Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited
Encyclopedia
Amalgamated Wireless Ltd (later AWA Ltd). Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's largest and most prominent electronics
organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment
as well as broadcasting services.
After the sell-off of most of its assets and operating divisions, AWA is now primarily an ICT services company.
The company commenced operations in 1909 as Australasian Wireless Limited (AWL), a Telefunken
wireless agent.
In 1912 when the English Marconi Company
sued the Australian government for infringing their patent (and AWL issued writs against firms using Marconi equipment), the government decided in future to use circuits designed by John Balsillie. Eventually the two settled their differences and, in July 1913, formed a new company, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, with exclusive rights throughout Australasia
to the patents, 'present and future', of both Marconi and Telefunken. Later that year the new entity established the Marconi Telefunken College of Telegraphy, (later re-named the Marconi School of Wireless (MSW)).
The first chairman was (Sir) Hugh Denison. (Sir) Ernest Fisk, a foundation director, was general and technical manager. In 1916 he became managing director and in 1932 chairman.
In 1918, the first radio broadcast from the UK to Australia was received by AWA with then Prime Minister
Billy Hughes
praising the troops he has just inspected on the western front. In 1930, AWA transmitted the first newsreel
pictures from Sydney to London.
In 1922, the Australian Government, requiring a direct radio service with the UK - in lieu of submarine cables - commissioned AWA to create a service. The government boosted the new company's capital and became its majority shareholder. In 1926, the company established two large beam wireless stations
on 180 hectare
sites; a receiver site in Victoria
at Rockbank
near Melbourne and a transmitter site at Ballan
near Ballarat which eventually become known as Fiskville
. A shortwave
beam radiotelegraph service between Australia and Britain, undercutting the cable companies, was inaugurated on 8 April 1927 and terminated on 31 May 1969. In 1928, it established a similar service between Australia and Canada
. In April 1930 the Empire radiotelephone
service commenced.
The Australian Government in 1922 granted AWA exclusive rights to operate the Coastal Radio Service (CRS), a network of maritime radio stations that eventually included stations in New Guinea which had been hurriedly installed when Japan entered Word War II. The Overseas Telecommunications Act 1946 resulted in the creation of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission and ownership of the CRS was transferred to this new organisation on 1 October 1946.
AWA continued in maritime operations supplying marine radio operators to Australian registered vessels. The AWA Marine Division with its headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt continued to wholesale marine communications and radar equipment to the Australian maritime and leisure-boating market into the mid 1980s.
In addition to being a maker of broadcasting equipment and a leading manufacturer of consumer radios, AWA Broadcasting (eventually to become AWA Media Pty Ltd) was the first and at one time the largest commercial radio network in Australia. AWA owned and operated many Australian metropolitan and country AM radio stations over the years, including 2CH
Sydney, 3MP
Melbourne and 6KY Perth. AWA purchased 3XY Melbourne in 1991, relaunching it in 1992 as 3EE (Magic 693). AWA Media soon sold 3EE and 2CH was also sold in 1994.
The AWA Building
45-47 York Street in Sydney was completed in 1939 becoming an instant landmark with its art-deco style and large white radio tower on top (in the shape of the Eiffel Tower) and was the tallest building in Australia until 1958. It remained the AWA head office until the 1990s and is now heritage
listed.
During World War II, the Marconi School trained an extensive number of military personnel in signals and communications. Additionally, the Department of Defence appropriated and operated the Ballan facility for military radio operations, eventually returning it to civilian operations with the Overseas Telecommunications Commission
(OTC). OTC joined with Telecom Australia in 1992 to form the Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation, later to become Telstra Corporation.
AWA continued to have major involvement in the Australian defence electronics industry. It worked closely with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation
(DSTO) in developing the electronics in the Ikara
anti-submarine weapon, Nulka
EW rocket drone, AN/SSQ-801A Barra sonobuoy (with Plessey as Sonobuoys Australia Pty Ltd), Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), Agile Gliding Bomb and ALR-2002
Radar Warning Receiver, as well as providing support to the initial Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar trials. AWA Defence Industries (AWADI) was formed in October 1988 by the merger of the defence electronics business of AWA with those of Thorn EMI Electronics Australia and Fairey Australasia. AWADI was sold to British Aerospace Australia in April 1996.
