King of Moomba
Graham Kennedy waves to the crowd gathered near Flinders Street train station in Melbourne, as he parades along Swanston Street as King of Moomba. This brief footage derives from an Eyewitness News bulletin report on the incumbent Queen of Moomba, local 18-year-old trainee speech therapist Michele Worsley, telecast by ATV0 Melbourne on 12 March 1979.
Summary by Simon Smith
The Moomba Procession was a Melbourne celebratory public event held annually on the March Labour Day public holiday since 1954. Kennedy had participated in previous Moomba parades, hosting live coverage of the float pageant and occasional In Melbourne Tonight (IMT) outside broadcasts throughout the 1960s.
In the 1966 Moomba float procession, he memorably drove his mobile IMT presenters desk down the middle of Swanston Street as a publicity stunt before a staged breakdown amid a mock desk explosion. In 1979, Kennedy was crowned King of Moomba in the event's silver jubilee year.
Notes by Simon Smith