All titles sourced from ABC
→ visit the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website.
196 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4
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Mr Squiggle and Friends – Cheer Up television program – 1990
A 1990s episode of iconic children’s series Mr Squiggle and Friends created and performed by Norman Hetherington, written by Margaret Hetherington and co-presented by their daughter Rebecca Hetherington.
Mr Squiggle and Friends – Episode 148 television program – c1960
Mr Squiggle is one of the most recognised children’s television characters. Although no longer on air, he continues to appear at exhibitions and science fiction conventions.
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Nature of Australia – A Separate Creation television program – 1989
This first episode of the most expensive wildlife program ever made in Australia boasts magnificent photography and a great script.
Nature of Australia – Land of Flood and Fire television program – 1988
The animals and plants must cope with the stresses of life in a place that swings savagely between the wet season and the dust and heat of the dry season.
Nature of Australia – The Sunburnt Country television program – 1989
At the time this series was made, the program makers felt they were showing Australian flora and fauna to many Australians for the first time.
The New Inventors – Series 1 Episode 8 television program – 2004
The host works hard to keep the show moving along, with gags and one-liners that provide a contrast to the seriousness of the backyard boffins explaining their life’s work.
The New Inventors – Series 2 Episode 8 television program – 2005
This short and snappy program works because it never loses sight of its most precious talent, the inventors and their amazing creations.
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Palace of Dreams television program – 1985
In this acclaimed drama series, an aspiring writer arrives in Sydney from the country during the turbulent and desperate times of the Great Depression.
Patrol Boat – Never Under the White Ensign television program – 1979
Patrol Boat is a television drama about the crew of a navy patrol boat, whose job it is to guard Australia’s coastal waters.
Peach’s Australia – Darling River television program – 1976
Bill Peach was a household name in Australia at the time he gave up being the presenter of This Day Tonight to return to his first love, travel journalism.
Peach’s Australia – Flinders Ranges television program – 1976
Peach’s meanders around the country he’s describing, offering tantalising snippets of history, spiced with art history and Aboriginal Dreaming stories.
Peach’s Explorers – East to West television program – 1984
Bill Peach loves Australian history and tells us explorers’ stories by using their words, cleverly recreated from diaries and notebooks, and journeying through the same arid interior.
Peach’s Explorers – South to North television program – 1984
There’s a strong sense that each of these men is very much of his time, imbued with a duty to expand knowledge and a ruthless craving for fame and fortune.
Peach’s Explorers – The Prison Walls television program – 1984
The story is entertainingly told with a clever use of dramatic re-creations. The various techniques work to bring history alive.
Peach’s Explorers – The Secret of the Rivers: Captain Charles Sturt television program – 1984
This Bill Peach series uses recreations, diary entries and letters, among other devices, to tell the story of Australia’s colonial exploration in visually interesting ways.
Peach’s Gold – Eureka television program – 1983
This series exploits a range of first-hand sources for its vibrant retelling of the history, while Bill Peach appears from time to time to explain and analyse.
Peach’s Gold – Finders Keepers television program – 1983
This series is a lively way to learn about history, skilfully blending actors, re-creations, paintings, songs and newspaper headlines to bring the era alive.
Peach’s Gold – Land of Gold television program – 1983
This Bill Peach documentary is full of events, larger-than-life characters and all the madness and colour of this most extraordinary chapter in Australia’s history.
The Pearl Fishers television program – 1963
This black-and-white television production of the opera was one of the earliest performances ever broadcast on the ABC and one of the most elaborate.
Petals – A Boot Full of Petals television program – 1997
Petals is an animated series for preschool children which revolves around the adventures of five tiny flower ‘petals’ who live at the bottom of an overgrown garden.
Play School – Bags Wednesday television program – 1984
An episode of the iconic pre-school program Play School from 1984, featuring presenters Noni Hazlehurst and John Hamblin.
Play School – Opposites Monday television program – 2006
Justine Clarke and Rhys Muldoon sing, march, make ‘surprise’ hats for each other, read a book and play games as they explore the weekly theme of ‘opposites’.