With Radio Corporation of America (RCA), AWA established a joint venture (Amalgamated Wireless Valve Co. Pty Ltd) to manufacture radio valves (vacuum tubes) at the Ashfield works under the AWV, RCA and Radiola brands. During World War II AWV produced a range of defence electronics matériel, including klystrons and magnetrons for radar equipment. In 1958 AWV commercialised research work by the AWA Research Laboratories to set up a plant to manufacture transistors and AWA Semiconductors was born. AWA continued to distribute products from RCA Semiconductor into the mid 1980s.
In 1987 AWA MicroElectronics Pty Ltd was formed to design and manufacture integrated circuits and established a fully operational wafer foundry, integrated circuit fabrication facility and design centre. The group was a joint venture between AWA Ltd (64%), British Aerospace (25%) and the NSW Governemnt (11%). This group was sold off to Quality Semiconductor Australia Pty Limited (now Silanna) in 1996.
Immediately after the World War II through to the 1980s, AWA was extensively involved in the design, development and manufacture of advanced aeronautical communications, navigation and surveillance systems. These systems included the VHF Aural Range (VAR), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for airborne use and ground beacons, VHF Omni Range (VOR), Air Traffic Control systems (known as AWANET) and a Microwave Landing System (MLS) called Interscan. Many of these developments were undertaken jointly with the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation CSIRO) and the Australian Department of Civil Aviation. Some of these products are now produced and supported by Interscan Navigation Systems, which for some years was a privately held stand-alone company, but is now a fully owned subsidiary of Indra Sistemas S.A., a Spanish defence and ICT contractor.
The AWA Communications Division was a developer and vendor of telephone and radio communications systems, in particular microwave radio. The division merged with Plessey Communications to form AWA Plessey Communications Division. The AWA share in the group was sold to Plessey of the UK to become Plessey Asia Pacific Communications Division and in 2001 was again sold and renamed Longreach Wireless.
With its commencement in the 1930s, AWA Aviation Department (later Aviation Division) operated the major avionics servicing organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea through a number of service depots located at major and secondary airports, with a large workshop located in Airport West, Victoria. From 1948 to 1991 AWA held the contract to install and maintain the avionics of the Australian domestic airlines (Ansett-ANA, later Ansett Australia
and Trans Australia Airlines
, later Australian Airlines and subsequently Qantas
). The Aviation Division was sold to British Aerospace
in 1996, before being sold again to Rockwell Collins
to be absorbed within its Australian avionics maintenance operations.
AWA engineers were working with Marconi in England on television systems from 1948 and in 1954 AWA provided the first (experimental) TV broadcast in Australia during Queen Elizabeth II’s Australian Royal Tour. AWA moved into TV broadcasting again in 1980 when it purchased QTQ-9 in Brisbane, which it sold to Alan Bond
in 1985 when Bond started to assemble his ownership of the Nine Network
.
AWA was a major manufacturer of television receivers under the AWA Radiola Deep Image brand from the mid 1950s until the relaxation of import tariffs
under the Whitlam Government in the early 1970s. With the increased competition in the marketplace, AWA joined forces with Thorn Electrical Industries
UK in 1973 to create AWA-Thorn Consumer Products Limited, to produce colour televisions in Australia. Thorn colour television receivers modified for Australia were marketed as AWA or Thorn models, with local improvements being made to these over the ensuing years.
AWA-Rediffusion Pty. Ltd, a company jointly owned by Rediffusion International and AWA Limited was formed in 1971. The business was a platform to enter the Australian market with Rediffusion systems similar to those offered in the UK by RIS/RBE and included products and services such as Reditune Background Music, CCTV, Hotel Audio Distribution and Specialist Information Display Systems.
In 1974 AWA-Rediffusion branched into the television sales and rental market setting up a chain of retail shops under their Redihire name. Colour Television arrived in Australia in March 1975, around ten years after the UK. and Redihire had been preparing for the event for over a year with six shops opening in and around the Sydney area with the company's HQ in Roseville NSW. Television rental accounted for around twenty percent of the initial market and Redihire adopted a 'rent or buy' marketing approach from the onset majoring on existing models that were being made for AWA-Thorn by Mitsubishi Electric of Japan. This division of AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy, Revox, AKG Acoustics having already an established association with AWA.
