Australia Stations

THE ABC's NETWORK OF STATIONS

The Australian Broadcasting Commission / Corporation (ABC) broadcast its television service on a regional and later a fully networked basis across Australia. This page provides an overview of the ABC's network of parent, relay and translator stations.

ABC REGIONAL BROADCASTS

ABC's Country Stations; Australia TV Yearbook 1968. The staggered launch dates of the stations that opened in 1965 meant that viewers out in the country were introduced to Doctor Who sometimes part way through a story!

When Doctor Who arrived on Australian television screens in early 1965, the ABC operated eight self-contained regional television networks -- one each in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, while Queensland had transmissions out of Brisbane, Townsville and Rockhampton, which were also counted as separate regional networks.

PARENT AND COUNTRY STATIONS

Each network had a "parent station" and studio operating from the state capital city (called Metropolitan centres), and that 'parent' transmitted signals by "line of sight" microwave link to 'regional' stations (also called "country stations") situated in or near major coastal or inland towns within that state. Only some of the regional / country stations had their own onsite studio which was able to 'switch off' from the network feed to broadcast alternative signals at source, such as news, weather and sports, or coverage of local events.

Prior to 1965 (before Doctor Who was shown), there were many "Regional" stations operating independently of each state network, and as such would receive film prints on a "bicycling chain" distribution arrangement. Once the Regionals connected to the state network, they received the "live" feeds by microwave link from the state capital (see below).

The majority of the ABC's country stations went into operation during 1965, widening the viewership of Doctor Who in its debut year alone, while the next few years saw more and more country stations, relays and translators becoming operational, expanding Doctor Who's viewership even further.

Some country stations transmitted signals to a series of translator relays dotted around the inland areas of each state to reach remote towns and communities. In very broad terms, translators were a relatively low-powered device which received signals from its 'parent' station or another translator and re-transmitted those signals on a different frequency. Signals were sent along high-quality transmission lines or via "line of sight" microwave links (which of the two was dependent on the terrain and the distances between towers). By the late-1970s, the ABC operated over 80 translator relays across the country; many more were added to each network over the next few decades.

All stations within each network therefore broadcast the same programmes simultaneously, while those country stations equipped with their own studio could 'switch off' from the 'parent' network to screen alternative programming.

By the beginning of 1966, the number of ABC networks had reduced to six when the three Queensland networks merged into just one: the single 'parent' station broadcast out of Brisbane, although both Townsville and Rockhampton would still on occasion switch off the Brisbane network feed and play alternative schedules within their own group of linked country stations.

The seventh and final ABC network was established when television finally arrived in the Northern Territory in 1971, however the new network based in Darwin collapsed only three years later, when Cyclone Tracy devastated the region in December 1974…

Map showing where the main TV stations, repeaters and relays were situated as at June 1975. IMPORTANT NOTE: the red lines connecting the stations ARE OUR ADDITION to an existing map, and intended for illustrative purposes only; these are a (very rough!) approximation of how the line-of-sight microwave relays and transmission cables created networks of inter-linked stations within each State / Territory - and sometimes over State borders, such as the link connecting Queensland with the Northern Territory

REPEATER STATIONS / MINING CENTRES

A third form of "network" was the Repeater Station. Remote communities on the islands off the coasts of Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory, and small towns and mining centres in remote areas of the same states had television provided to them from the early 1970s by low-power repeater stations transmitting over a short to medium range. Since repeaters could only transmit from magnetic tape, programmes would be recorded by a 'parent' station and the tapes delivered to the repeater stations on a weekly basis (at their expense).

Map showing the locations of the remote mining communities in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland (marked with a "+") that received weekly consignments of video-taped programmes during the early to mid-1970s

• The stations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (Dampier, Mt Tom Price and Newman) and the Yampi Sound (Koolan and Cockatoo Islands) were supplied with tapes recorded in Perth flown up to Dampier and sent down the line by rail
• Weipa in north Queensland had its tapes sent up from Townsville
• Although consideration was made in 1974 for Groote Eylandt to be added to the Townsville / Weipa circuit, the island was instead added to the Perth / Dampier circuit

But there were limitations to this method. The 2 inch Quad video-tapes used could only store four hours of recorded material each, while the recording equipment at the 'parent' station could not be stopped or paused, and had to run continuously for that four hour period until the tape ran out!

