256:...In 1926 the Radio Corporation of Australia Ltd was formed and commenced the manufacture of Astor radios. As business boomed, production was spread over three sites...In 1931 a new factory was built in Grant St. Demand soon meant that another new factory was needed. Situated on an irregular large piece of land on the junction of Grant, Power and Moore streets, it was constructed in 1940 for the firm and was a good example of modern planning for an industrial building...Facing onto Moore St, the single storey building, constructed of brick, steel and timber, featured steel-framed windows, saw-tooth roofing to allow maximum light from the south, and welded lattice girders supporting a roof of asbestos cement sheeting...It contained a manufacturing section, research laboratories, testing rooms, administration offices and facilities and the layout facilitated the steady movement through the building of the article being assembled (including television sets after 1956)...The factory was later demolished for the complex of freeway exits and Grant St disappeared...As well as the factory, the firm (now called Electronic Industries Ltd), developed a stylish and simple new headquarters in Sturt St in 1959, fittingly called Astor House...
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production had come into effect under the Astor brand. Hundreds of regular employment advertisements by Radio
Corporation in 1972 which advertised for solderers, product designers, sprayers, and plastic moulders had very abruptly stopped by 1973. Astor refrigeration and freezers were advertised until 1975 perhaps reflecting that Philips had begun winding back the brand. From 1975 Astor had become but a label applied to imported goods under Phillips control. Astor was not unique in this respect as large scale Australian manufacturing had receded to the point whereby components companies were all closing their doors due to Tariff reduction legislation implemented by the Whitlam government. The head of Philips Mr Huye of Holland had seemingly been quite aware and proactively warned the government of the time about “complete collapse of Australian manufacturing” as we knew it. History would prove he was correct.
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colour TV sets from Japan but to invest locally by increasing protections to the local industry so the industry could compete and adjust before any reductions could take place. After
Philips took hold of Astor, the Australian consumer electronics landscape would see the manufacturing arrangements collapse overnight in a very short time. A company offering “employment with career progression" which was touted in advertisements for positions at Astor / Radio Corp swiftly ended. Skilled welders, solderers, and wiring experts (who could follow diagrams) who were previously sought for in the hundreds, in the papers, would all lose their jobs. In 1972 Astor completely vanished from the employment section of the newspaper database under Radio Corporation (EIL).
113:"As engineering manager I was saddened, disappointed and devastated to witness the closure of the loudspeaker manufacturing division such an icon in the Australian audio and manufacturing industry. Plessey / Rola ceased production of loudspeakers in Australia in 1975. Tariff protection had been significantly reduced in 1973 with the result local manufacture of audio products and customers diminished, car manufactures opted for cheaper imported loudspeakers demand for local manufactured speakers diminished making speaker production on the grand scale we were accustomed to was no longer viable overnight." - Rola Employee Statement.
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manufacturing had almost certainly ended completely by 1973. It may have been an early decision by Huye to shut down the radio and television manufacturing first as the
Australian manufacturing landscape made the investment in colour TV manufacturing untenable. Some alarm clocks and transistor radios bearing the Astor logo appeared in the late 1970s marketed by Phillips but were produced in low-wage countries like Hong Kong and ultimately it was decided to drop subsidiary trademarks like Astor as Philips streamlined its product offerings into Phillips.
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more ambitious than the local
Australian market share. Astor produced a controversial Mickey Mouse radio, becoming embroiled in a long-running court battle with Disney over the use of the Mickey Mouse name and logo. The result was that Astor was forbidden to use the name "Mickey Mouse" for its radios, but it continued to produce the “Astor Mickey" radio for the next 16 years.
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developers and experts in vinyl pressing were sought. The most famous release by this date was "Joe Dolce - Shuddup-You-Face" from 1981 under the Astor label - of Lygon Street, Melbourne fame. This record reached number 1 on the
Australian music charts and was the final vinyl pressing from Astor and unceremoniously heralded the end of the brand, consigned to history.
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The local electronics industry had completely disappeared by 1980, with none of Astor's or any subsidiary of EIL/Philips' factories in operation by the end of the 1970s. After the local production of Astor TV and radio units ceased along with other local manufacturing, the speaker factories also went
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From 1973, only the Astor Music
Division continued from the same company location in Clayton where manufacturing had taken place. This was probably due to the fact that Phillips had by now decided to rest the Astor brand by this date, replacing it with the Phillips branding. Advertisements for music
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Astor produced TVs, radios, washing machines, tumble dryers, and other white goods for the
Australian domestic market, borrowing from design patents from other overseas companies products with the understanding that the companies' free use of these in production and consumer markets would not become
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Astor bought its competitors, Eclipse and
Essanay. Originally a partnership between successful tobacconist Louis Henry Abrahams and Sir Arthur Warner, it was taken public in 1940, with the original partners holding 50 per cent of the new company. However, in 1956 the partners sold the majority stake
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Astor House in Grant Street, South
Melbourne was being sublet by 1974 to office space - perhaps vacated by Astor/Radio Corporation. It was noted in a news article that receivership meetings were being held here by then, with no other affiliation with Astor other than that the meetings took place at
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Astor's demise began in earnest in about 1970 as the company was turning a corner. It had been absorbed fully into
Philips with a buy-out and had clearly started moving its manufacturing to Clayton from its South Melbourne factory. The daily organiser known as Miss Hurley who was in print for all
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In the 1970s as discussions were looming about the proposed tariff reduction scheme and what this would mean for Australian manufacturing Mr Huye (Philips of Holland) featured predominantly in the media discussing the 25% tariff reductions, trying to pressure the government not to look for cheap
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Archives reflect that a very sudden end to jobs advertised at Astor, better known as Electronic Industries at this stage (EIL, Radio Corporation). This occurred sometime in 1972. By the beginning of 1973, Radio Corporation (EIL) had ceased to exist. This occurrence reflects a sudden end of local
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Electronic Industries continued to produce its fridges and dryers up to 1974 from its Clayton plant, however, a news article from Mr Huye of Philips cites the tariff reduction scheme of 25% in 1973 as the reason workers would be laid off in stages in 1973/4. However, it seems that the company
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out of business. Plessey-Rola, the producer of locally manufactured speakers became a victim of the chain and link effect and closed its doors in 1975. They decried that as soon as a cheaper alternative was available from Japan their market share was too small to be viable.