In 1975, AWA brought the first Pick
minicomputer system to Australia, and set up a computer services arm.
1979 saw the closure of the MSW when it moved to Launceston Tasmania to become part of the Australian Maritime College. Later that year, the last Australian-made AWA appliances were produced at the company's Sydney manufacturing plant in Ashfield. From the late 1970s, appliances such as TVs were being made for AWA-Thorn by Mitsubishi Electric
of Japan. This division of AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy
, Revox
, AKG Acoustics
and Clarion (car audio)
. In 1984, Mitsubishi Electric purchased AWA-Thorn, (renaming it "Mitsubishi Electric AWA Pty Ltd"), marketing their VCRs, stereos and TVs in Australia while retaining 'AWA' in the brand name.
In 1984 AWA acquired Electrical Equipment Ltd, a major manufacturer of power transmission equipment and the AWA group had a combined staff of over 10,000.
Through research done at the AWA Research Laboratories, AWA was an early entrant into the design and development of optical fibre technology in Australia. In 1984, AWA, in partnership with Corning of the USA and Metal Manufactures, established Optical Waveguides Australia Pty Ltd (OWA). AWA later sold its interest in OWA, which was eventually purchased fully by Corning to become Corning Noble Park, but closed in 2003.
AWA reported in 1987 $49 million in foreign exchange losses due to unauthorised trading in 1986 and 1987. Over the next decade, in what developed into a landmark case in Australia, there were legal proceedings against auditors for failing to identify the trading, as well as cross claims against the company's directors, the foreign exchange trader and the banks involved. In May 2010 the employee at the centre of the foreign exchange losses, Andrew Koval, was extradited from the United States to face criminal charges. He had previously defended a civil suit in relation to the matter.
In 1988, the company was renamed "AWA Limited", and in August sold its telephone manufacturing and related businesses to Exicom Ltd. A year later, AWA Computer Support Services was established as an independent business unit. In the early 1990s, unable to compete with cheaper imported appliances, AWA exited the field of domestic appliances and consumer electronics, and focused on industrial technology.
In the late 1980's AWA established AWASCo Pty Ltd, a joint venture with Serco Group plc of the UK. The company provided facilities management services to federal and state agencies, and eventually Serco purchased AWA's share to form Serco Australia.
In 1991 AWA acquired Smorgon Technologies, a world leader in totalisator systems. The company developed and operated state-of-art wagering systems that were installed around the world.
In 2001 AWA was acquired by Jupiters Limited, which was soon acquired by Tabcorp
. Then in 2004, the company was spun off, and is once again an independent company.
In 2006 AWA acquired Telefix Sales Pty Ltd, which has been servicing home entertainment products since the early 1960’s.
which uses it for generic consumer electronics sold at its outlets, mainly Big W
and Dick Smith Electronics
stores.
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment
Audio equipment
A piece of audio equipment is any device designed principally to reproduce, record or process sound. This includes microphones, radio receivers, AV receivers, CD players, tape recorders, amplifiers, mixing consoles, effects units and loudspeakers....
as well as broadcasting services.
After the sell-off of most of its assets and operating divisions, AWA is now primarily an ICT services company.
History
Telefunken
Telefunken is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft...
wireless agent.
In 1912 when the English Marconi Company
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company Ltd. was founded by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company...
sued the Australian government for infringing their patent (and AWL issued writs against firms using Marconi equipment), the government decided in future to use circuits designed by John Balsillie. Eventually the two settled their differences and, in July 1913, formed a new company, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd, with exclusive rights throughout Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
to the patents, 'present and future', of both Marconi and Telefunken. Later that year the new entity established the Marconi Telefunken College of Telegraphy, (later re-named the Marconi School of Wireless (MSW)).
The first chairman was (Sir) Hugh Denison. (Sir) Ernest Fisk, a foundation director, was general and technical manager. In 1916 he became managing director and in 1932 chairman.
In 1918, the first radio broadcast from the UK to Australia was received by AWA with then Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Billy Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
praising the troops he has just inspected on the western front. In 1930, AWA transmitted the first newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
pictures from Sydney to London.
