Extract from ABC News
Feel good
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was required viewing in most households when it aired from 1968. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Ian Collis was a young boy in the late 1950s when his neighbours bought a television.
Collis, the author of Retro Television: What We Watched Back in the Day, used to gather with his siblings by the window to catch a glimpse of what the family next door was watching.
"If you opened our bathroom window and you could tilt your head just at the right angle, you could see through their side door and you could watch them watching the telly," Collis said.
"So, there was me and two older siblings and all three of us would be perched … trying to watch … the telly."
It didn't take long for his parents to decide that it was time to buy a television of their own for the household.
"Mum and Dad are going, 'This is ridiculous,'" Collis said.
"We've got to get these kids out of the bathroom."
Retro Television by Ian Collis is out now. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Retro Television is an illustrated pictorial history of what we watched during the first 25 years of TV in Australia, including Skippy, I Love Lucy, The Sullivans, The Brady Bunch, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Addams Family, to name a few iconic shows, as well as coverage of the 1969 moon landing.
Arriving at a time when people are grappling with another new technology — artificial intelligence — Retro Television takes readers back to the arrival of what was then a "new medium" that changed popular culture forever.
The book has archival photography, behind-the-scenes imagery and anecdotes such as when Countdown host Molly Meldrum told Prince Charles that he had seen "your mum" while in London.
The future King politely replied, "Are you referring to Her Majesty, The Queen?"
The then Prince Charles on Countdown with Molly Meldrum. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
It's a chance for people to reminisce, says Collis, and for younger people to get a glimpse of how things used to be.
"I think we got our first TV in 1960," Collis said.
"We loved it because as a household we never had a car.
"We would walk from our home to the nearest cinema, which is probably about a half an hour walk.
"But now to be able to enjoy watching these shows … in the inner sanctum of your home was brilliant."
He said back then a black and white television was about 10 times the average weekly wage.
"So, if you had a TV in your home, you became a very popular person in that street," he said.
"You'd have neighbours dropping in that you hadn't seen for a while."
Ian Collis says as a child he would try and catch a glimpse of his neighbour's TV through a window. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Despite the expense, TVs in those days didn't necessarily work particularly well.
"You'd have the little aerial on top of the TV and sometimes you couldn't get that right,"Collis said.
"And then if you were lucky enough to have a remote control for the TV, so you wouldn't have to get up out of your seat, which would be very rare … it would be on a long cord.
"And sometimes it wouldn't work, so you'd have to get up anyway and change the channel.
"We were probably a typical family. There was five of us. There was one TV.
"It got that competitive [over] who would watch what."
The book features The Sullivans, one of the staples of early Australian TV. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Collis says everything had to be watched live.
"There was no recording capability, there was no streaming, there was few channels,"he said.
"And if you really like the show, you had to be there that night to watch it, otherwise you missed it.
"So, if it was a series, you didn't want to miss anything."
What we watched
Mainstream television came to Australia in September 1956, when Bruce Gyngell famously took to the screen to say: "Good evening, and welcome to television" on the now Nine Network.
Before streaming, television brought Australians together around a small screen.
The ABC launched its new television services in November that year.
Collis, who is a rugby league historian, vintage photo collector and the author of more than 30 books, says Australians were mostly fed American content on TV, and we lapped it up.
"Mostly they were Westerns, detective shows, or comedies or variety shows from America," Collis said.
"And we imitated them in so many ways because in the 50s and 60s we were still predominantly an outside culture.
I Dream of Jeannie was another popular show. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
"We wanted our dog to be like Rin-Tin-Tin or Lassie.
"We wanted to maybe fly like Superman or be the hero that Zorro was.
"We cheered for the underdog in shows like The Adventures of Robin Hood.
"And we couldn't get enough of the singers from America — Frank Sinatra, Patti Page, and our own Johnny O'Keefe."
He says Americans have always been really good at selling their content and sometimes that starts with a good jingle.
Many Australians remember The Brady Bunch from their childhood. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
"If someone gives you a rhyme or a jingle, whether you agree or disagree with it, it definitely can stay with you longer," Collis said.
"So, we had shows like Green Acres, 77 Sunset Strip through to Gilligan's Island. These shows had really good jingles.
"And apart from that, we love the show. We love the tunes."
Australia content with our content
He said it was a real treat to watch Australian-made shows like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, which was groundbreaking.
"Just to be able to see any Australian content was great," Collis said.
"But to be able to talk to a kangaroo and get an answer, and the answer from the kangaroo was always the same … that was a very popular show."
Actors Ed Devereaux and Garry Pankhurst with Skippy. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Other Australian shows mentioned in the book include The Sullivans, The Paul Hogan Show, Division 4, Matlock Police, Bellbird, Hey Hey It's Saturday, Play School, Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight and Countdown.
"That [Countdown] was one of the really early shows that showcased a music video," Collis said.
"And Molly [Meldrum] got a lot of careers up and running."
Collis says through the years sport would come into our living rooms too.
"Starting in the early-ish 60s, you could watch it," he said.
"AFL, rugby league, soccer, cricket. ABC had a lot of cricket. Cricket was extremely popular."
Hey Hey It's Saturday host Daryl Somers with Big Bird. (Supplied: New Holland Publishers)
Collis is looking forward to people taking a nostalgic look back as they flick through the book.
"You watch TV these days and half of us, while we're watching TV, we're fiddling on our phones," Collis said.
"We're doing multiple things.
"People can reminisce and look back or people that are a little bit younger can gain a little bit of insight into what we did enjoy back in the day."
Retro Television by Ian Collis published by New Holland Publishers is out now.
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