The Australian Broadcasting Corporation had its origins in a licensing scheme for individual radio stations administered by the Postmaster-General's Department established in 1923 into a content provider in radio, television and new media. From 1928, the National Broadcasting Service was established to take over 12 radio licences as a national broadcaster, while the Australian Broadcasting Company (a private company established in 1924) was responsible for supplying programs to the service.

The Australian Broadcasting Commission was established on 1 July 1932, funded by the Australian Government and bound by legislation enshrined in the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act 1932. During and after the war, the ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news-gathering role. From July 1946, the broadcaster was required by new legislation to broadcast parliamentary sessions from the Australian Parliament, and its news services were expanded.

A national television service was introduced in November 1956, and ABC news bureaus were established in several countries through the 1960s and 1970s. During those decades too, ABC TV showcased rock 'n roll music on music programmes Six O'Clock Rock and Countdown.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation from the "Australian Broadcasting Commission" to the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation", effective 1 July 1983. The ABC Multimedia Unit was established in 1995, to manage the new ABC website.

Origins Background The first public radio station in Australia opened in Sydney at 8:00pm on 23 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB (later 2BL), which was the first full-time radio station in Australia. Other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart followed. A licensing scheme administered by the Postmaster-General's Department was soon established, allowing certain stations government funding, albeit with restrictions placed on their advertising content.

In 1924, the licensing system was changed. The Postmaster-General's Department collected all licence fees and broadcasters were funded as either A-Class or B-Class stations. A-Class stations (funded largely by listeners' subscriptions) received government funding and were able to take limited advertising, while B-Class stations received no government funding but could carry more advertising.

A 1927 Royal Commission into wireless broadcasting recommended that radio licence fees be pooled to fund larger A-Class stations. The government established the National Broadcasting Service to take over the 12 A-Class licences as they came up for renewal from 1928 through to 1930, at the same time acquiring the stations transmitters and studios. The original legislation permitted advertising, but this was removed from the Act before it came into effect. At the same time, the government contracted the Australian Broadcasting Company, a private company established in 1924, to supply programs to the new national broadcaster.

Initially the Postmaster-General's Department, which operated postal and telephone services, was responsible for operating the National Broadcasting Service, but this arrangement did not have universal political support.

Establishment of the ABC

The Australian Broadcasting Commission was established on 1 July 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission Act 1932, to take over the Australian Broadcasting Company and run the National Broadcasting Service. The ABC was to be based on the BBC model, funded primarily from listener license fees with some direct government grants.

The Australian Broadcasting Commission's original twelve radio stations were:

2FC Sydney 2BL Sydney 3AR Melbourne 3LO Melbourne 4QG Brisbane 5CL Adelaide 6WF Perth 7ZL Hobart 2NC Newcastle 2CO Corowa (Albury) 4RK Rockhampton 5CK Crystal Brook

These formed the basis for the present-day ABC Local Radio and Radio National networks.

At its inception, the commission was headed by five commissioners appointed by the Governor-General. From these five commissioners, one was appointed to the office of chairperson and another to the office of vice-chairperson. This board of directors then appointed a General Manager that did not have the office of commissioner. International broadcaster Radio Australia was incorporated into the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932.

The opening-day program included the first Children's Session with 'Bobby Bluegum', the first sports program, 'Racing Notes', with WA Ferry calling the Randwick races, 'British Wireless News', received by cable from London, weather, stock exchange and shipping news, the ABC Women's Association session (on 'common-sense housekeeping' and needlecraft), a talk on goldfish and their care, as well as 'Morning Devotions' and music. Conductor Sir Bernard Heinze was appointed part-time musical adviser to the ABC in 1934, while in 1937, the network was further expanded with the purchase of Brisbane's 4BC. Two years later, the commission began publishing the ABC Weekly – a radio magazine promoting the ABC's local radio, and later television, programs.

Over the next four years, the stations were reformed into a cohesive broadcasting organisation through regular program relays, coordinated by a centralised bureaucracy. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum at the time was made up of the ABC and the commercial sector.

