Shell sponsored demonstration, 1949

More than 20 years after the first broadcasts in the United States, efforts to introduce television to Australia were stalled. Hoping to provide some much-needed impetus, the Shell Petroleum and Astor Radio companies sponsored a series of demonstrations around the country in 1949.

In Adelaide almost 9,000 people attended sessions across four days in the Freemasons Hall, North Terrace. Their heads oscillated between the variety show staged in front of them, and its telecast on one of the dozen standard television receivers dotted around the auditorium. Those without a ticket could watch through the windows of Rundle Street electrical retailer Gerard & Goodman.

Premier Thomas Playford used his televised speech to urge the Commonwealth Government to expedite the introduction of the technology. At the time, the two main political parties disagreed on the preferred model for broadcasting. When the Liberal/Country coalition won the Federal election in 1949 they scrapped any legislative progress made by their Labor predecessors, essentially sending Australian television back to square one. It would be another ten years before regular broadcasts began in Adelaide, even longer for regional South Australia.

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