In 1922, the Australian Government, requiring a direct radio service with the UK - in lieu of submarine cables - commissioned AWA to create a service. The government boosted the new company's capital and became its majority shareholder. In 1926, the company established two large beam wireless stations
Imperial Wireless Chain
The Imperial Wireless Chain, also known as the Empire Wireless Chain, was a strategic international wireless telegraphy communications network, created to link the countries of the British Empire. Although the idea was conceived prior to World War I, Britain was the last of the world's Great Powers...
on 180 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
sites; a receiver site in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
at Rockbank
Rockbank, Victoria
Rockbank is a township and rural locality in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 29 km west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Melton. At the 2006 Census, Rockbank had a population of 1,337....
near Melbourne and a transmitter site at Ballan
Ballan, Victoria
Ballan is a small town in the state of Victoria, Australia located on the Werribee River north west of Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Ballan had a population of 1,807.It is the main administrative centre for the Shire of Moorabool Local Government Area....
near Ballarat which eventually become known as Fiskville
Fiskville
CFA Training College, Fiskville is the training college for members of the Country Fire Authority , which is a large, predominantly volunteer fire and emergency service which has legislative responsibility for fire and emergencies in regional Victoria...
. A shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
beam radiotelegraph service between Australia and Britain, undercutting the cable companies, was inaugurated on 8 April 1927 and terminated on 31 May 1969. In 1928, it established a similar service between Australia and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In April 1930 the Empire radiotelephone
Radiotelephone
A radiotelephone is a communications system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephone systems are not necessarily interconnected with the public "land line" telephone network. "Radiotelephone" is often used to describe the usage of radio spectrum where it is important to distinguish the...
service commenced.
The Australian Government in 1922 granted AWA exclusive rights to operate the Coastal Radio Service (CRS), a network of maritime radio stations that eventually included stations in New Guinea which had been hurriedly installed when Japan entered Word War II. The Overseas Telecommunications Act 1946 resulted in the creation of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission and ownership of the CRS was transferred to this new organisation on 1 October 1946.
AWA continued in maritime operations supplying marine radio operators to Australian registered vessels. The AWA Marine Division with its headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt continued to wholesale marine communications and radar equipment to the Australian maritime and leisure-boating market into the mid 1980s.
In addition to being a maker of broadcasting equipment and a leading manufacturer of consumer radios, AWA Broadcasting (eventually to become AWA Media Pty Ltd) was the first and at one time the largest commercial radio network in Australia. AWA owned and operated many Australian metropolitan and country AM radio stations over the years, including 2CH
2CH
2CH is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia, at 1170 kHz AM. It broadcasts an oldies format, and is aimed to an older age demographic...
Sydney, 3MP
3MP
3MP began transmission 21 July 1976, as Melbourne's seventh commercial radio station and the first new commercial station in over 40 years. The original licencees included a consortium of businessmen and media identities....
Melbourne and 6KY Perth. AWA purchased 3XY Melbourne in 1991, relaunching it in 1992 as 3EE (Magic 693). AWA Media soon sold 3EE and 2CH was also sold in 1994.
AWA Tower
The AWA Tower is an office and communications complex in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia built for Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited. The AWA Tower consists of a radio transmission tower atop a 15-story building...
45-47 York Street in Sydney was completed in 1939 becoming an instant landmark with its art-deco style and large white radio tower on top (in the shape of the Eiffel Tower) and was the tallest building in Australia until 1958. It remained the AWA head office until the 1990s and is now heritage
NSW State Heritage Register
The NSW State Heritage Register is a heritage register administered by the Heritage Branch of the New South Wales Department of Planning. It is based in Parramatta....
listed.
During World War II, the Marconi School trained an extensive number of military personnel in signals and communications. Additionally, the Department of Defence appropriated and operated the Ballan facility for military radio operations, eventually returning it to civilian operations with the Overseas Telecommunications Commission
Overseas Telecommunications Commission
The Overseas Telecommunications Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in August 1946. It inherited facilities and resources from Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited and Cable & Wireless, and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into,...
(OTC). OTC joined with Telecom Australia in 1992 to form the Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation, later to become Telstra Corporation.