Since the mining communities wouldn't want the 6pm news from the 'parent' region, regular recordings were usually started after 6.05pm or 6.30pm (depending on the length of the news bulletin), which often meant that an early evening serial like Doctor Who (by then starring Jon Pertwee) would not always be recorded during the four hour capture period when a more desirable programmes was airing later that night. (The mid-afternoon Patrick Troughton repeats were certainly far too early and were never recorded.)

When the Pertwees were airing at 6.30pm (as they were between 1972 and 1975) the series was definitely being recorded in Perth for the Pilbara communities.

VARIANT NETWORKS

To give but a few examples of variant network set-ups:

• Federal capital Canberra received the ABC Sydney signal, but would from time to time screen its own alternative scheduled programmes. Since the transmitters that served the towns of Bega and Cooma in south-eastern New South Wales were relays only, those two towns (and the others within the relay towers' 'line-of-sight') therefore saw what was beamed out of Canberra, not Sydney.

• The translators that served the small inland towns of central and northern Queensland received and boosted the signal coming from one of three 'parent' stations. The signals originating from Rockhampton in the central north of Queensland were transmitted west along the chain of relays as far as Longreach. Further north, Townsville fed its signal to five relays in a long chain heading west inland that reached as far as Mount Isa near the border with Northern Territory, with a second chain stretching north along the coast as far as Cairns.

• During the 1970s, the signal from the Mount Isa (Queensland) transmitter was able to reach the relay station at Tennant Creek in Northern Territory, thus returning TV reception to much of the region following the loss of broadcasts from the 'parent' station in Darwin when Cyclone Tracy hit the city in December 1974.

• In Western Australia, the bulk of the population lived in the south-west, and signals broadcast out of Perth reached those areas by usual "line of sight" transmitters. The remote mining communities in the north-west had television by way of repeater stations that were owned by the mining companies, with tapes recorded in and flown from Perth on a weekly basis. (These repeaters could only broadcast for four hours per day.) By the mid-1970s, the expanding chain of relay stations along the west coast meant that "live" signals from Perth eventually reached the north as far as Dampier and Karratha (via co-axial cable), so pre-recording programmes was no longer necessary for most parts of that region (although other repeater stations further inland – such as those in the remote mining region of Pilbara in north WA - were still being supplied with taped programming that was recorded for them during the previous week).
• Although colour was launched by the networks in March 1975, the northern relay links could still only transmit in black and white, so for a time the ABC fell back on the old but reliable method of recording programmes in Perth and flying the tapes to the repeaters for delayed transmission. But by late 1976, the transmitter relays had been converted and colour transmissions commenced for those communities.
• By the early 1980s, increased satellite coverage brought "live" colour signals to many of the remote areas previously served by soon to be obsolete repeater station links.

TIME ZONES VARIANCES

Australia has three standard 'longitude' time zones: 1) the first (West) covers all of Western Australia; 2) the second (Central), includes the two 'middle' states, Northern Territory and South Australia; 3) the third (East) incorporates Queensland, New South Wales, Canberra (ACT), Victoria and Tasmania. During most of the year, Western Australia is an hour and a half 'behind' South Australia and Northern Territory, and two hours 'behind' Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, ACT/Canberra, and Queensland.

During summer, the time difference between west and east was shifted by an hour when Daylight Saving was observed: but the allocation of Daylight Saving in Australia is quite complex, since not all states observe the change to clocks at the same time, or at all! In terms of when Doctor Who aired, Tasmania has observed annual DLS since 1967; New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have observed annual DLS since 1971; Queensland had a love/hate relationship with DLS, only observing it from 1971-72, and then 1989-92; while Western Australia observed it sporadically: in 1974-75, 1983-84, 1991-92, and 2006-2009. Northern Territory has not observed DLS at all. (For more on Australia's time zones, see HERE and HERE.)

