Colour television officially arrived in Australia on 1 March 1975, when all stations switched from black-and-white to colour at midnight in a nationally coordinated changeover often nicknamed “C‑Day”.

Key date and what happened

  • The official start of colour broadcasting across Australian television networks was at midnight on 1 March 1975.
  • Networks marked the moment with special slogans and on-air events, with programs flipping from black and white to colour right as the date changed.

Lead-up to colour TV

  • The federal government had announced in February 1972 that Australian TV would convert to colour in March 1975, giving broadcasters several years to prepare equipment and studios.
  • Test colour transmissions began in October 1974, so some viewers saw limited colour content before the official launch.

Adoption in Australian homes

  • Colour sets were heavily advertised in the lead-up to 1 March 1975 by major electronics brands, encouraging households to be “ready” for C‑Day.
  • By 1978, only a few years after the switch, a clear majority of households in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne already owned colour televisions, making it one of the fastest national changeovers.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.