AWA continued to have major involvement in the Australian defence electronics industry. It worked closely with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation
Defence Science and Technology Organisation
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation is a branch of the Australian Department of Defence which researches and develops technologies for use in the Australian defence industry....
(DSTO) in developing the electronics in the Ikara
Ikara (missile)
The Ikara missile was an Australian ship-launched anti-submarine missile, named after an Australian Aboriginal word for "throwing stick". It launched an acoustic torpedo to a range of , allowing fast-reaction attacks against submarines at ranges that would otherwise require the launching ship to...
anti-submarine weapon, Nulka
Nulka
Nulka is an Australian designed and developed active missile decoy built by an Australian/American collaboration. Used aboard warships of the United States Navy , Royal Australian Navy , United States Coast Guard , and Canadian Forces, Nulka is a rocket propelled, disposable, offboard, active decoy...
EW rocket drone, AN/SSQ-801A Barra sonobuoy (with Plessey as Sonobuoys Australia Pty Ltd), Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), Agile Gliding Bomb and ALR-2002
ALR-2002
The AN/ALR-2002 Radar Warning Receiver is designed to warn an aircraft's crew of potentially hostile radar activity. British Aerospace Australia was the sole contractor for the AN/ALR-2002 Australian indigenous System...
Radar Warning Receiver, as well as providing support to the initial Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar trials. AWA Defence Industries (AWADI) was formed in October 1988 by the merger of the defence electronics business of AWA with those of Thorn EMI Electronics Australia and Fairey Australasia. AWADI was sold to British Aerospace Australia in April 1996.
With Radio Corporation of America (RCA), AWA established a joint venture (Amalgamated Wireless Valve Co. Pty Ltd) to manufacture radio valves (vacuum tubes) at the Ashfield works under the AWV, RCA and Radiola brands. During World War II AWV produced a range of defence electronics matériel, including klystrons and magnetrons for radar equipment. In 1958 AWV commercialised research work by the AWA Research Laboratories to set up a plant to manufacture transistors and AWA Semiconductors was born. AWA continued to distribute products from RCA Semiconductor into the mid 1980s.
In 1987 AWA MicroElectronics Pty Ltd was formed to design and manufacture integrated circuits and established a fully operational wafer foundry, integrated circuit fabrication facility and design centre. The group was a joint venture between AWA Ltd (64%), British Aerospace (25%) and the NSW Governemnt (11%). This group was sold off to Quality Semiconductor Australia Pty Limited (now Silanna) in 1996.
Immediately after the World War II through to the 1980s, AWA was extensively involved in the design, development and manufacture of advanced aeronautical communications, navigation and surveillance systems. These systems included the VHF Aural Range (VAR), Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for airborne use and ground beacons, VHF Omni Range (VOR), Air Traffic Control systems (known as AWANET) and a Microwave Landing System (MLS) called Interscan. Many of these developments were undertaken jointly with the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation CSIRO) and the Australian Department of Civil Aviation. Some of these products are now produced and supported by Interscan Navigation Systems, which for some years was a privately held stand-alone company, but is now a fully owned subsidiary of Indra Sistemas S.A., a Spanish defence and ICT contractor.
The AWA Communications Division was a developer and vendor of telephone and radio communications systems, in particular microwave radio. The division merged with Plessey Communications to form AWA Plessey Communications Division. The AWA share in the group was sold to Plessey of the UK to become Plessey Asia Pacific Communications Division and in 2001 was again sold and renamed Longreach Wireless.
With its commencement in the 1930s, AWA Aviation Department (later Aviation Division) operated the major avionics servicing organisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea through a number of service depots located at major and secondary airports, with a large workshop located in Airport West, Victoria. From 1948 to 1991 AWA held the contract to install and maintain the avionics of the Australian domestic airlines (Ansett-ANA, later Ansett Australia
Ansett Australia
Ansett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996...
and Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry...
, later Australian Airlines and subsequently Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
). The Aviation Division was sold to British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
in 1996, before being sold again to Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins, Inc. is a large United States-based international company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, primarily providing aviation and information technology systems and services to governmental agencies and aircraft manufacturers.- History :...
to be absorbed within its Australian avionics maintenance operations.
