C-DAY AND THE COLOUR MONSTER

Colour television was late to arrive in Australia. The USA, UK and most of Europe had adopted colour television in the mid-1960s. In Australia, however, it took years to decide firstly that Australia would adopt the German PAL colour television standard, instead of the American NTSC or French SECAM systems. It was not until 1972, after more deliberations, that the government finally set a date.

Despite deciding on the PAL format in 1969, the deliberations and delays continued as conversion required testing and manufacturers needed time to adopt the Australian standard. For broadcasters the conversion was going to be expensive – it was predicted that for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) alone it would cost $46 million over six years. The 1975 date, later known as 'C-Day', allowed time for manufacturers, public and private broadcasters alike to participate in the excitement.