In short, the variable time changes across the country meant that even though each region scheduled Doctor Who in the same early evening timeslot – such as 6.30pm – the series actually aired in the west two or three hours after it had already aired in the east.

PROGRAMME DISTRIBUTION METHODS

Although a co-axial cable linking Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne was officially opened on 9 April 1962, and the ABC's west to east microwave link (connecting all the coastal cities between Carnarvon in Western Australia to Cairns in Queensland) was officially launched on 9 July 1970 -- promoted as "Project Australia" – these cables chiefly supplied telephone communications, and to use the cables for television transmissions had to be booked months in advance. This method of providing scheduled programming was therefore unpredictable as well as costly, so the cables were only used by the ABC for the distribution of news updates and live sports coverage, but never for ongoing dramas.

The purchase, acquisition and distribution of programmes were dealt with by the ABC's headquarters in Sydney. Prior to 1975, the ABC received most of its imported programmes on 16mm black and white film (some of it was supplied on video tape, but that was a rarity). With eight networks (later six, then seven) to supply programming to, the ABC had to adopt the most cost- and time-effective ways to distribute material around the country to meet the often-changing scheduling demands of each 'parent' station. The film prints were delivered by plane. Each network therefore had airdates staggered by a week to allow sufficient time for delivery and preparation, broadcast, then dispatch to the next station.

But on the very few occasions during the 1960s and 1970s where the same episode of a series was scheduled to air on the same day by two or more networks, ABC HQ would make a second copy of that episode -- not as a film print as has often been suggested, but on a 2 inch Quad Video Tape Recording (VTR). While the original 16mm film print was circulating on a staggered basis week by week between one group of stations, the VTR duplicate/s were bicycling between the second group of stations. The tapes would then be returned to Sydney (usually by train), to be wiped and reused.

When Doctor Who was repeated in weekday afternoon slots, if an episode was scheduled to air no less than two days apart on two networks, there was still sufficient time for the 16mm film print to be flown to the next 'parent' station. But on the very rare instance where the same repeated episode was needed by more than one station less than two days apart, a VTR copy was supplied to one of the stations.

As noted above, in the early to mid-1970s, a weekly supply of specially-recorded video tapes were also supplied to the remote mining communities in Western Australia and Queensland. These were bicycled between the various towns then back to the relevant home base for reuse.

With the introduction of colour broadcasts in March 1975, all ABC programming was supplied to each 'parent' station by way of video tape copies made from the master tapes supplied by the distributors. The few programmes that were supplied on colour film were usually transferred onto video tape first.

Advancements in satellite technology throughout the 1970s also enabled broadcasts of ABC programming to reach remote communities in the "outback" that were before not able to be connected to the relay or repeater "networks", and by the mid-1980s satellites were used to transmit ABC signals to Papua New Guinea.

By the end of the 1970s, it was believed that over 97% of the population of the country could receive the ABC. But it wasn't until the mid-1990s, with the growth of satellite technology (introduced to Australia in the 1960s) that the ABC would became fully networked to carry the same programming on all receivers throughout the whole country on the same channel number – Channel 2 – but with adjustments still being made for those centres that observed Daylight Saving. And although the stations were all fully synchronised to receive the same programming from Sydney, alternative scheduling still occurred to fit around regional news, local events, and live or delayed sports coverage.

As digital technology developed during the 2000s, the practice of shipping video tapes around the country was all but eliminated in favour of non-physical distribution methods. Certainly, when the ABC ran a run of repeats of Doctor Who in the 2000s, these were brand new digital copies supplied by the BBC.

Today, programmes are transmitted by satellite or by high-speed broadband data cables criss-crossing the country, replacing the old "line-of-sight" relay towers and co-axial links.