AWA engineers were working with Marconi in England on television systems from 1948 and in 1954 AWA provided the first (experimental) TV broadcast in Australia during Queen Elizabeth II’s Australian Royal Tour. AWA moved into TV broadcasting again in 1980 when it purchased QTQ-9 in Brisbane, which it sold to Alan Bond
Alan Bond (businessman)
Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...
in 1985 when Bond started to assemble his ownership of the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
.
AWA was a major manufacturer of television receivers under the AWA Radiola Deep Image brand from the mid 1950s until the relaxation of import tariffs
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
under the Whitlam Government in the early 1970s. With the increased competition in the marketplace, AWA joined forces with Thorn Electrical Industries
THORN Electrical Industries
Thorn Electrical Industries, Limited was an electrical engineering business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange but it merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979...
UK in 1973 to create AWA-Thorn Consumer Products Limited, to produce colour televisions in Australia. Thorn colour television receivers modified for Australia were marketed as AWA or Thorn models, with local improvements being made to these over the ensuing years.
AWA-Rediffusion Pty. Ltd, a company jointly owned by Rediffusion International and AWA Limited was formed in 1971. The business was a platform to enter the Australian market with Rediffusion systems similar to those offered in the UK by RIS/RBE and included products and services such as Reditune Background Music, CCTV, Hotel Audio Distribution and Specialist Information Display Systems.
In 1974 AWA-Rediffusion branched into the television sales and rental market setting up a chain of retail shops under their Redihire name. Colour Television arrived in Australia in March 1975, around ten years after the UK. and Redihire had been preparing for the event for over a year with six shops opening in and around the Sydney area with the company's HQ in Roseville NSW. Television rental accounted for around twenty percent of the initial market and Redihire adopted a 'rent or buy' marketing approach from the onset majoring on existing models that were being made for AWA-Thorn by Mitsubishi Electric of Japan. This division of AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy, Revox, AKG Acoustics having already an established association with AWA.
In 1975, AWA brought the first Pick
Pick operating system
The Pick operating system is a demand-paged, multiuser, virtual memory, time-sharing operating system based around a unique "multivalued" database. Pick is used primarily for business data processing...
minicomputer system to Australia, and set up a computer services arm.
1979 saw the closure of the MSW when it moved to Launceston Tasmania to become part of the Australian Maritime College. Later that year, the last Australian-made AWA appliances were produced at the company's Sydney manufacturing plant in Ashfield. From the late 1970s, appliances such as TVs were being made for AWA-Thorn by Mitsubishi Electric
Mitsubishi Electric
is a multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group....
of Japan. This division of AWA was also the Australian distributor for many audio equipment manufacturers, including Tannoy
Tannoy
Tannoy Ltd is a Scottish-based manufacturer of loudspeakers and public-address systems. The company was founded in London, England as Tulsemere Manufacturing Company in 1926, but has been based in Coatbridge, Scotland, since the 1970s...
, Revox
Revox
ReVox is a brand name of Swiss audio equipment created by Studer on March 27, 1951.The ReVox brand name was spun off into Studer Revox AG in 1990. During Studer's acquisition by Harman International Industries, Revox was sold separately to a group of private investors...
, AKG Acoustics
AKG Acoustics
AKG Acoustics is an Austrian manufacturer of microphones, headphones, wireless audio systems and related accessories for professional and consumer markets...
and Clarion (car audio)
Clarion (car audio)
is a Japanese manufacturer of car audio, automotive navigation systems, AutoPCs, visual equipment, bus equipment, and communication equipment.Up until the end of 2005, products in Japan were marketed under the brand name AddZest, while outside of Japan the same product typically carried the Clarion...
. In 1984, Mitsubishi Electric purchased AWA-Thorn, (renaming it "Mitsubishi Electric AWA Pty Ltd"), marketing their VCRs, stereos and TVs in Australia while retaining 'AWA' in the brand name.
In 1984 AWA acquired Electrical Equipment Ltd, a major manufacturer of power transmission equipment and the AWA group had a combined staff of over 10,000.
