History of the ABC

Explore our comprehensive interactive timeline of 75 years of the ABC at our official 75 years website. Featuring a selection of the best ABC archives for ABC radio, TV and online.

The ABC will open its doors to local communities around the country this year in a program of community Open Days to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ABC.

The ABC will host a birthday concert in 14 locations around Australia – in capital cities and regional Australia. Celebrations will include studio presentations, classical and jazz concerts, studio tours and visits, and talks from local television and radio presenters, both old and new.

The ABC expects to celebrate with over one million Australians as the Open Day program rolls out over the coming months - a chance for people to celebrate the history of the ABC and to experience their ABC in a unique way.

The ABC has established a new award for young Australian musicians, awarded for the first time this year in conjunction with the 2006 Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Awards grand final.

The new award - the ABC Sir Charles Moses Trophy - commemorates the ABC's longest serving General Manager, Sir Charles Moses CMG who led the ABC from 1935 to 1965.

Sir Charles Moses was personally responsible for the development of the then ABC orchestras in each State, and he very strongly encouraged and supported the development of Australia's young musicians.

The Sir Charles Moses Trophy is a perpetual trophy which will be awarded to the winner of the Young Performer of the Year competition each year. A biographical sketch of Sir Charles Moses follows.

Read the biographical sketch of Sir Charles Moses

For seventy years the ABC has been a distinctive part of the Australian way of life.

Australia's only national, non-commercial broadcaster, the ABC has shared its history and development with the growth of our nation.

From its beginnings during the Depression years, the ABC has grown into Australia's largest broadcaster, entertainment and marketing organisation.

It has become an important part of Australia's cultural heritage, fostering the arts and reflecting the nation's cultural diversity.

When television transmission began in Australia in 1956, channels experimented with on-air presentation styles and ways of filling the time between programs. They wanted to ensure that, although programs had differing durations, each program started at the scheduled time - usually on the hour or half hour. Commercial channels used paid advertisements but the ABC had to look for other means including live on-camera presentation. Where this was not possible, filmed 'fillers' were used and viewers were subjected to endless charming and picturesque scenes of boat trips up local rivers and the like.

A senior engineer on the ABC staff, Ken Middleton, conceived the idea of using Lissajous figures or waveforms with appropriate background music as a form of fill- in material. Lissajous figures are named after Jules Lissajous, a 19th century physicist. They are the figures seen as an oscilloscope measures modulation, notably in sound and vision.

Middleton asked the TV Senior Graphics designer, Bill Kennard to work with members of the egineering staff experimenting with telerecording of the Cathode Ray Oscillograph displays - this was before videotape. They produced continuously varying Lissajous figures, pausing where frequency ratios produced interesting patterns. These recordings were used as occasional fillers.

In July 1963 the ABC announced that it would conduct a staff competition to create an ABC symbol for use on television, stationery, publications, microphone badges and ABC vehicles. Three cash prizes were offered.

In 1965 the General Manager, Talbot Duckmanton announced that although several entries to the competition had been of a high standard, there was no entry which was entirely suitable for the purpose. However, Bill Kennard had since submitted a design which was part of the waveform of an oscilloscope and so had relevance for both television and radio. The three loop wavelength had been selected by Bill as being most suitable to link the letters ABC. Bill was presented with twenty five pounds for his design.

Over the years the ABC waveform has undergone some modifications. It was, for example originally a thin line but with the advent of colour television the line of the wave was thickened so the colour could be used to greater effect.

In 2002, the 70th anniversary of the national broadcaster there was a major upgrade of the logo to give it a silver 3D look across all applications from the television screen to stationery.

The ABC waveform logo has been acclaimed over the years as one of the most recognised symbols in Australia.

Next: Birth of the ABC »