A GUIDE TO THE ABC STATIONS

For the sake of simplicity, and unless otherwise stated, when we identify a 'parent' CAPITAL CITY in the Australia Profile, Australia Transmission History and Table of Airdates in Australia pages, this is understood to include all the country and translator stations that were joined to that 'parent' city's network. (Any scheduling differences within a region are noted where such deviations are known, although these are often difficult to identify since old copies of regional TV listings are not easy to come by.)

The first episode of Doctor Who (1st DW column) that would have been available to viewers when the station went online is noted where known in the tables below. BUT NOTE: In the few instances where a new station did go online partway through a serial, it is entirely possible that the network feed was switched off and alternative programming was substituted so viewers weren't coming in cold in the middle of a serial that had already been running for a few weeks. It was only when the first episode of the next serial was transmitted that the network feed was switched back on.

New South Wales (ABN)

Sydney Morning Herald billing for the first episode, 15 January 1965

Canberra Times billing for the first episode, 15 January 1965

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABN transmissions from Sydney throughout much of New South Wales (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
SYDNEY	Sydney	ABN-2	5 Nov 1956	A1
CANBERRA	Canberra	ABC-3	18 Dec 1962	A1
Newcastle	Newcastle / Hunter River	ABHN-5	3 Jun 1963	A1
Wollongong	Illawarra	ABWN-5A	28 Oct 1963	A1
Orange	Central Tablelands	ABCN-1	31 Mar 1964	A1
Lismore	Richmond/Tweed [*]	ABRN-6	20 Apr 1964	A1
Wagga Wagga	South Western Slopes / Eastern Riverina	ABMN-0	30 Apr 1965	D4
Coffs Harbour	Grafton/Kempsey	ABDN-2	28 Jun 1965	E5
Tamworth	Upper Namoi	ABUN-7	27 Sep 1965	H2
Taree	Manning River	ABTN-1	29 Apr 1966	Q1
Bega	Bega/Cooma	ABSN-0 / 8	29 Jun 1966	Q1
Griffith	Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area	ABGN-7	25 Jul 1966	Q1
Dubbo	Central Western Slopes	ABQN-5	25 Sep 1966	Q1

• [*] Although it is in New South Wales, the north east town of Lismore lies close to the NSW/Queensland state border and as such from 1964 to 1967 the town received its television signals from nearby Brisbane rather than Sydney. The week prior to Christmas 1967, Lismore was switched to the Sydney feed in order to better synchronise all broadcasts across NSW
• ABSN Bega-Cooma was attached to Canberra (which was itself attached to Sydney); thus when Canberra aired local or alternative programming, the towns of Bega and Cooma (plus the other towns within the transmission range) received the alternative Canberra signal
• People living near the border of south Queensland and north New South Wales could also view broadcasts coming from the other region. (The Sydney feed was channel 2 on the dial; signals from other regions could be found by turning to another number on the dial)
• Refer to ABN (Sydney) and ABC (Canberra) for further info about these stations

Victoria (ABV)

The Melbourne Age billing for the first episode, 20 February 1965

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABV transmissions from Melbourne throughout much of Victoria (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually here):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
MELBOURNE	Melbourne	ABV-2	19 Nov 1956	A1
Bendigo	Bendigo	ABEV-1	29 Apr 1963	A1
Ballarat	Ballarat	ABRV-3	21 May 1963	A1
Traralgon	Latrobe Valley	ABLV-4	30 Sep 1963	A1
Shepparton	Goulburn Valley	ABGV-3	28 Nov 1963	A1
Albury/Wodonga	Upper Murray [*]	ABAV-1	15 Dec 1964	A1
Swan Hill	Murray Valley	ABSV-2	30 Jul 1965	D5
Mildura	Mildura and Sunraysia	ABMV-4	22 Nov 1965	G4

• [*] Although the city of Albury was located on the New South Wales side of the border with Victoria, it was 'closer' to Melbourne than to Sydney, and as such was part of the Victoria network
• Refer to ABV (Melbourne) for further info about these stations

