to watch the Matildas take on England in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final.
04:29From its start to its present, nothing brings the nation together around the television quite like its sports stars.
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