Penny Spence on being a pioneering female newsreader

Penny Spence was a trailblazer in Australian television. She was part of a pioneering group of women who were the first to read television news in Australia. When Brian Henderson was reading the evening news, Spence presented the afternoon bulletin for Channel 9 in NSW in the early-mid 1970s. Before that, she hosted a women’s current affairs program on TCN9, presented the weather, and was twice awarded a Logie for Most Popular Female Personality in NSW (1969 and 1972).  

She later became a key figure behind the scenes, leading children’s programming at the Nine Network and serving as Executive Producer of the European Broadcasting Union's children's unit. Her work as a producer is represented in the NFSA collection, including The Water Trolley (1988), which was nominated for an International Emmy, along with Shipmates (1987), Sovereign Hill (1990), and Hinkler: The Aviator (1990). 

In this excerpt from her 1999 oral history interview with the NFSA, Spence reflects on how she came to read the afternoon news at TCN9 during a formative moment in Australian broadcasting.