Queensland (ABQ)

Brisbane Courier Mail billing for the first episode, 22 January 1965

Townsville Bulletin billing for the first episode, 4 March 1965

Rockhampton Morning Bulletin billing for the first episode; 18 March 1965

Generic Brisbane TV Times listing from August 1967 showing regional stations

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABQ transmissions from Brisbane throughout much of coastal and inland Queensland (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually here; the named second tier of stations were linked to one of the other relay stations, receiving those signals rather than directly from Brisbane -- e.g. Longreach received its transmission signals from Barcaldine, which in turn received its signals from Rockhampton):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
BRISBANE	Brisbane	ABQ-2	2 Nov 1959	A1
Toowoomba	Darling Downs	ABDQ-3	26 Dec 1963	A1
ROCKHAMPTON	Rockhampton [*]	ABRQ-3	21 Dec 1963	A1
Lismore	Richmond/Tweed [*]	ABRN-6	20 Apr 1964	A1
Kyogle-Bonalbo	Kyogle-Bonalbo	ABRN-3	?	?
TOWNSVILLE	Townsville [*]	ABTQ-3	21 Sep 1964	A1
Maryborough	Wide Bay	ABWQ-6	8 Oct 1965	H2
Warwick	Southern Downs	ABSQ-1	4 Jul 1966	S1
Cairns	Cairns	ABNQ-9	25 Jul 1966	S1
Mackay	Mackay	ABMQ-4	21 Dec 1967	KK1
	Relay stations:
Mount Isa	Mount Isa	ABIQ-6	21 Dec 1970
Cloncurry	Cloncurry	ABCLQ-7	17 Mar 1971
Julia Creek	Julia Creek	ABJQ-10	20 Apr 1971
Richmond	Richmond	ABRDQ-6	4 Jun 1971
Hughenden	Hughenden	ABHO-9	30 Jun 1971
Mary Kathleen	Mary Kathleen	ABMKQ-9	15 Dec 1971
Goondiwindi	Goondiwindi	ABFQ-6	9 Jul 1973
Miles	Miles	ABSMQ-9	30 Nov 1973
Roma	Roma	ABRAQ-7	14 Dec 1973
Emerald	Emerald	ABEQ-11	21 Dec 1973
Augathella	Augathella	ABAAQ-11	8 Mar 1974
Cunnamulla	Cunnamulla	ABCAQ-10	8 Mar 1974
Charleville	Charleville	ABCEQ-9	8 Mar 1974
Dirranbandi	Dirranbandi	ABDIQ-7	8 Mar 1974
Mitchell	Mitchell	ABMLQ-6	8 Mar 1974
Morven	Morven	ABMNQ-7	8 Mar 1974
St. George	St. George	ABSGQ-8	8 Mar 1974
Winton	Winton	ABWNQ-8	15 Nov 1974
Alpha	Alpha	ABAQ-8	19 Dec 1974
Barcaldine	Barcaldine	ABBQ-10	19 Dec 1974	EEE1
Blackall	Blackall	ABBLQ-9	19 Dec 1974
Clermont	Clermont	ABCTQ-10	19 Dec 1974
Longreach	Longreach	ABLQ-6	19 Dec 1974	EEE1
Springsure	Springsure	ABSEQ-9	19 Dec 1974

