Memory, Migration and Television: National Stories of the Small Screen

The introduction of television into Australia in 1956 coincided with the nation’s socially transformative post-World War II migration scheme. Drawing upon a national project that traces the conjoined histories of television and cultural diversity in Australia, this chapter examines the significance of television to the experiences of migration as reflected in oral histories and memoirs. First, it examines the ways migrants to Australia reflect on the place of television in their experiences of settlement, and how the imported and local programming contributed to a sense of belonging. Second, it explores the little-known history of migrant producers in the 1970s and 1980s, and variety programmes they made in languages other than English for migrant audiences.