During the broadcaster's first decades, programs generally consisted of music, news and current affairs, sport, drama, religion,A. Healy, A critical alliance: ABC religious broadcasting and the Christian churches [1932–1977], Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 26 (2005), 15–28. children's educational supplements and school broadcasts. Because recording technology was still relatively primitive, all ABC programs (including music) were broadcast live until 1935, when the first disc-based recorder was installed at the commission's Sydney studios. For this purpose, the ABC established broadcasting orchestras in each state, and in some centres employed choruses and dance bands.

Among the other early programs were the stations' famous "synthetic" cricket broadcasts – when tests were played in England, commentators in the ABC's Sydney studios used cables from London and sound effects to recreate the match in play. In addition, all 38 of William Shakespeare's plays were performed live between 1936 and 1938. Local drama was also produced, with a competition for plays and sketches from Australian authors held in 1934. Talks from prominent figures of the time such as King George V, Pope Pius XI, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and H. G. Wells were also broadcast.

By 1933, regular program relays were in place between the ABC's stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – it was not until 1936 that Hobart was connected with the mainland, through a cable under the Bass Strait. News bulletins, however, continued to be read in each state from local newspapers (by agreement with the Newspaper Proprietors Association). It was not until 1934 that the ABC hired its first journalist – the service continued to be expanded, with the appointment of a Federal News Editor in 1936, and in 1939 a Canberra correspondent to cover national politics.

In November 1935, Sir Charles Moses was appointed general manager at the age of 35, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1965.

News broadcasts were initially restricted, due to pressure from Sir Keith Murdoch, who controlled many Australian newspapers. However, journalists such as Frank Dixon and John Hinde began to subvert the agreements in the late 1930s. in 1939, Warren Denning was appointed to Canberra as the first ABC political correspondent, after Murdoch had refused to allow his newspapers to cover a speech by Joseph Lyons.

World War II

During World War II, the ABC continued to recruit staff, including a greater proportion of women to replace men who had joined the armed forces. In 1941 Margaret Doyle became the first female radio announcer on Australian national radio. The organisation established reporting and recording facilities in a number of overseas locations, including the Middle East, Greece and around the Asia-Pacific region. An early challenge to its independence came in June 1940 when wartime censorship was imposed, meaning that the Department of Information (headed by Sir Keith Murdoch) took control of the ABC's 7pm nightly national news bulletin. This lasted until September, when control of the news was returned to the ABC after listeners expressed a preference for independent news presented by the commission.

In 1940 one of the ABC Board's most prominent members, Dick Boyer, was appointed to the ABC, becoming chairman on 1 April 1945. Today known for the continuing series of Boyer Lectures initiated by him in 1959, he had a good but not too close with the general manager Sir Charles Moses, and remained chair until his retirement in 1961.

During the war, the ABC's news bulletins attained a reputation for authority and independence, and from 1942 onwards, were broadcast three times daily through all national and most commercial transmitters. During and after the war, the ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news-gathering role.

On 7 January 1941, the ABC revived the Children's Session as a national program, including the "Argonauts Club", which was first broadcast in 1933–34 in Melbourne. The Argonauts Club proved hugely popular with young Australians – by 1950 there were over 50,000 members, with 10,000 new members joining each year through 1950s. The Club encouraged children's contributions of writing, music, poetry and art, and became one of the ABC's most popular programs, running six days a week for 28 years.

In 1942, The Australian Broadcasting Act 1942 was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing, and any exercise of the power had to be mentioned in the commission's Annual Report. It was used only once, in 1963. In the same year, "Kindergarten of the Air" began on ABC Radio in Perth. The Act required that one of the commissioners be a woman. It was later broadcast nationally and became one of the ABC's most popular programs.

Boyer was determined to maintain the autonomy of the ABC and not allow it to be subject to interference by politicians, and was able to persuade Prime Minister John Curtin in 1945 to issue a public statement recognising the ABC's "special independence of judgement and action".

Post-war

In December 1945, the long-running rural and regional affairs program The Country Hour premiered. The ABC's coverage of rural affairs was significantly enhanced by the deployment of journalists and "extension officers" to major country areas. The increasing availability of landlines and teleprinters allowed the organisation to gather and broadcast news and other program material with much greater efficiency than in the previous two decades. By this time, as many as 13 national news bulletins were broadcast daily.