Through research done at the AWA Research Laboratories, AWA was an early entrant into the design and development of optical fibre technology in Australia. In 1984, AWA, in partnership with Corning of the USA and Metal Manufactures, established Optical Waveguides Australia Pty Ltd (OWA). AWA later sold its interest in OWA, which was eventually purchased fully by Corning to become Corning Noble Park, but closed in 2003.
AWA reported in 1987 $49 million in foreign exchange losses due to unauthorised trading in 1986 and 1987. Over the next decade, in what developed into a landmark case in Australia, there were legal proceedings against auditors for failing to identify the trading, as well as cross claims against the company's directors, the foreign exchange trader and the banks involved. In May 2010 the employee at the centre of the foreign exchange losses, Andrew Koval, was extradited from the United States to face criminal charges. He had previously defended a civil suit in relation to the matter.
In 1988, the company was renamed "AWA Limited", and in August sold its telephone manufacturing and related businesses to Exicom Ltd. A year later, AWA Computer Support Services was established as an independent business unit. In the early 1990s, unable to compete with cheaper imported appliances, AWA exited the field of domestic appliances and consumer electronics, and focused on industrial technology.
In the late 1980's AWA established AWASCo Pty Ltd, a joint venture with Serco Group plc of the UK. The company provided facilities management services to federal and state agencies, and eventually Serco purchased AWA's share to form Serco Australia.
In 1991 AWA acquired Smorgon Technologies, a world leader in totalisator systems. The company developed and operated state-of-art wagering systems that were installed around the world.
In 2001 AWA was acquired by Jupiters Limited, which was soon acquired by Tabcorp
Tabcorp Holdings
Tabcorp Holdings is an Australian company with interests in gaming, wagering and related media. It was formed through the privatisation of the Victorian Totalisator Agency Board in 1994. The TAB ran all off-track betting on horse racing, greyhound racing, and harness racing in Victoria, as well...
. Then in 2004, the company was spun off, and is once again an independent company.
In 2006 AWA acquired Telefix Sales Pty Ltd, which has been servicing home entertainment products since the early 1960’s.
Summary of Company Names
- Australasian Wireless Limited (AWL) - 1909
- Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd (AWA) - 1913
- AWA Defence Industries (AWADI) - 1988
- sold to British Aerospace Australia in April 1996
- Amalgamated Wireless Valve Co. Pty Ltd (AWV)
- AWA MicroElectronics Pty Ltd - 1987
- AWA Plessey
- AWA-Thorn Consumer Products Limited - 1973
- In 1984, Mitsubishi Electric purchased AWA-Thorn, renaming it "Mitsubishi Electric AWA Pty Ltd"
- Optical Waveguides Australia Pty Ltd (OWA) - 1984
- AWA-Rediffusion (Pty) Ltd. 1971 - 1986.
- In 1988, the company was renamed "AWA Limited"
- AWASCo Pty Ltd
- AWA Computer Support Services established as an independent business unit - 1989
- In 2001 AWA was acquired by Jupiters Limited, which was soon acquired by TabcorpTabcorp HoldingsTabcorp Holdings is an Australian company with interests in gaming, wagering and related media. It was formed through the privatisation of the Victorian Totalisator Agency Board in 1994. The TAB ran all off-track betting on horse racing, greyhound racing, and harness racing in Victoria, as well...
. - In 2004, the company was spun off as AWA Limited, and is once again an independent company.
Current
Today AWA focuses on information and communication technology services, the restoration and deployment of technology in particular. It has seven offices and numerous agents around Australia. It also licenses the AWA brand name to WoolworthsWoolworths Limited
Woolworths Limited is a major Australian company with extensive retail interest throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the:* largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand by market capitalisation and sales...
which uses it for generic consumer electronics sold at its outlets, mainly Big W
Big W
Big W is one of the largest chain of discount department stores in Australia, with over 150 stores. It is a division of Woolworths Limited, the second largest retailer in Australia. Its main competitors are Kmart and Target, both owned by Wesfarmers....
and Dick Smith Electronics
Dick Smith Electronics
Dick Smith is an international electronics retailer, founded in 1968 by Richard "Dick" Smith. Today, it is a subsidiary of Woolworths Limited, incorporating Tandy, and the remaining Dick Smith Powerhouse Stores...
stores.