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jobs advertised at the firm at Grant Street, South Melbourne ended. Mr Wood was the employee person of contact in the Clayton premises and records reflect that by 1971 all Astor dealings were from the Clayton location with all manufacturing advertising referring to Clayton.
154:, which is evidence of the significant problems that ATV0 had at its commencement. Channel 10 could not be used in Melbourne at the time because that would have resulted in interference with the regional station (
129:. Between 1969 and 1971, Electronic Industries engineers, Willem Sparrius and Ian Maskiel, developed an early domestic colour television set under the Astor brand. ~400 units were produced for training purposes.
241:... As chairman and managing director, Warner headed (from 1939) Electronic Industries Ltd, manufacturer of the Astor range of products, especially radios and later television sets...
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Astor House in South Melbourne. By the late 1970s, the Astor name had been removed from the building and the famous name had vanished from the domestic appliance market completely.
281:, The Cairns Post (QLD) advertised The Story Behind Astor over fourteen issues from 7 June till 25 June 1935 for Pittard Dick & Co Pty. Ltd., a radio dealer in Cairns.
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The Astor radio corporation was a major manufacturer of early monochrome television sets in Australia, commencing production in 1956 in anticipation of services in
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Promotional Photographs Showing Television Cameras Made by the Pye Astor Company., Pay book and photographs of the Radio Corporation of Australia Ltd.
45:. The firm was innovative in that it offered radios in dynamic designs and colours compared with the conservative designs offered by other companies.
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Channel 0 was not included, possibly because the tuner mechanism could only accommodate 12 places. As a result, in Melbourne 1964 (and later in
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manufacturer, manufacturing across the retail sector of products from Washing Machines to Radio. Astor, which began operating in 1926, making
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adjacent to each other, rather than in numerical order, especially for the capital cities which were allocated channels 2, 7 and 9.
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367:...Exhibition of radios at Government House Ballroom...Exhibitors included...Astor Radio Corporation...
150:), service technicians were required to convert the place marker for either channel 10 or 8 to receive
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319:, MS 10808$ $ QPay book and photographs of the Radio Corporation of Australia Ltd., MS 10808.
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158:). Brisbane had a similar problem a year later with a nearby regional station in
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387:. Vol. 49, no. 2, 512. Western Australia. 12 April 1934. p. 39
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Some early Astor television sets featured a rotary dial that located the
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Radio & Electrical Exhibition at Government House Ballroom
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The company sponsored an early Australian television series,
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169:, where the channel 10 frequency was used by the
27:Astor - Radio Corporation - Electronic Industries
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315:Herald Weekly Times, photographer. (1956).
395:– via National Library of Australia.
69:Pale blue bakelite Astor Radio circa 1950s
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448:: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
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254:, 12 Oct 2017, Southbank Local News,
239:- Australian Dictionary of Biography,
165:. That was not a problem in Sydney or
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252:History: Southbank was radio-active!
237:Biography - Sir Arthur George Warner
191:Television models produced include:
49:to the English electronics company
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269:, Ltd.; Melbourne manufacturer
267:Astor , Radio Corporation Pty.
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29:was the largest Australian
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279:The Story behind Astor.
81:Astor BPJ 5 valve, 1959
332:. vintagewireless.info
292:"Louis Henry ABRAHAMS"
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57:electronics company.
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469:Radio in Australia
406:Astor valve radios
141:available channels
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22:Astor Mickey, 1946
330:"Astor Mickey HQ"
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430:on 30 April 2019
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379:"ASTOR RADIOS"
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219:Astor Showcase
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198:- Model TD 059
185:Astor Showcase
179:The Astor Show
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296:vwma.org.au
35:electronics
31:electronics
434:3 November
225:References
117:Television
160:Toowoomba
152:Channel 0
123:Melbourne
463:Category
444:cite web
391:21 April
360:21 April
203:See also
196:Astor TV
167:Adelaide
148:Brisbane
39:Victoria
336:26 July
301:12 June
55:Philips
51:Pye Ltd
127:Sydney
428:(PDF)
421:(PDF)
163:DDQ10
156:GLV10
61:Astor
450:link
436:2019
393:2019
362:2019
338:2012
303:2024
125:and
37:in
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