Trailblazing Women of Australian Public Broadcasting, 1945-1975

‘This is an important, overdue 'remembering' of women's role in the creation of the ABC - an entertaining read to set the historical (‘herstorical’) record straight - with startling insights into the good old days when the boys 'owned the game'. It’s an eye-opener for younger program-makers to meet the feisty women who paved the way for them.’ Caroline Jones AO, Veteran ABC broadcaster and national patron of Women in Media

Trailblazing women of Australian Public Broadcasting, 1945 - 1975 offers a compelling new perspective of Australian radio and television history.

It chronicles how a group of female producers defied the odds and forged remarkable careers in the traditionally male domain of public-affairs production at the ABC in the post-war decades. Kay Kinane, Catherine King, Therese Denny and Joyce Belfrage were ambitious and resourceful producers, part of the vanguard of Australian broadcasters who used mass media as a vehicle for their social and political activism. Fiercely dedicated to their audiences, they wrote, directed and produced ground-breaking documentaries and current affairs programs that celebrated Australian life, while also challenging its cultural complacency, its racism and sexism.

They immersed themselves in the ABC's many networks of collaboration and initiated a range of strategies to expand their agency and authority. With vivid descriptions of life at the ABC, this book traces their careers as they crossed borders and crossed mediums, following them as they worked on location shoots and in production offices, in television studios, control rooms and radio booths. In doing so it highlights the barriers, both official and unofficial, that confronted so many women working in broadcasting after World War II.

About the Author

Kylie Andrews is an historian who writes about media, production cultures and gender. Her recent research focuses on women and work in Australian public broadcasting.