• [*] ROCKHAMPTON and TOWNSVILLE were initially two separate networks of stations with their own schedules of programmes (i.e. in 1965 they each aired Doctor Who on dates and times different to the rest of the state-wide Brisbane/Queensland network); that changed in January and February 1966 respectively, when each joined the Brisbane feed when all three networks were midway through screening the first Block of Doctor Who episodes (resulting in episodes overlapping or being skipped entirely)
  • In 1970, TOWNSVILLE aired the same episodes of Doctor Who but half an hour earlier than the rest of the state, broadcasting from video-taped copies
• [*] Although it was located in New South Wales, Lismore (ABRN-6) was closer to Brisbane, and was therefore part of the ABQ Queensland network until the week prior to Christmas 1967, when it became part of the ABN New South Wales / Sydney network
• Kyogle-Bonalbo (ABRN-3) was a sub-station of Lismore
• People living near the border of south east Queensland and north east New South Wales could also view broadcasts coming from the other region, although the timeslots for cross-border transmissions would be an hour 'out' during the year, when NSW observed Daylight Saving and Queensland did not
• In the mid-1970s, Townsville was the recording site for video-tapes supplied to the remote mining community of Weipa on the northern tip of Queensland. There were no recordings done on Sundays, which meant Doctor Who was missed. At first, each recording session was limited to be around four to six hours without stopping or pausing, and a such Doctor Who was not always included. These tapes were routinely sent back to the home station for reuse
• Eventually, these remote areas joined the state-wide network satellite feeds, and the need to recycle tapes was discontinued
• The relay station at Mary Kathleen (ABMKQ channel 9) was disconnected from the network when the small mining town was abandoned c. 1982
• From early 1975, after the loss of ABD-6 Darwin following Cyclone Tracy (see below), some of the other TV stations in Northern Territory joined the Brisbane feeds
• Refer to ABQ (Brisbane) for further info about these stations

South Australia (ABS)

Preview of the first Dalek story; Adelaide Mail, 13 March 1965

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABS transmissions from Adelaide to coastal, and inland towns of southern South Australia (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually; the named second tier stations were linked to one of the relay stations, receiving those signals rather than directly from Adelaide):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
ADELAIDE	Adelaide	ABS-2	11 Mar 1960	A1
Port Pirie	Spencer Gulf North	ABNS-1	10 Apr 1965	B1
Mount Gambier	South East South Australia	ABGS-1	3 Dec 1965	H3
Broken Hill	Broken Hill [*]	ABLN-2	14 Dec 1965	H5
	Relay stations:
Renmark/Loxton	Riverland	ABRS-3	20 Jan 1971
Ceduna	Ceduna	ABCS-7	16 Jul 1973
Woomera	Woomera	ABWS-7	30 Nov 1973
Leigh Creek	Leigh Creek	ABLCS-	28 Apr 1977

• [*] Although it was in New South Wales, Broken Hill (ABLN-2) was closer to Adelaide than Sydney, and its location placed it within the Central Time zone. As a result, the station was attached to the South Australia network rather than the NSW network
• In the mid-1970s, Adelaide was also the recording centre for video-taped programmes sent to the remote mining community on Groote Eylandt, a small island off the northeast coast of Northern Territory
• Leigh Creek was initially a repeater station only, with video-tape recordings supplied from Adelaide
• When ABD Darwin went off-line in December 1974, Adelaide provided video-taped programming to Alice Springs
• Refer to ABS (Adelaide) for further info about these stations

Western Australia (ABW)

Generic billing from Perth newspaper, January 1965

Article previewing the first episode in Perth, 12 January 1965

Generic TV Times listing for February 1974 showing Western Australian regional stations

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABW transmissions from Perth throughout much of coastal and a few of the more remote regions of Western Australia (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
PERTH	Perth	ABW-2	7 May 1960	A1
Bunbury	Bunbury	ABSW-5	10 May 1965	?
Northam-York	Central Agricultural Area	ABCW-4	28 Mar 1966	P1
Albany	Southern Agricultural Area	ABAW-2	6 Jun 1966	S1
	Relay stations:
Geraldton	Geraldton	ABGW-6	8 Dec 1969
Kalgoorlie	Kalgoorlie	ABKW-6	27 Jan 1970
Norseman	Norseman	ABNW-7	14 Apr 1971
Carnarvon	Carnarvon	ABCNW-7	30 Jun 1972
Southern Cross	Southern Cross/Bullfinch	ABSBW-9	16 Jul 1973
Port Hedland	Port Hedland	ABPHW-7	3 Oct 1973
Dampier	Dampier	ABDW-7	17 Dec 1973
Karratha	Karratha	ABKAW-	17 Dec 1973
Roebourne	Roebourne	ABRBW-9	17 Dec 1973
Moora	Moora	ABMW-10	30 Sep 1974
Esperance	Esperance	ABEW-10	21 Oct 1974
Morawa	Morawa	ABCMW-8	8 Mar 1975
Broome	Broome	ABW	not known