Play School – Trains Thursday television program – 1969
An early episode of iconic pre-school program Play School featuring presenters Don Spencer, Anne Haddy and Ruth Cracknell.
Poetry In Australia – Judith Wright television program – 1963
This simple, talking heads interview is most informative and a delight to watch. It is a must-see for students of Judith Wright’s work and fellow poets.
Profiles of Power, HC Coombs television program – 1970
When Dr Coombs saw the unnecessary cruelty of the Great Depression and its terrible impact on ordinary people, he decided to dedicate his life to economics.
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Ride On Stranger television program – 1979
Bookworm Shannon Jones heads for the Harbour City to learn about life, love and politics in the 1930s.
Rusty Bugles television program – 1980
Based on a banned 1948 stage play, this telemovie follows a group of soldiers posted to a remote base in the Northern Territory during the Second World War.
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Scales of Justice television program – 1983
The quasi-documentary style of this series adds a gritty reality to the typical car patrol of a police crew on any evening shift around Sydney streets.
Seven Little Australians television program – 1973
This is a delightful and faithful adaptation of Ethel Turner’s iconic Australian story, Seven Little Australians, into a charming television series.
Shifting Shelter 3 documentary – 2005
Shot over a ten-year period, and reminiscent of the British 7 Up series, Shifting Shelter follows four Indigenous teens into young adulthood.
Stateline – The Transcontinental Dream television program – 2004
The spine of the story is Mark Bowling’s journey from Adelaide to Darwin on the historic Ghan, but what makes the story special are moments from the history of the region.
The Stranger – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1964
A stranger with an accent, amnesia and seemingly no heartbeat arrives at the home of the Walsh family in Australia’s first science–fiction series.
Sylvania Waters – Episode 5 documentary – 1992
One of the first ‘fly on the wall’ reality TV shows, this co-production between the ABC and BBC was a hit here and in the UK.
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This Day Tonight – The Last Program television program – 1978
It is fascinating to hear the man who dismissed an elected Australian federal government in 1975 say that he would do it again.
Torque – Series 1, Episode 8 television program – 1974
Peter Wherrett, a former racing car driver and motoring journalist, praises or blames car manufacturers without fear or favour.
Torque – Series 4, Episode 10 television program – 1980
Peter Wherrett is great talent. He knows cars and can warn of the dangers of the road without sounding preachy.
A Town To Be Drowned television program – 1958
This ABC program was one of the first homemade documentaries on a contemporary local subject to be seen on Australian television, and previously thought to have been lost.
The Trouble With Medicine: Conceiving the Future television program – 1993
This is a thought-provoking program about advances in medicine, which we leave in the hands of doctors at our peril.
Two Tribes television program – 1998
It’s a tribute to the trust that the directors built with the kids and bankers alike that we get to share some very moving and quite intimate scenes.
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Wambidgee television program – 1962
An early children’s animated puppet series about the adventures of a young Aboriginal boy living in the bush.
Wandjina! – Episode 5 television program – 1966
Strange events occur when people search for two boys missing in the bush.
Weekend Magazine – Carnarvon Gorge and the Fighting Highlanders television program – 1982
Weekend Magazine was one of the first programs on television to teach people about the environment and how it should be cherished and protected.
What’s Your Poison? – Ecstasy television program – 1997
For young people of an age where drugs and alcohol are likely to be on offer, this is a no-nonsense examination of the pros and cons of taking ecstasy.
Why It Is So television program – 1973
Professor Julius Sumner Miller amazes and astounds his viewers with ‘light, optics and a brief adventure into modern physics’.
Winner Take All – Downside Risk television program – 1982
An ABC TV series about the fast-paced world of big business, Winner Take All is an early ‘80s time capsule.
With Gentle Majesty television program – 1962
The high point of the Melbourne Royal Agricultural Show each day is the Grand Parade. The initial languid pace of the filming and editing nicely underscores the images of the huge, slow-moving workhorses.
