Hello from Derby in England.

I hope it's OK to ask this question here, if not perhaps someone can suggest a better forum elsewhere.

I've been reading about 'synthetic cricket', where ABC reconstructed live coverage of Ashes cricket from telegraph cables from 1934 onwards http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/2bl/cricket.htm.

But when were the first true live broadcasts (of any sort) from the UK to Australia? Were the 1936 or 1952 Coronations broadcast over there?

When was cricket first broadcast live from England to Australia?

I've googled extensively, but can't find the answers to any of this.

Thanks in advance.

Two places worth contacting would be the Australian Broadcasting Commission as they were the ones that did it.

And perhaps the Historical Radio Society of Australia.

You would appreciate that the tyranny of distance was a big factor. If you look at the size & placing of Australia you will realise the entire British Isles would likely fit into South Australia's Lake Eyre when its full.

Marc

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Questions such as this one posed by yourself are most welcome here as it relates to the history of broadcasting in Australia.

The popularity of short-wave wireless recievers here in Australia during the late 1930's was partly driven by people staying up all night to listen to the cricket test broadcasts from England.

A good resource for the kind of information you are looking for is Trove Newspapers:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper.

This is a online library with hundreds of Australian newspaper titles with searchable articles.

Cheers.

Here is an example of what you might find on Trove:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10933016.

Happy trawling,
Cheers.

Hi Monochrome 625

Thanks for the link to Trove, as a registered user, I have just corrected the electronically translated text for that article.

Harold

Thanks for the link, Monochrome 625. Very interesting.

This is probably not the day to be mentioning the Ashes ;) but it seems there was some live coverage possible from England back to Australia, even in 1934. My guess is shortwave would have been very hit and miss over such a long distance.

Having asked similar questions on British forums, it seems the BBC didn't attempt live sports coverage from Australia until the arrival of the COMPAC cable in the 1960s.

I have little knowledge of when live broadcasting began though I do know that studios employed a lot of sound effects, simulating the bat hitting the ball, etc.

To BMR.
If you are still with us, the link from the Melbourne Argus, 1934 that Gandhn corrected was plucked randomly.
There would many if not hundreds of articles out there from Trove you can read on the subject.

And to Gandhn.
Thanks for correcting that article. I too am a avid Trove trawler and text corrector. The more people we can turn on to this valuable resource the better.

Cheers.