• Carnarvon was the relay station that supplied TV signals to the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt on the North West Cape. This station was manned by both Australian and US military personnel (until 1993, when the station became solely operated by the Australian defences force). There have been a number of claims by Americans over the years who say they saw Doctor Who when they served with the forces overseas. It's possible it was here that they saw the programme
• During the early 1970s, Western Australia also had several repeater stations operating in the northwest; video-tapes of programmes recorded during broadcast in Perth were dispatched to each repeater on a weekly basis. At first, programmes were recorded only six days per week (not on Sundays) with each recording session limited to be around four hours without stopping or pausing (as that was the length of each 2 inch videotape cassette), and even though Doctor Who aired around 6.30pm then, it was not always included in every recording session
• From late 1970, these tapes were also supplied to towns and communities in the Pilbara region of north WA, such as to Dampier (which relayed signals to Karratha), then sent on by train to the remote mining community at Mount Tom Price (which relayed signals to Paraburdoo) and then to Mount Newman. The communities on Koolan Islands in the Yampi Sound were also supplied with tapes, and these signals were relayed to Cockatoo Island. These tapes were routinely sent back to the home station in Perth for reuse.
• Colour transmissions became available in late 1976, and eventually these communities joined the state-wide network satellite feeds, and the need to recycle tapes was discontinued
• Refer to ABW (Perth) for further info about these stations

Tasmania (ABT)

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABT transmissions from Hobart throughout Tasmania and to King Island (plus a series of smaller translators serving other areas of the large island but too many to be listed individually):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
HOBART	Hobart	ABT-2	4 Jun 1960	A1
Launceston	North Eastern Tasmania	ABNT-3	29 Jul 1963	A1
King Island	King Island	ABKT-11	14 Jan 1972

• Refer to ABT (Hobart) for further info about these stations

Northern Territory (ABD)

The following are the main parent and country stations that relayed ABD transmissions from Darwin throughout the north and central regions of the Northern Territory (some of these stations also beamed to translators serving other regions of the state, but far too many to be listed individually):

City	Region	Ident	Launch date	1st DW
DARWIN	Darwin	ABD-6	13 Aug 1971	RR1
	Relay stations:
Alice Springs	Alice Springs	ABAD-7	16 Dec 1972	CCC4
Katherine	Katherine	ABKD-7	21 Dec 1974	OOO3
Tennant Creek	Tennant Creek	ABTD-9	21 Dec 1974	OOO3

• The Darwin television network went off-line on 24 December 1974 when Cyclone Tracy destroyed the transmitters. Limited broadcasts were re-established in early 1975, but it was a number of years before a full television service from Darwin resumed
• Residents of Northern Territory not affected by the damage caused by the cyclone were able to continue to receive television broadcasts, not from Darwin, but from elsewhere: the station at Tennant Creek was able to receive signals from Queensland's western-most relay at Mount Isa, which was the final transmitter of that east to west chain of relays being fed signals from Brisbane -- those in transmission range of Tennant Creek therefore saw the exact same programmes as the rest of Brisbane (a situation that continued at least until the late 1970s)
• Residents of Alice Springs were able to watch programmes transmitted by the local station which received a weekly consignment of video-taped programmes recorded from the 'parent' station in Adelaide (a situation that also continued until the early 1980s)
• Refer to ABD (Darwin) for further info about these stations

External Links: The following sites provide further information on the ABC's television network:

• ABC Television
• TIMELINE OF TELEVISION IN AUSTRALIA

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