The Australian Women's Register

This series consists of continuity scripts of the ABC’s Women’s Broadcasts, from December 1945 to December 1952. The scripts outline and introduce items in each day’s program, detailing guest speakers and their topics, and giving the titles of music to be played. The ‘National Women’s Session’, ‘Women’s Magazine’ and ‘Morning Magazine’ were the shows run specifically to cater for the female component of the ABC’s audience. The standard introduction/conclusion for the ‘Women’s Session’ stated that it was ‘designed particularly for the service of the housewife’. The show ran from 10.30amvirtually every weekday, first on radio station 2BL and later, approximately from 1946, on station 2FC. The Talks Department, which was responsible for the ‘women’s broadcasts’ was the first Federal Department in the Australian Broadcasting Commission and was established in 1936. The functions of the Talks Department were to arrange and be responsible for all talks on the National Programme and to be responsible for the general supervision of talks on all State Programmes. In 1939 a Talks Assistant was appointed to specifically organise ‘women’s talks’. By1935, however, Gladys Moore had joined the ABC staff and was broadcasting on this theme. By 27 June 1969 the abolition of the Talks Department had been effected, and the new Spoken Word Department came into operation. The Women’s Session broadcasts themselves were abolished in 1971. The records in this series contain the scripts and continuities from many of the broadcasts, as well as associated inter-office memoranda and letters (including letters from listeners). The scripts are mainly typed and usually stapled or clipped together. The scripts record what was scheduled to be said during the program, but they do not always exactly record the material that went to air. None of the programs could be taped and they were not transcribed, and therefore if a speaker ad lobbed, there is no record of what was said. Some of the scripts are stamped ‘Speaker’s Copy’ and some are stamped ‘Announcer’s Copy’ and many contain handwritten amendments. All scripts, however, have ‘Approved’ written across their top left hand corner. The earliest scripts do not have a ‘Unit Presentation Sheet’ attached to them, but all scripts list the title and date of the broadcast, the station it was broadcast from and the name of the compere. Book reviews formed the core of many broadcasts, as did matters such as food shortages, food production, the Red Cross, discharged servicewomen, fashion, cooking and childcare. Sessions on travel were also a staple throughout the years. The women’s broadcasts had a variety of comperes including Gladys Moore, Jill Meillon, Betty Higgins and Clare Mitchell.